9 Reasons Why We Are Choosing Our Next Home Country
I now live in the US. A lot of people are willing to come to live here. I must confess I had doubts about writing this blog post. When I mention to friends that we are getting ready to leave America for good, I get a lot of questions. So, here goes. My nine reasons for leaving America.
I came to the US almost 10 years ago on a contract with Microsoft. The move to the US was not at the top of my preferred destinations list, but I wanted to leave Russia. My reasons for leaving Russia are a topic for another interesting chat. I was looking mostly towards Singapore or Europe but could not find a job position there and the invitation to move to the United States came when I felt I had to finally make a move.
Working for American companies for a long time and having been to the US innumerable times, I held no illusions about life in America. And only after my move I came to understand that I still had my rose glasses on.
Returning to Russia simply was not an option, so I committed to the country and decided to stay in the US for a minimum of 10 years to earn my Social Security benefits. For those of my friends who are not familiar with American realities, this is a program that allows you to earn retirement benefits when you reach the retirement age of 67.
With the end of my 10-year commitment in view, my husband and I have decided that it’s time for a change, time to move to a new location where we are able to not just survive but thrive.
So, what is driving us out of the country? Not only myself but also my American-born and raised husband? In short, we are not fitting in. Not for a moment in these 10 years I felt secure and fulfilled. My husband gave me a sense of personal happiness, everything else did not.
Some of my American friends laughingly referred to my “socialist” background. But our decision to move has nothing to do with it. Here is what I think.
1. Americans pay high taxes. About 25% of everything I earn goes to the government. Yet, people get nothing back from these taxes (no health care, no education, a high level of poverty, homelessness, crime, and inequality). My European friends pay higher taxes, but they get a lot of benefits in return.
2. I have always held reasonably well-paid jobs in the US, even after leaving Microsoft. Through my employment, I am covered with medical insurance. For our family of 3 (one of my daughters is still on our medical plan), I must pay $700/month in addition to what my company pays for me. The total amount for insurance with what the company pays comes to more than two thousand per month. I still have a $2000 deductible that I must pay out of pocket before the insurance kicks in.
Many people I know went bankrupt after not being able to pay their medical bills. And my constant fear is about what would happen if I lost my job or got seriously ill.
3. I have two weeks of holidays and one week of personal paid leave a year. While this is much better than many people I know, it is far from 4 weeks in Russia and five weeks in most European countries. All my colleagues take one week at a time. Using two weeks of vacation at a time takes a significant effort.
4. My children are grown up, and I don’t have to think about maternity leave. But people around me do. And for most, maternity leave is a dream, and paternity leave is being delusional.
5. Higher education is free for its citizens in Europe and inexpensive for non-Europeans who choose to study there. In the US, I am still paying off the tuition for one of my daughters. I opted to do that because I didn’t want her to inherit the burden of school debt that most college-educated Americans carry for half their lives.
6. Retirement is also a thing of a dream for most. One in 4 Americans has no retirement savings. The social security benefits I referred to earlier will not take you far as you grow older. It could probably cover your expenses in some lower-cost European countries, but not in the US. People tend to work while they can.
There are many other reasons why we want to leave.
7. Gun violence is scary. 2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/23/2020-shootings/). In 2020, gun violence killed nearly 20,000 Americans, and an additional 24,000 people died by suicide with a gun. Yet, the moment I speak about how a gun limitation would help, I am accused of being against The Second Amendment that guarantees a "right of the people to keep and bear arms." if you think that living in a safe neighborhood can give you the sense of security, you can’t be more wrong. Before the pandemic, I used to live in downtown Seattle. The city of Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks. A courthouse stands two streets away from my home. It is considered one of the worst locations in the city, with constant violence. A couple of judges have been attacked. Not a month passes without some shooting.
8. Then, there are things like denial of climate change. While the West Coast forests are burning, the other side of the country is plagued with hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and other calamities. Still, half of the population (primarily followers of Trump who never accepted that climate change was a thing) doesn’t care.
9. And the final thing is racial awareness. There are white supremacists on one side and on the other side, there is a feeling that one should feel shame if he/she had “white privilege”. You no longer can express any opinions for fear of being politically incorrect. Once in a chat with some colleagues, we were discussing preferences for the music stars. I mentioned that I am not a fan of Lizzo as her substantial figure in leotards upsets my sense of beauty. When I am looking at a singer, I like to enjoy both the music and the look. There is nothing wrong with not being skinny. Adele isn’t and she is great. Montserrat Caballe never had a model look. Yet, they had the good taste to wear clothes that suited them and did not flaunt every skin fold. Well, suffice it to say, my discussion did not go well. I was accused of being a racist.
I still love America. I am fascinated with its vastness. The beauty of nature is captivating. Just before the pandemic Randy and I took a road trip from Seattle, through multiple states to Ohio to visit his father. It was a journey I would never forget.
Metropolitan museum is my most favorite place of all where I can get lost for days re-surfacing for a brief stroll in Central Park and some food.
Metropolitan Opera is another magnet I am permanently drawn to.
I will still, without doubt, visit them returning from time to time to the US. And one of my most prized possessions is my American passport. Although not as desirable as it used to be a quarter of a century ago, it still gives me the ability to move without visas across half the globe.
However, all the good things don’t win over the insecurity and constant struggle for having a decent lifestyle.
Last year anthropologist Wade Davis wrote an article, The Unraveling of America in the Rolling Stone, that summed up what is going on in America now.
“The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.
How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community?
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A year ago Randy and I decided that we need to look around and finally make up our minds on the country that would be our future home. The country where we would have health care, affordable housing, and would feel less vulnerable, knowing that if something happens to us and we cannot take care of ourselves, we would not be out in the streets and the country would take care of us. We also want to live our senior years in a country where we are able to not just survive but thrive, where time for leisure and family, basic social services are not a pipe-smoke dream. Do you want to know what is our future destination? Stay tuned. We will take you along all the way.
