USA vs Europe

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

If you had a choice where would you live and why ?

[Guest nickjunkie]

ooh this will be an interesting one.

I'm going for the US. I don't think there's any way we could have launched CoolJunkie in the UK and had the same response. Here in the US entrepeneurs are encouraged, in the UK they're held back.

However clubbing in the north of England can't be beat. Let's ave it!

[Guest pod]

The US. Only because my unstable tendencies are given free reign. Of course, if you want to be real specific, I'd say any city over 200,000 in the US. I'd be committed if I lived in a small city. ;D

Though ideally, I'd have the CJ super-jet and just spend my time all over!

[Guest nickjunkie]

The US. Only because my unstable tendencies are given free reign. Of course, if you want to be real specific, I'd say any city over 200,000 in the US. I'd be committed if I lived in a small city.  ;D

Though ideally, I'd have the CJ super-jet and just spend my time all over!

You know I'm eventually going to buy that jet just to keeep Dan quiet

[Guest pod]

Man, if you had 20 billion to spend, I'd be quite envious!

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

However clubbing in the north of England can't be beat. Let's ave it!

Born and raised my love for electronic in the UK, Germany helped a little (a lot), but I have to say that the US gets my vote for places to be and stay.

The UK is small in comparison and it allows for a more intimate vibe sometimes, but then you have the huge festivals which haven't really caught on over here yet. I think the Brit mentality adds to the funk of any given event, and I also think it helps when you see plenty of your mates out in the clubs all going bonkers. The US club life tries too hard to be 'cool' and trendy, when it isn't needed really.

On a non-musical note, the US rewards hard work, and I could never imagine myself living back in the UK on a permant basis, not even London (especially London), and having to deal with grumpy old Brit's (like me) everyday.

[Guest pod]

The legal climate stateside is deterring festivals in most locations too.

To quote Maude Flanders "What about the children, the children?!?!?"

I'll leave my rant for the as-yet-to-be-established "Off Topic" forum.

[Guest fredda]

Oh well...! what a question? ???

I just moved to Europe and I lived in the US for more than 3 years...Although, I am not from US or Europe either...I have to say that since I was very young I felt attracted to both cultures and Thank God I have accomplished to experiment what is to live in both of them...both have given to me a lot of learning and different perspectives of the world itself.

So far...I can say that both cultures have very positive aspects as well as negative´s....in general, one place is not better than the other one...US gives a lot of chances to people from all over the world to make money and to develop a proffesional carreer in any field as long as you do what you have to do according to its rules and that it´s really nice...Europe instead offers real fredom...what i love about it is that this culture takes me to appretiate things as they really are: it is a much more authentic and genuine culture...Europeans do not try hard too proof anything...they just are who they are and that has returned to me, particularly, the chance to really enjoy from the simplest things in life giving quality to my practice of living...

I think to choose between them only depends on the particular interests, needs and goals you are for in a specific moment of your life...

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

that's a very difficult decision to make!

i would say europe right now but that's just because i get bored easily and i'm ready for a change.

europe is great because there are so many cultures so close together....in the time it takes me to drive from miami to the top of florida, i could have made it through a few countries in europe!

although i think i'd miss so many things about the states (food..people...government...and even our idiot president...), i would love to try out europe for a while. the cultures, the history, the environment and so many things in europe are so alluring...

the grass is always greener....

[Guest fredda]

Yey!!! Shannon you should move to Europe...we can be roomates...

Go ahead and graduate.. then take your bag and fly here...we will have so much fun!

I let you pick the country...( I know which one will be, though)

do it pleeasee!!! :-[

[MyIbiza]

If you want to WORK the USA is the place to be.

If you want to live life and party life.

Europe is the place where you'll want to be.

What matters here is $$$

Just my opinion.

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

yes, money matters but i think i heard somewhere that they have a job market in europe...

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

Ok the question was not "If you had flow where would you live?"

Both continents have much to offer and as Fredda pointed out it depends on your needs. Also I'm lucky enough to have actually lived in various Countries in Europe and in a couple of states in the US, and as much as Shannon is bustin' to get over to Europe (ain't gonna happen any time soon baby), I agree that the US can get stagnant after awhile, whereas Europe offers plenty in a smaller space. Granted I can drive through various states in the US but the cultural diffrences are minimal. In Europe I can go through 4 different Countries in a few hours and you will experience big differnces as you travel.

[Guest endymion]

The US economy is (finally) showing strong economic growth but we still have high unemployment rates that aren't expected to change much because US companies learned to become far more efficient during the recession. We all had to lay off most of our own staff but we learned to continue to operate without them. Now that business is picking up again we don't need them any more.

European economies are showing weak economic growth and the outlook is still pretty pessimistic, yet unemployment is stable or dropping. That's because millions of European workers who really should have been optimized out of jobs a long time ago are still employed.

In the long run that's very bad for Europe. Remember the Soviet Union? Inefficiency means that everybody is employed but nobody is getting paid well and nobody is rich, and everybody's job is in danger in the long run because the whole economy is standing on a weak foundation. The recession really hurt the US but it made us stronger and more efficient. Europeans avoided the issue as much as possible and gained nothing. Very short-sighted. If you're looking for a simple job that's easy to find that you can keep for a couple of years then that's easier to find in Europe, but you're much better off in the US if your ambitions go beyond that.

I personally think that Europe wins hands-down on culture, but culture is a lot more fun if you're not poor. Earn the money in the US and then spend a lot of time in Europe.

