Re:The last days of Silicon Roundabout
by ben_w on Wednesday September 22, 2021 @08:52AM
(#28615728)
I’m a British citizen who moved to Berlin.
My move was partly because of the Investigatory Powers Act, partly because of Brexit.
I considered several countries, including the USA, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand. My reasons for rejecting the USA were a mixture of political and economic: even the Democrats are uncomfortably right-wing for me; I place a negative value on the 2nd amendment; I would rather walk or cycle than have a car; the legal minimum paid holiday in the EU is 4 weeks[0], plus public holidays, plus (this might just be Germany IDK) paid sick leave and paid compassionate leave and (not that this has yet happened but it is on my bucket list) an enormous amount of paid parental leave; the American healthcare system is terrifying (I am currently getting adverts on Facebook to crowdfund some American strangers’ care, not even sure why I see that ad); every anecdote about American cops (even the experiences of people I know personally) has been negative.
I do like several of the things America has done — Big tech, everything NASA — and there is appeal in both the higher salaries and better weather the Bay Area has compared to both the UK and Berlin, and I severely underestimated the difficulty of learning German, but given the nature of my political rejection of the UK is such that even Democrats in control of every branch of DC would still be marginal for me, Trump winning (and on a platform that denigrated migrants, a category I became a member of the moment I left the UK) totally eliminated it.
Forgot to mention: when actually visiting the US on four separate one-month visits, I was repeatedly shocked by poor tech adoption, poor quality housing, and the high cost of healthy food options even in supermarkets.
My move was partly because of the Investigatory Powers Act, partly because of Brexit.
I considered several countries, including the USA, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand. My reasons for rejecting the USA were a mixture of political and economic: even the Democrats are uncomfortably right-wing for me; I place a negative value on the 2nd amendment; I would rather walk or cycle than have a car; the legal minimum paid holiday in the EU is 4 weeks[0], plus public holidays, plus (this might just be Germany IDK) paid sick leave and paid compassionate leave and (not that this has yet happened but it is on my bucket list) an enormous amount of paid parental leave; the American healthcare system is terrifying (I am currently getting adverts on Facebook to crowdfund some American strangers’ care, not even sure why I see that ad); every anecdote about American cops (even the experiences of people I know personally) has been negative.
I do like several of the things America has done — Big tech, everything NASA — and there is appeal in both the higher salaries and better weather the Bay Area has compared to both the UK and Berlin, and I severely underestimated the difficulty of learning German, but given the nature of my political rejection of the UK is such that even Democrats in control of every branch of DC would still be marginal for me, Trump winning (and on a platform that denigrated migrants, a category I became a member of the moment I left the UK) totally eliminated it.
[0] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX...
Edit:
Forgot to mention: when actually visiting the US on four separate one-month visits, I was repeatedly shocked by poor tech adoption, poor quality housing, and the high cost of healthy food options even in supermarkets.