Live in America

I think a lot of the appeal is historical. From 1800 to 1900, the population went from a few million to almost 100 million. It's always been a place for Europeans to go to seek a better life for themselves. All they have to do is pay for the cost of transport and brave the risks. Most of the things we associate with a modern European country such as public education, healthcare, housing and welfare only appeared after the Second World War. Here in the UK, the NHS was established by the 1945-1948 Attlee Labour government. Since then, Europe's been improving.

One could argue now that, depending on your socioeconomic status, Europe is where you might want to be. Sure, a lot of people will earn a lot less but there are reductions in things like the cost of good food, less need to own a car and you don't court bankruptcy by going to the hospital or phoning an ambulance.

I work in a specialised field. If I moved, it'd be to somewhere like Massachusetts which will offer me double my salary but also hike my rent costs. I live in London so they're already quite high as it is. I also enjoy free healthcare here.

There's stuff I like about America. They don't cut costs in their films and TV shows, they have some astounding natural beauty and it is such a vast and rural country that it'd be amazing to just drive from one end to the other. My day to day life is almost certainly better in Ireland or the UK though.

Yeah, uh!

Get up, now!

Ow!

Knock out this!

And what percentage of the population do they constitute?

As for the US and the OP, absolute statements like "America is only great if you're white, rich, and healthy" don't really hold up. You'll find plenty of affluent Black Americans in cities like Dallas, Houston, and Chicago, the same cities where you'll also find people of every race living in poverty.

This popped up in a discussion recently. The UBS Global Wealth Report and the Central Bank of Ireland Household Wealth reports were listed as sources of the percentages that were given. 5% of adults in the Republic of Ireland are estimated to have US-dollar millionaires in global wealth reports, while 10–12% of households have net wealth above €1 million.

If you exclude peoples own houses the number drops dramatically in Ireland though.

A report by Davy found that only about 75,000 households (out of roughly 1.9 million) are "truly" wealthy, defined as having over €1m in investable assets, excluding their home and pension.

A pension can be a considerably asset though. Like my public service pension would be worth millions. Even back in 2017 that was the case for many others too.

Or indeed in 2009. If you all up all the retired Gardai etc in the state, and include the value of their pension pots, the number of millionaires would be much higher.

So we are not doing too bad compared to America.

There are "european style private banks" in the US though. I dont know why you think there isnt when there are so many extremely high net worth individuals. Its a bit of a ridiculous generalisation to say that "they" dont have money. As if bezos, zuckerberg, gates etc dont exist, not to mention that there are more billionaires in the US than any other country. Of course they have private banking, I dont think they stick their money in the local credit union.

One of the few plus points in my view. We could do with some U.S. style justice here with the likes of Martin Nolan and others letting scumbags stroll around free as a bird with 150 + convictions to their name.

You don't believe we should be "tough on crime"?

The lower taxes and opportunities are enticing, but if you can't make it, you can fall very easy with the lack of a safety net. It seems to be only decent if you're a top earner ($100,000+)

For Irish people who move to the US the safety net is the Irish community over there and the flight home.

So if things don't work out you can always come home.

And no one goes to America to fail, they go to work and make good money, if they can't make it they come home.

America is only great if you're white, rich, and healthy

I think she confused correlation with causality. America is great if you're educated and hard working, that will give you the opportunity to earn a lot more than here in Europe and therefore appear wealthy to the others. On the other hand, if your "culture" is your whole identity and skill set then you're gonna have a real bad time in America.

I didn't say they fare better, I said I'd rather be homeless in the US than here, because you can go to a state where it doesn't rain 9 months of the year.

Now you are moving the goalposts.