Living in USA/Canada pros and cons?

[mmaria]

I'm interested to hear your opinion on what are pros of living in USA and what are pros of living in Canada?

What are cons?

If you weren't living in either of the countries, which one you would chose to live in and why?

* whole your family living there is not a reason for choosing a country in this thread because I want to hear objective reasons

 

[sashbar]

As for USA, one advantage is they have some good music.



then again,

Canadian are no slouch either:

 

[Warhorse]

As for the USA, it's freedom baby!!

 

[mmaria]

As for USA, one advantage is they have some good music.



then again,

Canadian are no slouch either:

why I was expecting a serious answer on my questions posted here?

God, something must be wrong with me!

 

[runnah]

pros: freedom, choices, support, space, diversity of cultures/religions/races/nature. Access to more opportunities.

Cons: taxes, healthcare costs, greed, celebrity worship. Education not valued as highly. Stagnant culturally.

 

[runnah]

Mod note: remember no politics

 

[mmaria]

As for the USA, it's freedom baby!!

oh... this will be tougher than I thought

lemme ask you...... what freedom!?

 

[limr30 3]

Pros (USA):
--Opportunities for different kinds of work and education
--In certain areas more than others, a multi-cultural environment, which can lead to things like very good restaurants, cultural events, interesting people to meet
--Beautiful in so many different kinds of ways. There's many different kinds of geography and climates to choose from because we're just so damn big.
--Free public education and excellent colleges
--The chance to participate in public change. The poor voter turnout generally means that change doesn't happen as often as it can or probably should, but beyond just voting, there are many ways to get involved in the community to effect important local changes.
--Civil protections by law, some of which are eroding (unless we fight back!) but some are still strong.


Cons:
--Salaries may be higher than in other parts of the world, but so is the cost of living.
--Excellent health care if you can afford it, which is a hardship for many people. Insurance is necessary to be able to afford anything but the most basic needs.
--That same multi-cultural environment can also cause tensions, and racial tension is still a significant issue in some areas
--To afford our living costs, we have to work a lot, sometimes more than is good for us (depending on the lifestyle, of course). There are fewer opportunities for a more relaxed lifestyle.

If I weren't living in the US, I'd move back to Europe in a heartbeat. The obvious choice would be Portugal and I'd probably end up there (Why? Lower cost of living, beautiful scenery, job opportunities (it's easier for me to survive as an English teacher there than it is here), a less stressful lifestyle, ease of travel to the rest of Europe.) But I might want to try out a few different countries first. I've got a feeling that I would enjoy Denmark or Norway.

 

[mmaria]

pros: freedom, choices, support, space, diversity of cultures/religions/races/nature. Access to more opportunities.

Cons: taxes, healthcare costs, greed, celebrity worship. Education not valued as highly. Stagnant culturally.

Agree completely but can you say something about "freedom"?
What do you consider as "freedom"?

 

[sm4him]

Wow, you don't ask the HARD questions or anything, do you, Marija?

I think that for many of us, like myself, who have never lived anywhere else--and in my case, never really even BEEN to another country (except on a cruise)--it's going to be tough to give you an objective perspective.

I live here because I've always lived here. Because it is home, and I've loved it all my life. Is it better than some other places in America? Is it better than Canada? Yes. And no. It really depends on the person, I'd say.

Outside of the fact that I've always lived in the southeast US, and that most of my family lives within a day's drive of me here, I guess the things that compel me to stay here, as opposed to somewhere else in the US or moving to Canada:

1. The weather. I seriously detest the cold. There is NOWHERE in Canada, that I'm aware of, that I could tolerate during the winter. I can barely tolerate Tennessee in the winter.

2. The land diversity. In no more than seven hours, I can travel to mountains (well, hills really, compared to what most call "mountains"), the beach, warmer weather, cooler weather, a lake, woods, wide open fields, or urban, active cities.

3. Our freedoms. This would rank as the #1 reason I live here, but in this specific instance, where you are asking about the US or Canada, I really don't know enough about Canadian laws and such to know how their freedoms compare to ours.

4. The people. There are few places I've been to where the people, as a whole, are as polite, friendly and helpful as the south. This is as a generalization--to be sure some are rude, pretentious bores. And on the flip side, being objective, I'd have to say that people in the south also "tend" to be extremely conservative and...well...bigoted sometimes against those groups of people that are not like them. Again, certainly, not ALL of us are like that; not even MOST of us, I'd say. But the ones that ARE tend to be especially vocal about it.


There's so much more to it, those few things were just off the top of my head and they barely touch the surface.

 

[runnah]

pros: freedom, choices, support, space, diversity of cultures/religions/races/nature. Access to more opportunities.

Cons: taxes, healthcare costs, greed, celebrity worship. Education not valued as highly. Stagnant culturally.

Agree completely but can you say something about "freedom"?
What do you consider as "freedom"?

Freedom to: express yourself politically, religiously, creatively, sexually. Freedom to have the choice to live you life almost exactly as you want to.

 

[Designer]

Agree completely but can you say something about "freedom"?
What do you consider as "freedom"?

Freedom is something that should be thought of as complete in and of itself. As in; there is no such thing as partial freedom. (Note: political expression of the state of our freedom has been deleted).

Freedom to (insert first 10 amendments to the US Constitution here). But the Founders initially resisted enumerating them, considering freedom to be self-explanatory. You're either free or you're not in some way.

 

[mmaria]

Freedom to: express yourself politically, religiously, creatively, sexually. Freedom to have the choice to live you life almost exactly as you want to.

