Anyone thinking of emigrating?

Yup, hence why I'd be planning to rent medium term.

The high property taxes work to keep prices down though. That $3390 would be the equivalent of an extra 100k on a mortgage. Which is a lot but then the prices are lower to begin with partly because of the property tax.

How much of there has there been on this thread?

I criticise the government for the enabling of a non-contributing former working class seemingly having the right to the same standard of living as a couple who work full time. How many usually vote in an election, 2 million? So maybe I'm 0.00005% responsible for that.

I criticise the government for prioritising new arrivals for accommodation. Again, maybe that's 0.00005% my fault.

I criticise the government for spending massive, massive amount on health for no return.

etc.

Call it moaning and whinging if you like but it's mostly not stuff that I can effect massive change on. I've made some really **** decisions in my life, no doubting that, but me realising that there are better opportunities elsewhere isn't moaning and whinging.

EDIT: Just to maybe round off the post a bit. :P There are people who'll never do anything to try and improve themselves or their situation, for sure. But they exist everywhere. Seeing actual issues first and second hand is a bit different though. Again I'll use my sister as an example, hitting 30, all her mates are now realising, ****, time to settle down if I want kids. Her friends from school got pregnant in their teens (or early 20s while doing FAS courses) and are happy out, never worked, never will work. One of them is considering having another one, financial considerations don't need to be taken into account. Her friends from college got qualified, worked their absolute arses off, got fucked with massively reduced pay when they graduated post-recession and are just about now getting on the property ladder. Even on their excellent salaries they're having to borrow for a deposit for the most part so that's another couple of years of not being able to afford a kid. Then when the kid does come along they'll be paying extortionate creche fees while the ones who aren't working will get free creche places.

Those are the kind of issues I see among my peer group and it's **** infuriating. I'm fine, it's just me and the dog and other than starting a menagerie that's all the responsibility I see me having any time soon. So I'm lucky in comparison to some. But seeing people who worked their absolute arse off (and btw my parents both came from incredibly rough and poor backgrounds) like my sister and seeing her get the square root of **** all as reward, well it's just bloody wrong. These are people who made all the "right" decisions btw, I think a lot of them are right to feel sleighted.

Yeah I was disappointed to find that despite my company having a presence in the states it seems the only long-term visa for internal company transfers applies to executive and upper management roles which isn't the path I'm on. There's a semi-loophole where if you do get sponsored to get in then you can work for a different company once they'll do the paperwork. Seems like a lot of companies will hire people already there on such a visa but have much less interest in doing the legwork.

Me too. Good Government, functioning society, variety here. Why would I inflict Ireland upon myself. There is still a pull but every logical bone in my body says don't do it.

If I already owned a house then I'd be more likely to hang about. The security would be nice.

I dunno man, the last 2 years have just been so constantly bloody miserable here. Last year while we were doing **** all I sat and watched 135k people in Indianapolis cheer some guys vroom vrooming around. Switch around and see crowds at F1 across Europe. The fact that so much of our "culture" revolves around drinking (and I don't drink anyway) was obvious before but after the last 2 years it's even clearer. I look at Europe and America and see cities nicer and cheaper than Dublin with so much more to do. Hilarious seeing bands selling tickets in Dublin for twice the price of elsewhere. Any time I look into hobbies there's roadblocks to them in Ireland. Want a nice car? Better make a **** ridiculous amount of money. Want a powerful car? Good luck. Want a motorbike? **** you you can't be trusted and have to dick about for 2 years. The low population also just means that a lot of stuff that are hobbies even in the UK never reached critical mass over here.

If you have family members living in the US they can fulfil the sponsor route as well, providing they are willing.