Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 274 posts

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#161

Post by lazide »

ryantgtg wrote: post #147
seibelj wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would fully support withdrawing 100% of our aid and support and letting the EU defend itself. Very tired of giving my taxes to you guys.

Aren’t we mostly giving that money to US defense contractors? Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing are getting the bulk of that $40 billion.

Nothing like giving away the ‘about to expire’ food (I mean missles) to refresh the pantry - and all for a good cause of causing grief to historic opponents who are acting somewhat comic book evil at the moment.

We don’t talk about Iraq of course.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#162

Post by the_only_law »

christophilus wrote: post #60
teekert wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been to the US a couple times for work (all over), always travelled around a bit. I found the people to very, very warm and kind everywhere. Racial segregation is sometimes too real in some places but the black people there seem so positively surprised and very kind when you ask them something as a white dude, it’s easy and rewarding to just be the change you want to see in that respect. The only reservation I’d…

> the black people there seem so positively surprised and very kind when you ask them something as a white dude Where were you? I live and grew up in the south east, and have always chatted with my black neighbors / clerks / coworkers / etc when out and about. It’s so normal that I can’t imagine a response of surprise.

I'm here in the south too, and the way my friends up north and out west talk, they seem almost more segregated than the south.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#163

Post by lotsofpulp »

demygale wrote: post #157
teekert wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been to the US a couple times for work (all over), always travelled around a bit. I found the people to very, very warm and kind everywhere. Racial segregation is sometimes too real in some places but the black people there seem so positively surprised and very kind when you ask them something as a white dude, it’s easy and rewarding to just be the change you want to see in that respect. The only reservation I’d…

We have really good insurance and now that my partner needs treatment for a chronic illness, they are denying the treatment. It’s lowering her quality of life, may lead to her death, and it’s absolutely standard operating procedure for insurance companies. It’s a delaying tactic. Healthcare is hard here.

The only reason insurance would (legally) be able to deny treatment is if there is no good efficacy data.

If your doctors say there is supporting data for the treatment they are recommending, then filing and appeal is an option.

https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision...

I believe it works similarly in countries with taxpayer funded healthcare. Some group of people at some point in the process decide what is eligible to be paid for by the government.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#164

Post by Tainnor »

Omniusaspirer wrote: post #97
Tainnor wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would I rather be disabled or unemployed in France? Probably, but that's not exactly the HN audience. But it's also about knowing that your friends, your family, the people who make your coffee, the people you meet in the park etc. will have a safety net to fall back on. I do think that I'm not the only person who finds that reassuring. re. the "I make more money", I realise as a person without kids, I have a skewe…

It's less the desire to be grotesquely wealthy and more than ability to work less time for the same quality of life. I've taken several 6+ month breaks between contracts now and they gave a lot of clarity and perspective to what life could be. Time is our most valuable and limited asset.

Many people in Europe, at least in the tech sector, seem to work less overall, whereas when I worked for an American company, our colleagues over there seemed to routinely work overtime, be on call without compensation etc.

I work 32h a week, I earn enough money for myself and I feel that my work-life-balance is pretty good. I think I prefer this to working really hard for 10-15 years, almost burning out and retire and do nothing.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#165

Post by [deleted] »

birdyrooster wrote: post #51
diognesofsinope wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federal government literally spends over $1T on healthcare for the elderly. The healthcare issues in the country have never been about the old.

They will just send you home to die when you become a burden to them. Happens all the time, old folks just get told to pound sand and die and no one does shit about it.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#166

Post by 2143 »

Are you permanently moving, or is it likely to be temporary (a few years at most)?

I suppose not too much can go wrong. I have a feeling quality of life might be slightly lower, compared to what I'm told about Berlin. If you don't like it you can move back.

Despite what you hear on the news about the internal issues there, my opinion (based on spending a few years there) is that America is a cool place.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#167

Post by silisili »

wozer wrote: post #30
bshepard wrote: post #7

Hello there, I live in Berlin now and used to live in the United States. My family is there, and I go back to the east coast of the US often. The degenerating and dystopian quality of the United States is difficult to overstate, but almost impossible to capture verbally. Whatever one cause attributes to the systematic breakdown of the US, it is difficult to deny the realities of the decline -- massive alcohol and nar…

Is it really that bad in the US? Makes me wonder if I should continue to invest in the US stock market...

No. It's hyper localized. So someone in SF may think the US is turning to crap because they see an increase in homeless, drug use, etc.

In all the areas I've lived here, which are not big cities, you see none of that.

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#168

Post by sofixa »

seibelj wrote: post #142
sofixa wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that all is coming from the US? https://www.statista.com/chart/27278/military-aid-to-ukraine... 25% comes from the US, but if you order by GDP(second graph), US is fourth. So overall a very big contribution, but far from "all". And about "negotiations" specifically, you're simply wrong - the ones keeping an open line with Putin (for zero gain so far) are Macron and Scholz (both say it's with Zelensky…

I would fully support withdrawing 100% of our aid and support and letting the EU defend itself. Very tired of giving my taxes to you guys.

Are you under the impression that Ukraine is a part of the EU or that helping Ukraine defends itself means anything for the defence of the EU? Both of those are untrue.

We are all helping Ukraine because it's the right thing to do (being invaded by a genocidal regime is not a nice thing to happen to anyone).

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#169

Post by nemothekid »

armitron wrote: post #119
the_third_wave wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the black people there seem so positively surprised and very kind when you ask them something as a white dude In ~1999 I was in New York, walking around with a sizeable backpack and asked around in Harlem where to find the Sugar Hill hostel. I'd asked two men about where to find it when I was approached by two young women who advised me not to ask these questions here as that would not be safe. I was rather surpris…

I wouldn't try the same thing today.

Odd comment given how that area of Harlem is much much safer today than it was in the 90s

Re: Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?

#170

Post by VictorPath »

seibelj wrote: post #41
bshepard wrote: post #7

Hello there, I live in Berlin now and used to live in the United States. My family is there, and I go back to the east coast of the US often. The degenerating and dystopian quality of the United States is difficult to overstate, but almost impossible to capture verbally. Whatever one cause attributes to the systematic breakdown of the US, it is difficult to deny the realities of the decline -- massive alcohol and nar…

This is hilariously inaccurate and essentially a stereotype perceived from the Reddit front page. Europe is experiencing legions of issues including runaway inflation, a government and social safety net that is rapidly becoming unaffordable, a migrant crisis that is causing their own racial issues that they pretend don’t exist but are causing huge polarization and the rise of right-wing parties, a business climate th…

> Europe...a government and social safety net that is rapidly becoming unaffordable

Germany has had national health for 140 years, and people have said it is "rapidly becoming unaffordable" for 140 years.

I talk to older people who get US health care. It is incredibly expensive compared to other countries (which few deny), and nowadays they can barely get ahold of their doctor.

> a business climate that has produced essentially zero large companies in decade

Cisco hoovers up many network companies, FAANG hoover up startups, US mobile and land is basically either Verizon or AT&T, the ad agencies, accounting firms, media firms and on and on are all consolidating into a small oligopoly, I can't think of any major sector around a few decades where this has not happened. Europe is not much different.

Post reply on HN