OK, I am now using an unusual break this week, had a very busy week. Now I am writing part 2: Australia, Canada or USA. Let’s talk about USA. I have lived there close to 2 years; and had travelled to no less than 20 cities while I was there; and most of my relatives (and increasing number of friends) are also based in USA; majority of them have moved there from Australia and Asia.

So, that is a statment already; contrary to what many Australians think (those who have not travelled especially); USA actually has probably larger if not same Australian expat-community as in UK, and in fact, majority of Aussies live in USA are usually highly qualified professionals instead of part-time workers.

To give you some examples; I met 3 people while I was in US 2 months who are from Australia.

1.  A lady now works in NASA, she graduated from high school and university in Sydney, and is now hoping to become an astronaut, she is already doing a lot of training (WOW!) no such job in Australia…

2. A lady based in San Diego and is now a successful interior designer / urban designer; she is from Brisbane originally , and has lived in US for 6 years already.

3. A guy which I met twice on the same week (as I was flying to North America twice in the same week (ouch!), he is doing this every 2 weeks, I can’t believe it, he is a song-writer.

USA is a land of opportunities, let’s not deny that. You may think China, but really, US is as close as you can get as there are a lot of cultural similarities; and it has many industries that other parts of the world simply do not have. The best thing about US vs other big markets like China or Japan are 3 things:

1) Great quality of life, and very cheap as well, US is one of the most affordable places in the world

2) A culture that fosters innovation, business and creativity - this is very different from Asia

3) A place you can really just be yourself, and you can express freely (maybe too free) just about anything and everything.

As usual, let’s talk about 5 pros and 5 cons about living in USA.

1. Opportunities, I think USA is especially a great place for business owners; it encourages and fosters innovation, entrepreneursim, and the society respects small business owners as well.

2. Cost of Living, is amazingly low, yes, there are multimillion houses in many cities; but these are balanced by reasonable houses. You can live in so-called “tier-2″ cities; but these cities like Seattle, San Jose, Atlanta, Charlotte are great cities themselves with 2, 3, 5+ million; they are as big as Sydney and Melbourne!

3. Economies of Scale, just about everything in US is about economies of scale. I passed a port the other day and saw lines of container ships coming in; amazing; this has also helped to ensure pricing to stay low. Competition is another great advantage; which is why food, telecommunications bills are about 1/5th to 1 / 10th of Australia.

4. Very cultural: US has so many cultural places; I don’t why many say US has no culture? It has hundreds of great galleries and museums (and often free); if you are into sports, you can watch NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and whatever other college sports (personally, I think it’s crazy).

5. Positive Thinking: OK, I know you will say what about recession. By large, US people look up onto successful people and want to become them rather than criticize on them. It is a culture for people with motivations; they are also generally more optimistic.

5 Bad Things about US

1. Too much convenience: I think maybe they can be over-optimistic, even though houses are cheap in US; many Americans simply spend too much money on unnecessary items; there is a culture of waste I feel, and I don’t appreciate that. Free cups, free drinks, free food, free services; people are spoiled and many not be a good thing.

2. Debt: USA and many households have high debts, and they are what we call as “bad debts”, like credit cards and unnecessary spending on useless good. If you want to save money but lack of discipline, better stay away from USA, too much temptation there.

3. Crime Rate: An unfortunate problem, I had personally witnessed just 1 incident (armed robbery); but crime is a real problem in US. Although, every country has the same problem, in US, good and bad areas are very distinctive (same in Australia & Canada anyway); but bad neighborhoods in US can be really bad.

4. Racial Problem: I have not personally experienced any racial issues in USA (thank goodness), the racial experiences I encountered were in Australia back in the 90s and 80s when things were pretty bad in SA and QLD back then. However, it will be naive to say there is no racial problem, the differences between White & Black communities are still there; especially in the Southern States.

5. Highways: If I really want to complain about life-style in US; it’s the Highways! I hate the highways, I hate to drive onto a highway just to get a milk! There are many cities that are not like this, but cities like Dallas, LA, New York, there are highways everywhere; and you can’t just walk to a shop!

So, these are my perspectives about USA. I think overall, it is a wonderful place to be in, especially if you are a business owner. Moving there however, requires stringent visa requirements and can take years; but if you have families there; it will be much easier.

I will talk about Canada on my next article.