> My parents are very family oriented and were somewhat upset when I left my home country

Also you:

> It's just incredible to me that someone would act against their own economic interests so blatantly

It appears you didn't adopt your parents' family values. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think the strong will to remain near one's roots SHOULD be all that "incredible" to you.

I'm also the child of immigrants, and left their adopted country for another for "greener pastures". But my parents left their home country to escape tyranny, not just economic incentive. They did the hard thing because the other option was dangerous.

Are we really at THAT point? Are we doomed to always run from the tyrant, or can we build a different society where families don't have to be split up.

I think your post is a bit self righteous. Perhaps the demand for your skills in other countries made it easy for you to immigrate. Most cannot do that. They're stuck there, and I think are reasonable to want their country to do a better job supporting the quality of life of it's residents rather than treating them like peasants.

Regardless of what I "should" think, if people are complaining about not being able to afford to live somewhere, then they stay there while their disposable income drops and drops until they're struggling, all while alternatives are available, that is incredible to me.

I can empathise with feeling sad about leaving and delaying, but I don't think I'll ever be able to really understand the author's final decision.

> Perhaps the demand for your skills in other countries made it easy for you to immigrate. Most cannot do that. They're stuck there

But this isn't exactly what I'm talking about, is it? The author is bilingual, has a Bachelor's degree, and lives in the EU (and even further, the Schengen area), a single labour market.

We can talk in general about how some people are stuck. Indeed, helping people who can't help themselves is one of the main purposes of government, but the author doesn't seem stuck. Their comments and background indicate they're in Portugal by choice.

I have yet to meet the child of a Jewish family who does not intimately understand this, given how frequently those families often had to move, while staying extremely close.

Many young Portugueses fail to benefit from being part of the EU.

Portugal has the 4th highest rate of emmigrated working age population in the EU27, only surpassed by Romania, Lithuania, Croatia.

Portugal had one of the single biggest brain drains in history post 2008 crisis. People have absolutely voted with their feet.

Those who stayed behind, either stayed because they benefit from the cronyism or are held back by family or lack of marketable skills.

You called this bullshit and write that many Portuguese have already left.

Both can be true, and you admit as much:

> Those who stayed behind, either stayed because they benefit from the cronyism or are held back by family or lack of marketable skills.

This is what we're talking about, it appears the author is being held back by family.

Many people have voted with their feet and left, and many haven't, both are true.

Or maybe none of those, there are plenty of people with good jobs here and no reason to leave, not all of us make minimum wage or live in Lisbon.

Or because they don't want to leave their home country and have hope things will get better.