From the place I'm standing, this all sounds too good but those are the most attractive pros for living in USA for me.

On the other hand... the thing I hate the most, I think, is USA's health system. Just wrong on so many levels!

 

[Didereaux]

It is saddening to see the depth of ignorance Americans have of other countries. (and for you of recent education types I use the word ignorance in its true sense i.e. lack of knowledge). I am an American, but have a long association with Canada. We in America in the last 20 years have given up so many of our freedoms that in fact you have more in Canada. As for those claiming lack of diversity in Canad I would advise them to visit any of the cities up there and then make that statement. Canada has for decades had a more open immigration policy than the US. Many assert the lack of freedom to own guns in Canada, that is a pure fiction. Merely more regulation, but even that may change.

As for education? Canada still has it, the US got rid of it 30 years ago. Costs? quite comparable, except the Medical care id free in Canada, and arguable equal or better than that in the US. The CONS fro Canada is really one....CLIMATE.

 

[JoeW27]

I'm interested to hear your opinion on what are pros of living in USA and what are pros of living in Canada?

What are cons?

If you weren't living in either of the countries, which one you would chose to live in and why?

* whole your family living there is not a reason for choosing a country in this thread because I want to hear objective reasons

I am a US citizen and was born here. I've made visits or lived in (flying over or an airport stop doesn't count) 49 of the 50 US states--just missing North Dakota. I've been to Canada at least 40 times and the only major city I have not visited is Calgary. Off the top of my head (and trying to be as objective as possible):

Canada pros:
--much better support system (healthcare, joblessness, work injury). For someone coming from Western Europe, Canada will feel like less of an adjustment.
--Canadians are so damn friendly. I think they deport anyone who doesn't meet their friendliness quotient. There are people and places in the USA that are friendly but we just don't match up to Canadians.
--Vancouver has to be one of the best cities on the planet. Seriously...it's a really cool place. US cities like SF, Seattle, NYC, Portland capture elements of it but no US city has the total package of what Vancouver is.
--longer vacations than the US.
--much safer country. A lot less gun violence there, lower homocide rate the last time I checked.
--VRE is better than Amtrak (comparing national train systems).

Canada cons (and by converse, some US pros):
--one long, f*cking long, hellaciously long winter. Yeah, some US states have long winters too. But every Canadian middle-class person or manager I've ever met owned (not rented, OWNED) a house in either Arizona or Florida. The whole "snow birds" thing that Floridians talk about (i.e.: an RV with Quebec or Montreal license plates hitting the state in December and staying until February.
--job market is (generally speaking) much better in the USA.
--the adjustments that come with a long winter (i.e.: difficult having an outdoor garden and flowers for more than a few months, really can't have a short-haired dog unless it stays indoors 7 months of the year, really need to be in to winter sports like hockey and curling).
--an inferiority complex at times to the US. They're big geographically but we tend to dwarf them in many other ways.
--higher taxes.
--They take the work permit business very seriously in Canada. Very seriously.

Pros for the USA:
--much more diverse geography than Canada (and Canada is pretty diverse). For instance, there is nothing like Florida...or the Grand Canyon...or bayous...or Northern Arizona/Southern Utah...or Big Sur in Canada (and I didn't even mention Hawaii...volcanoes). Not a slam on their country...we just have a wider range of places to visit and see and photograph. Not that you'd run out of opportunities in Canada, only that the USA is an amazingly diverse country to shoot when it comes to places and land. And I didn't even mention Yosemite and Yellowstone which are two of the most amazing collections of incredible stuff crammed in to two areas...Canada has many of those things (hot springs, waterfalls, mountains, granite faces, bears, bison, wolves) but not all in one place like Yellowstone and Yosemite which are true wonders of nature.
--more vibrant and diverse economy. If you're looking for work, the USA offers a heckuva lot more options.

Cons for the USA:
--we're a much more violent country, a lot more gun violence. Often times it's a big shock for Europeans coming to here (but then again, for Central Americans we seem like a bunch of nonviolent pacifists a lot of the time).
--we're at a place politically at the moment where we're kind of dysfunctional, lots of extreme right vs. left national conversation that soaks up a lot of bandwidth and attention so we don't deal with other national matters.
--our infrastructure sucks. For the most part, airports in Europe (and Canada and most of Asia) beat the crap out of out's. Most of our roads are in lousy shape. Wifi isn't nearly as plentiful (unless you're willing to pay) as it is in Europe.
--we charge for a lot of stuff. DC is a bit of an exception but expect to pay to get in to museums, galleries, and national/state parks.
--we're getting more diverse as a country (in terms of our demographic makeup) but most white Americans only speak one language and few the rest of the world as a bunch of foreigners. You can go anyplace on this planet and run into a lot of ignorance about other countries. But the combination of two ocean barriers plus being such a big country where people come to us to sell things (versus us having to go overseas for jobs or to sell all of our stuff) means that we're somewhat ego-centric and see ourselves as the center of the world (somewhat like China I think).

As for arguments about "freedom"...both Canada and the USA are remarkably free. You've got to be remarkably myopic to argue that either one is missing some key freedoms or differs greatly from the other. Lots of economic, social, personal freedoms on both sides. Some small differences but basically two Western Countries who provide a lot of individual choices and have enough space where if you hate people and systems, you can go be a hermit and get away with it.

Again, these are all generalizations, plenty of exceptions to each one. And I don't mean to offend anyone.