A few years ago I was chatting with a stranger at an event. He was complaining about the incredible uncertainty and instability of living in the US while on a work permit. He'd moved here thinking he'd soon have a greencard, yet that was over a decade ago and he still had no idea what his future would bring.
I mentioned that if he applied for Canada's skilled worker program tomorrow, he'd probably have PR status in Canada in six months and citizenship in five years.
His reply? “Oh, I know, but I'm here to get rich.”
When I was couchsurfing my way across Europe in 2008, I dreaded the moment some stranger heard my accent and went on a tirade about President Bush. Nowadays, it's the phrase ‘American salary’ that has me slowly edging towards the door.
Having now had literally hundreds of Europeans and Canadians1 tell me how stupid I am for leaving the US, I feel a lot better about those surveys showing American kids can't name six countries or identify that beef comes from cows. My peers from Canada and Europe don't understand that television shows aren't real.
I've long ago given up on explaining that, no, not all Americans are rich.2
In their defense, Americans who go abroad for vacations tend to be in a good financial place. They also tend to be splurging on vacation. Americans who retire abroad tend to be in a higher tax bracket.
The same could be said of Europeans and Canadians vacationing in the US, sure. Only, US media rules the world, so we've been marinating in shows telling us how great America is and so has everyone else.
Reading Notes from Exile made me realize this is not just something I’ve noticed, it’s a thing:
“Most of the countries that you’d want to move to have long-established reputations that act like PR campaigns: Sunny Italy with its friendly folk, or beautiful France with its joie de vivre. They lure you in. But, of course, none of these countries live up to their reputations every day in every way. Once you get there, soon enough you’ll discover the soft white underbelly. Italian bureaucracy is a nightmare. The French aren’t very happy these days. Everywhere has a downside.
My sense is that America’s stock has been in decline for at least 20 years, with all the wars and fuckery abroad and the mass shootings and toxic politics at home. Still, it’s the place to be if you want to get rich.”
I find it easy to believe all those stats about how productive the children of immigrants are. I also see how it’s a nations immigrants — who’ve worked so hard to come to a place, rather than having simply been born there — who really believe in the story a nation tells about itself.
It makes a lot of sense, then, that the US is a place where we feel bad for the have-nots, while continuing to build a winner-takes-all system. America is the place you go to get rich. And those who don’t get rich, well, it’s not for them.
The most ambitious Dane or Spaniard can come to the US, earn that mythical ‘American salary’ everyone talks so much about, and go home to their universal health care and public pension.3 They believe in the American dream and they work to build a world that supports that world view.
The goal is to reward the best and the brightest. The goal is to get rich. They’re so focused on the gleaming dollar signs that they don’t think about those who aren’t going to make it to the top. America is a country where we’re supposed to be independent, supposed to take care of ourselves first, and where money is the key to all of that. America rewards people who are willing to leave their families and communities behind. America attracts people who choose a bigger paycheck over meaning and safety.
Canada is the land of peace, order, and good government. England is the land of tradition, humor, and good manners. France is the land of food, fashion, and culture. Our politicians may gesture towards general prosperity and stability. They talk about families and history. Still, that’s not what the US is about. The US is the land of opportunity.
I’m sorry for mixing a country with a continent here.
The average American wage in 2023 was $66,621.80. The median household income was $80,610. Presumably, if we only considered salaried employees, the number would be higher.
I’m not judging them for making the most of their opportunities, just pointing out that some expats in the US have access to a social safety net that Americans lack. I also suspect that people who haven’t navigated the US medical system — expats, immigrants, or natives — cannot conceive of the realities of the system. Canadians and Europeans complain about their healthcare just as bitterly as Americans do, making it difficult to understand the very real differences between the systems.