Ex-pats are a different issue, and I think in my first post I excluded them. A lot are retired, many "live" there, but haven't emigrated. It is one thing to move to Lake Como when you are George Clooney. It is another to emigrate to NYC if you are 30 years old and are planning to start a business.
Also, ex-pats live in places like San Miguel de Alende. The fact that 500 (pure guess) Americans who are retired to go live in a place like that is a world away from people who emigrate to the US from anywhere.
It is not surprising that European countries are not in the top 10. Mexico is 100 million people, a river away, where there are millions of poor. Sweden is 8 million. And you think it means something that Mexico has more people coming to the US. Yeah, there are 12 times as many, living 100 times worse off an are 1,000 miles closer.
Italy is an ocean away, without the probems of Mexico, and only has 60 million. It doesn't exactly show anything that Mexico has more immigrants. The same for China - a billion people in poverty. The fact that there are more Chinese immigrants numerically is not much of a surprise.
Whites may be a minority in 2050 because 100 million Mexicans live next door, when they come here they average more kids than whites. Even Eropeans don't have that many kids. My friends who are an English/Swedish couple have one kid. The Italian/Canadian couple same. The English couples I know all have one or two. And when someone from China has 3 or 4 you think that the end result means Europeans aren't coming here???
Your neck of the words sounds very sad. I am not surprised that the owner of my fav tratoria is Italian. What is surprising is that most of his waiters are also Italians, not related. My poutlry guy is Irish.
You say personal antecdotes don't mean anything. That isn't really true. If you told me 50% of the people living in L.A. were amputees below the knee, I would know it is false only because I see people. I don't need a study.
If I can't go a week without seeing European immigrants, it means something. You tell me what it means.
It isn't only L.A. that has lots of Europeans. SF, San Diego, Monterey have a lot Europeans. I will let you know who the Brit's garden party is this Sunday. (And she isn't even in Santa Monica.) Try Chicago. Try Atlana. Try Miami.
Get out more.
100-150% debt to GDP, God only know what the unfunded liablilities are....
now this.
Lemme give you a hint, they're not protesting for BIGGGER budget cuts.
http://roarmag.org/2011/05/spanish-revolution-protests-spread-europe-videos-democracia-real-ya/
The funniest thing is that all the young people are demanding a system that is so expensive that they won't be able to get anything when they are older. The benifits given out now are not sustainable, to the point of even Socialists, once they are in power like in Spain, are saying they have to cut stuff.
Then the people who would get the most out of restructuing the systen, the young people, protest.
... people figure out they can use it as a way of using the government as an intermediary to take other people's stuff and give it to themselves. Once that happens, it is only a matter of time before we see governments like those in Europe that are essentially dead men walking.
That is why ideas that were originally in our Constitution but have since been re-interpreted into non-existence were so important.
The idea of a government with strictly limited powers -- powers that most certainly did NOT include the ability to have a social security system, corporate welfare, hire persons on behalf of Monsanto, medicare, medicaid, afdc, etc etc etc -- is a government that cannot be used as a proxy for theft on a grand scale, and hence would never overextend itself into oblivion.
Of course, the powers granted in article 1 section 8 have now been misconstrued to the point of expansive meaninglessness. So we aren't far away from emulating the folks in Europe.
I simply hope that the huge wake-up call we've gotten by seeing the mess we're in (and the bigger mess the Europeans are in) will get us to change course before it's too late.
Human nature is what it is. Though the behavior of any given individual is impossible to predict; aggregate behavior of large groups is pretty predictable and it can be summarized as: gimme gimme what I want right the fuck NOW and I don't give a shit that 6 months from now I'm gonna die or that you had to steal it or kill people to give it to me!
Just look at the spoiled punks in Europe.
If this were not the case here as well, we wouldn't have a 14 trillion dollar debt.
When people scream for spending cuts right up to the point where it affects them! Oh, no! Don't cut Federal and State aid to my school district. But don't you dare increase local taxes, either! Just one of many examples of the 'ol NIMBY factor.
The other thing that should be noted is the brain drain from Europe continues.
Excluding Americans who are working for U.S. countries and are temporarily in Europe and excluding ex pats who are rich and can live anywhere, it is very rare to find Americans who have moved to Europe to live and be part of the working classes. In the 30 years I have been going there, I have run into a tiny number, and usually they haven't "moved" to Europe, but are living with a boyfriend and working as a waitress, or similar situations.
On the other hand, the talent that moves from Europe to the U.S. continues.
I cannot count the number of talented European business people I know in L.A. alone. Look at the cooking world and that is just the start. I can't guess at the number of restaurants, bakeries, chocolate shops, specialty food places.
Outside of the cooking world I know scores of Europeans in all fields. Dentists, doctors, teachers, etc.
I was just talking to a woman from Bologna, who still loves her "homeland," but wants the "opportunity" she finds here.
Talent gained in the U.S.
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