I’m just pointing out facts bro.
The European system Isn’t a federal system and telling the French and Poles to send their pension funds to Germany for Germany to say…remilitarize…is gonna be a hard sell lol.
Some of those countries for whom WW2 and their defenselessness throughout it still runs fresh might just favor a deal with the US both militarily and economically.
I think the bigger question is if you picked a random middle class family in the UK, would they be better off in Mississippi?
That answer to me is surprisingly not as clear cut as people might have thought. For a skilled worker (engineer, software developer, accountant, entrepreneur), the answer is increasingly leaning to yes, because US wages are so much higher.
If you asked me if I could have no cost to move my entire UK operation to start fresh in Mississippi, I would give it serious thoughts and probably do it as the upside is so much higher to gain access to the entire US market domestically.
This leads to the bigger question.
“Why has UK grown so slowly that comparisons with Mississippi are even possible?”
I’d say if you worked in the City in London you’d be better off in the UK.
Even middle class families outside of London would be better of in the UK when you take into account education, health and other services.
I quick google yields this…
US salaries are significantly higher in nominal terms, with a national average of roughly ($65,000) to ($75,000) compared to the UK’s average of about (£35,000) to (£41,000) (approx. ($47,000) – ($55,000) USD). However, factoring in the cost of living, taxes, and benefits reduces this gap.
Cost of Living and Purchasing Power
While raw US dollar figures suggest Americans earn up to 50% more, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)—which adjusts for the true cost of goods, rent, and local expenses—shows a narrower difference. A US salary of ($75,000) provides an equivalent standard of living to a UK salary of around (£45,000) to (£50,000)
In otherwords no difference.
Mississippi is a US State not a nation. You can’t compare the two, without making some wild adjustments to allow for the spending etc that a nation makes and investment that flows from other states.
You see, this is where I’m not so sure anymore.
Option A
UK: £70k–£100k medium household income
2 working parents and 2 kids
Option B
Mississippi: $120k–$180k medium household income
2 working parents and 2 kids.
When you run the math of cost, even account for healthcare, I think the math would surprise you. Now add in that you’d get employee health insurance for you and your dependents at that wage.
If you make it Good Mississippi suburb vs good UK town outside of London. I don’t know if you could say as easily someone is better off in the UK for education, health, and other services. I live in a town outside of London, and I think somewhere like Madison Mississippi is honestly a better value. A 1m house where I am would be a fraction of the cost with good public schools, good health facilities, good services. MS is not all some poor place Europeans might imagine.
I lived in central London, and the level of healthcare was excellent. I once needed an opthomologist for an emergency and the hospital got me in straight away. Was a teaching hospital for one the colleges of the University of London. Follow ups every week with specialist for a month. Cost zero $.
This is not true is it, it does cost money. In fact how much was part of why I didn’t renew my visa to the UK. I have to pay a lump sum into the system for the visa and then taxes from my income goes to it. It’s not 0 cost.
And I live in a town outside of London, idk when you last lived in the UK. But in my time here, I have never used my GP or NHS. I always went private as it was faster and better. So for me, healthcare costs are not that great when that is the reality.
I don’t think it’s clearcut Mississippi is def. better but it’s also very arguable it can be for skilled workers.
I see it like this; the UK has a higher floor but a lower ceiling. If you got sick and can’t work, probably UK is better. But if you’re an entrepreneur like myself, I see more upside even with the state of MS. That is the model the UK and Europe prefers, that is fine.
But it’s also concerning that the UK can be compared to the poorest state and there be a legiti argument that someone can be better off there.
A quick math shows me in my option A and B that the UK family would have something like 10-20k left and the US family would have 25-35k left. That delta in 40 years of working changes the wealth dynamic drastically.
I had National Insurance, I was also employed. Also, I didn’t require a visa, and would have got the same service even if I wasn’t employed.
But think about it like this, let’s say the US family has 10k more left to invest. Over 40 years and compare for the US indexes and assets perform compare to the FTSE100.
In 1 generation, the children of those families get passed down very different types of wealth. Especially if they took advantage of how cheap some assets are compared to the UK like land.
I think this is a bigger gap for the next gen to look for. Gen Z in the US are finding ways to build wealth that the UK kids dream about.
I don’t know MS well enough, but I was just in Texas for a business road trip as we sell more to the state of Texas than any other state. We went to smaller towns that are growing in population in North Dallas. My partner was really intrigued by the fact that these places as she said “it’s not the nicest place but you can see you can start fresh and build something new here”
I think that is what people are missing. There are so many places like that in the US, and likely MS. Somewhere people are moving to, it’s still cheap, lots of land, lot of new and vacant business locations.
Except most aren’t.
I speak at my alma mater in the UK in the entrepreneurial society. One topic that comes up is how the US is a completely different game. Even for me, when I see how other US entrepreneurs are utilizing AI and such, it’s scary.
The problem is that this gap is widening, even if today the UK is better than MS for a average family, that is the poorest state. Not exactly a great situation to be comparable.
I’d argue the average family is better off in the UK compared to the US as a whole.
If you want to look at high net individuals, the international taxation is better for British citizens than it is for US citizens.
Having lived in both, I don’t personally think so. But I think most europeans will not ever give way to this idea because the only argument for Europe is “life in better here” and in many cases it can be. But all of those things that make life better in Europe are eroding and under pressure.
I will also put it like this, someone move to Europe because life is better. Someone moves to the US to make life matter.
Is that why the UK is losing millionaires while the US is gaining them and building them at a much higher rate? I think that line is overplayed.
The UK is probably better for internationally mobile wealthy people in taxes, but as a UK brand in my industry, I am top 5-6 largest. In the US, our sales volume dwarfs compared to what US brands are doing.
Even if I do have to pay higher taxes, if I’m making 3-4x more, who cares?
The US has far more upside and downside. But I do think a top half productivity individual will be better of after a career in the US than UK as current realities stand.
Is it all numbers, or is there any passion in the product?
I personally prob wouldn’t choose MS as the state I’m going to. We’ve discussed Texas and Florida multiple time.
I think for someone like me whos entrepreneurial, there is no better place than the US. A place someone selling a pet rock as a joke made millions. There’s a lot of downsides but I don’t think there is a better place to start a business.
Agreed. I’m still surprised how long you managed to stay in Europe.
It’s not a gorge fest like the US and so it looks like europe pays a premium for some things.
I was talking to students for an entrepreneurial society and I was telling them how I grew up in Taiwan in the 90s than the US in the 2000s.
I lived in Frisco Texas, in 1990 the population was 6000 and when I finished HS in 2010 it was 100k and now it’s around 250k and became one of the of most affluent areas in the country.
All I saw around me was growth. New businesses. New buildings. New jobs. New hope. New ideas.
This was a tremendous advantage the average European probably never had growing up. It’s not easy to get up and decide you want to start something yourself if you didn’t see it all around you.
Dallas, Houston, and Austin have all changed and expanded significantly in the last 20 years. Around Houston there used to be sugarcane and cotton farms all around, but they’re gone and built over now.