[MyIbiza]

I wasn't try to compare job markets. What I was trying to say was that:

In the USA people live to work. It's all about work.

In Europe, people live life.

Which was best said by: Endymion

"I personally think that Europe wins hands-down on culture, but culture is a lot more fun if you're not poor. Earn the money in the US and then spend a lot of time in Europe. "

I also agree, Europe wins on culture.

[Guest sarahcj]

The thing with Europe is that every country is so uniquely different with their own histories, customs, languages, it is so hard to generalise. Some Eastern bloc countries are financially very poor and life there is a complete struggle, whereas other countries like Switzerland are very wealthy with lots of jobs.

There is so much diversity there it is hard to compare them. I know that if I was going to live somewhere I would probably have to learn the language first in order to fully appreciate life, else I think my employment opportunities would be somewhat limited.

I like Endymion's idea of making money here and then travelling around Europe.

The USA is definitely more work orientated, no siestas here!

And as for the UK well, it's great but like everywhere has it's problems and the weather sucks!

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

yeah...the weather does suck...

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

hmm let me think... 110 heat index, tropical down pours, sauna like humidity, oh and let's not forget the hurricanes...

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

Miami: SUNNY all year round...

Story about London: two years ago--sitting in a cafe in london. it's sunny outside (in the 70s). then it starts pouring... then hail starts coming down. all in a time-span of an hour and a half.

'nuf said.

but that still doesn't mean it wouldn't be a cool place to live.

[Guest endymion]

Heh, some of us think that it's pretty moderate in Miami. I'm Cajun, the humidity here seems pretty low to me. Our Georgian and Texan friends probably know what I'm talking about. The whole 72-degrees-and-sunny-every-stinking-day thing really bored me about San Francisco. People wear clothes there, that sucks. Miami has the perfect climate because it's moderate enough to be tolerable but it's hot enough that people walk around half-naked all the time! Mmmmm, pretty half-naked people from all over the world, what more could you want? Okay, so maybe somebody could turn the humidity knob down a little, but I'm not going to nit-pick.

And Switzerland, that's not fair! Switzerland has a lot of cash on hand but that has little to do with productivity. You can hold up the big financial gap between Luxembourg and Kosovo, but then I can pull out the gap between Conneticut and Louisiana. Trends are still trends.

Here's an alarming trend: Two of the biggest and most influential exports from the US to Europe and to the rest of the world are technology and entertainment. The technology sector did so well that it destroyed the entertainment industry, then it imploded itself. Lovely. What options do we have left for forcing the rest fo the planet to bend to our will? Bombs! We have lots of those because we were very rich until very recently. What happens when we run out of cash and can't afford to buy more bombs?

Here's a phophesy: if the US can't create a biotech boom in the next two or three years and then sanely capitalize on it without overvaluing the sector and bursting another bubble then the US economy is just screwed. We'll become another British Empire, a country full of people who have fond memories of the good old days when we used to run the planet. If that happens then the playing field will be level enough that it won't much matter where we all live. In that scenario Sarah is dead-on: the only thing that will matter at that point is culture and language. Learn to speak Chinese, soon you might have to.

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

.....huh?

Dude what are you talking about ?

[Guest pod]

woah! We go from weather to bombs!

But damn, we do know how to make 'em! Let's put it this way, you can not only tell the bomb what building/tent/whatever to hit, you can tell it what door to go in, front or back! (GPS and all...)

As for having to learn Chinese? Doubt it. Broken English is the world's second language. Even the Chinese speak it. The entertainment industry may be in disarray here, but it's still a powerful force abroad. When the Pakistani militants stop their daily routine of field-stripping their AK-47s to rig up a satellite dish to watch a pirated feed of Baywatch, you know you've got something. When Japanese TV hires American actors to hawk vitamins, sodas, and nifty WiFi phones, you've got another thing. A recent article of Wired had a line about a Baghdad taxi driver who was proud of his Backstreet Boys CD collection. That's our strength, media.

Grant it, the quality of the entertainment exported may be in doubt, but the overall influence is hard to deny.

[Guest endymion]

Vinyl Junkie, the whole entertainment/tech/bombs thing is one of the biggest factors for an American who is trying to decide where to live. Pretty much everybody everywhere hates us now. A lot of us are more than a little worried that our friend Dave won't make it back from his five-month Africa trip without a bunch of shrapnel in him or something. If I had your funny accent and your passport then I wouldn't have to worry about it so much. As it is I'm going to have to tag along with you guys and pretend that I'm British the next time that I go traveling.

Dan: The Chinese GDP has been growing by over 8% every year since 1980. At that rate they could outpace the US by 2025, sooner if we keep making huge mistakes like the tech boom. 8% is a huge number for such a large economy, it's worth worrying about. Our global dominance is not a birthright. The US is a good place to live right now, but that might not be the case in a few years. We aren't building a lot of positive Karma with all of those bombs and with pulp like Baywatch.

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

How do posts on cooljunkie always turn from something light to something heavy

Endymion--I think the West should see China as a possible threat. But there are a few obstacles that can impede its future growth (increasing GDP is not the only factor). China is politically unstable (at the moment) with its Communist regime. China really struggles to maintain order over such a large country, doesn't it?

Also, you have to consider its population and resource ratio--1/4 of the world's population with not many resources to work with...and it's dwindling by the minute.

Er..back to the topic--both the States and Europe rock and I would be happy living in either one!

[VinylJunkie1414777741]

You people have way too much time on your hands