21–30 of 105 posts
Greed- just expresses itself through different channels Police state - give me a break Politics gone mad - freedom has its price
Unfortunately, as much as it sucks, it is better than every other alternative.
As for finding another place, there are problems with any other places you pick. Can you pick up a high-tech job in Japan without knowing Japanese? Not likely. Japan is also a nifty place to visit but rarely a good place to stay.
Maybe you can run to Canada.
Every place has its faults. For example, Canada tends to be a bastion of liberalism and multi-culturalism. However, in the province of Ontario, Catholic denominated schools are public funded while schools of other religions must be privately funded. That doesn't mean that Ontario is a bad place to live or that its governors are bad people; it means that every place has these huge annoying faults that just suck.
So, the question isn't "where is better than America". That's a silly question. "Where do the annoyances annoy me personally less" is a better question. Maybe you care about domestic spying, but don't mind the state funding Catholic schools. Maybe you hate republicans for crying terror all the time, but don't mind European leaders yelling at immigrants for looking different. Maybe you hate the greed, but don't mind massive consumerism and vending machines selling everything everywhere in Japan.
For what it's worth, I'd have to agree with the couple of people that have mentioned Ireland. It's wealthy, immigrant-friendly, high-tech, with a good and stable government. It's environmentalist and a tad socialist without being anti-business. OH, and it's English speaking. The downsides? Well, broadband is crappy and everything costs a boatload. Police can stop and search without suspicion (as is the case in most countries); that mostly applies to things like drunk driving which has a zero-tolerance policy (as in, no driving if you've had a beer).
You have to figure out what you value - and whether a certain place has it. The Economist's Quality of Life Index (http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/quality_of_life.pdf) is a good place to narrow your list and it's important to note that there are only a dozen countries scoring higher than the US. I'd say, based on who I am, I'd be happy in half to three-quarters of those. Hope this has provided help.
And note, there are not so many "IT-countries" but most of IT companies in them depend on IT industry in US. So you could lose your money.
Singapore. Orderly, English-speaking, low taxes, tax breaks for startups (your corporate income tax on your first $100K/year for your first three years is zero). Although if you're worried that the US is a police state, you might not like it there. It seems to be a country where you're free to do whatever a sensible adult would do, and you really shouldn't deviate from that norm.
While being abroard, people tends to loose interest in politics : they're not concerned by home politics, and they're not citizens of their hosting country. Maybe it's not true for americans since even their internal affairs are covered worldwide.