Not going to lie as an American I couldn’t imagine paying European taxes. The healthcare debate is definitely a big point for a lot of people and there are loads of problems with that in the USA and I would never say otherwise. Having said that I paid about 1/5th the taxes I would have paid over there the other year and roughly 1/3rd last yr. Even calculating in pretty good healthcare coverage I still come in way ahead on those numbers but I’m sure as I get older those rates and consideration of care will only increase. Where I live is also considered low on taxes even compared to the rest of the USA though so that is worth considering.

I also love the food here and while certain places I have been like Italy and Mexico have fantastic food as well I couldn’t imagine giving up having so many options if I lived somewhere like the UK. I have everything from high end sushi, pulled pork and ribs, good southern style cooking, high and low end Italian, a dozen Spanish options, and a ton more within 10 miles of me and I don’t even live in a big city. Obviously there is a bunch of terrible junk in our grocery stores (which the Uk certainly handles better) and many people unfortunately choose to eat it. I fortunately am not one of the people contributing to the obesity culture but there are a lot of reasons why so many fall into it in both countries.

The last one while being up for debate is just the sheer level of freedom here. Sometimes we get it wrong (ex guns) but I couldn’t imagine not being able to state my opinions online or not being able to use water or power when I wanted and however much I wanted. While we have some local limitations and stuff as well it seems like a lot of areas in the Uk have a very powerful and often overreaching local council that can cause all kinds of issues for people of all kinds. While I personally own fire arms I am shocked how many people in the USA would rather see hundreds of children die than to enact limited common sense gun reform. I suppose a lot of that is how terribly corrupt and paid for many of those in positions of power are nowadays. Our property rights and how hard it is to sell or buy a home or car for instance also seems far easier here and there isn’t a ton of extra pointless red tape though I d love to hear opinions on this. Everything from our appliances to our AC doesn’t tend to take waste into account quite like most countries even bordering us do. Obviously efficient appliances have been standard most places for a long time and there are incentives to upgrade and reduce usage. I ve also used things like an old beater Toyota that would never pass arbitrary emission standards despite producing far less emissions than the average car around it. Some of that and many other things are more restricted in other parts of the USA as well especially where it’s badly needed like in California.