> In Europe everything is so much simpler. If you are inside UE all you need to show is your ID card and your are set.

Simpler than that. Inside the Schengen zone, there are no borders at all; you can travel by car from France to Italy or Germany and back without being stopped anywhere.

You can just start working anywhere inside the Schengen area without needing any permit or working visa. Its more like the US States rather than different countries.

Not true. Unfortunately.

The Schengen agreements regulate short-term stays only. For long-term stay or work there are specific laws, different for each country.

I wish this were different, but Europe still has a long way to go before it is a single open market.

If you are a Schengen citizen then try it. Just grab your stuff and go to Valencia or Stockholm and stay there for 10 year, no problem. Of course you have to pay tax there, register locally, etc. As EU citizen, you can even vote in local elections, as voter and candidate. But not all EU countries are in Schengen, and not all Schengen countries EU members. In many countries, the people are just too afraid for change. Same as with the Euro. People in countries like Sweden or UK are just too afraid to give up control of their own currency.

> In Europe everything is so much simpler. If you are inside UE all you need to show is your ID card and your are set.

If you are inside the Schengen area, you only need to show your id card. Go to/from the UK, and you still need your passport.

Traveling between Schengen countries is more comparable to traveling between US states than from Europe to US or reverse, because the whole point of Schengen is a common system for protecting the "outer" borders.

No true, I travel to the UK very often and I only show my ID, which works as a passport inside EU countries.

A German id card is enough to enter/leave the UK. No passport required. I would assume the same holds for other european id cards.

It holds for many European countries. The United Kingdom has separate passport-free travel agreements with most, but not all, Schengen countries (and with some non-Schengen countries as well.)

To be fair, my travel outside of the Schengen has still been a lot more pleasant than the way the US border is described...

Not if you're travelling from Ireland. You don't need to show any ID - though technically, if you're not an EU citizen you're supposed to join a different exit queue.