So another thread ( https://lemmy.world/post/17746018 ) got me wondering… How many people would want to move to another country?
Just to provide a concrete scenario, let’s assume that in your current country you (magically) have a decent-ish job. They open up offices in another country of your choosing, and you have the option of moving there and work for an equivalent living wage.
They’re able to get visas set up (however improbable that may be) for you and any family, but you have to go through the process of finding housing, physically moving your belongings and anything else you need to set up.
What countries would you take the offer to move to, if any?
Not really. I live in Switzerland, thing is, there are no countries that surpass it in terms of safety, income, social security and political stability combined. For me at least it is the perfect country to live in.
I (originally from the US) moved to Germany with a Swiss girlfriend, so we visit Switzerland frequently and know the cultural/politics.
I find Germany to have much better social policies than Switzerland, such as better worker rights/conditions, public health insurance. The Swiss people voted against having minimum 5 weeks vacation and also just rejected caps on the private insurance minimum costs. The politics are much more conservative/individualistic compared to Germany. On a positive side, Switzerland probably has the best public transport system in Europe.
Not sure about social policies, for example homelessness exists here only by choice. Every citizen will get a roof over their head if necessary.
Medical insurance could be better but on the other hand we have one of the worlds best healthcare systems (for which I pay 200 bucks a month with a deductible of 2500.-).
And if the politics are conservative, which can’t really be as the conservatives have below 50% of the votes and results are usually determined by what the center party wants, that is what the people want (we all vote every 3 months on various issues) and I will respect that.
And even then, Germany may soon be controlled by CDU/Afd and I seriously doubt anyone would want to live in that kind of Germany.
Canada: 25th in the ranks, apparently, but 0 and 0. While I didn’t mind paying the premiums - and it slid with my income - the idea of a deductible/copay/user-fee I find abhorrent, chilling and the wrong way down a slippery slope.
I did not say it is free, but the price to performance ratio is quite good. Cost however is increasing slowly but steadily which is a bit scary.
Humblebrag, eh?
I had the chance to join Google (Zurich?) 2014, but it got kiboshed when we weren’t sure we both could get along with just English, and her with no ability to work. So we asked for Ireland, but they don’t work like that. And we were out.
Basically everyone speaks some English, wouldn’t have been an issue. And I am not saying everything is perfect, just that there is no better alternative.