Written by an American expat living in the European Union.
As one of millions of American expats who have left America I am witnessing the death of the American dream. Why are millions of Americans leaving America? Moreover why doesn't the US government count us in their official census? Why doesn't the plutocrat owned media report on our departure. The truth is it is only through the support of readers like yourself that our stories in the blogosphere gain visibility. Many of us left America because we were tired of being betrayed by so called progressive politicians, who were bought by the K Street lobbyists just as quick as we could elect them. So it is that many of us as a last lifeline grabbed a hold of the expat road.
The European Union has a population and economy that is larger than that of the United States, whose currency the Euro easily rivals the US dollar.
Yet in the European Union unlike in the US there is virtually no one who is medically uninsured, virtually no one who doesn't receive statutory paid annual leave, paid sick leave and paid maternity leave, even if they work in low wage service jobs. Yet a look at the plutocrat owned American media continues to broadcast in bold strokes the announcement of American exceptionalism, when in fact by contrast the European media broadcasts the announcement of the death of the American dream, and the rise of the American nouveau poor. To which this diary asks who's right?
Let's look at the facts of what it is that drives 40 million Americans onto the food stamp rolls, 59 million Americans who live without health insurance, 60 million Americans who live without statutory paid sick leave. Should you dare this diary invites you to read on to discover the truth of the economic superpower America's decline and the rise of the European dream.
Instead of the American people owning America, see the banksters really are the ones who own America, right down to the majority of your neighborhood's residential housing.
Shouldn't we consider UFO sightings sane compared to seeing all those flying pigs on Wall Street!
The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT by Michael Snyder
•Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
•For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
•In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
•The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
•In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
•83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
•61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
•66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
•A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
•The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
http://finance.yahoo.com/...
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This diary also allows the reader to discover the motivation of millions of American expats who are a brand of new American pioneers, who have permanently left the United States. This is described in part in a beautiful poem written by an American expat and fellow Kossack Lupin.
America, you're dead to me.
I'm sad because we've had a lot of good times together, after we got hitched in the 60s. A lot of happy memories.
Yes, I put up with a lot of crazy behavior from you from time to time, like you harassing Mrs Nam or sending our rottweiler after poor Senor Augusto, but I did it because I always thought you were basically a decent person and meant well.
You promised me the Moon -- and you delivered! We even made up in the 90s after that little tiff we had in the 80s.
But, I'm sorry, America, for the last decade I've seen you turn increasingly bitter, mean and crazy. You poop on our neighbors' lawns and throw crap all over the neighborhood. You're dunk and loutish, a bully and a laughing stock.
And now you're abusing our kids.
I'm not going to be your enabler anymore, America. I can't kick you out because, well, you own the house, after all. But I'm going. For good. This time, I really mean it.
Good-bye America. May God help you. You'll need it.
OVER HERE: AN AMERICAN EXPAT IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, is now available on Amazon US
by Lupin on Mon Aug 01, 2011 at 12:37:03 PM CEST
So it is that the exodus of millions of Americans leaving America continues. But what is driving it? Why doesn't the American plutocrat owned media report on our exodus? Maybe it's because many of us are just bone tired of supporting so called progressive politicians who are bought by the K Street lobbyists just as soon as we can elect them. That in fact this proves to be more painful than leaving home, family and friends does.
Can America be defined in this day and age purely by geography by the Rio Grande river to the south and the 49th parallel to the north. Isn't America in essence defined by its people? With millions of expats abroad aren't we America as well?
Even the crooks are having a hard time in America for God's sake!
I guess it's tough being crooked while dodging flying pigs!
Jobless millions signal death of the American dream for many
Paul Harris The Observer, Sunday 15 August 2010
Even the criminals have fallen on hard times in America's poorest city as the long-term unemployed struggle to keep a grasp on normality
It may even now be showing signs of going backwards again, as countries such as Germany start to power forward. Joblessness has taken hold in America, with the numbers of long-term unemployed reaching levels not seen since the Depression of the 1930s. The figures are frightening and illustrate a society that remains in deep trouble.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
While America's unemployment figures are frightening, so are all those flying pigs back home! The sky is full of them. I guess that's why I left America I saw the first flying pig while I was stone sober and that's when I figured I had to leave.
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(Hey did you read that Suze Orman said)......(smile)
Suze Orman on the Death of the American Financial Dream
By Andrea Sachs Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011
And that American dream turned into the greatest financial
nightmare of all time. You can't get a loan. You can't get a job.
You can't get credit. So the old American dream really is dead.
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Why is Bill Maher allowed to tell the truth and not lose his job? Same thing goes for Jon Stewart and Colbert. The simple fact is just like in the days of old the only person who was able to tell the king the truth and not lose their head was the court jester. No wonder why so many progressives watch comedy shows in order to get the news. If that isn't an indictment of the American plutocrat owned media I don't know what is.
This cup of good cheer from Bill Maher is to brought to you today by:
Global Expats at the Daily Kos.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Real Time with Bill Maher: It Gets Better with Socialism (July 29th, 2011)
BILL MAHER: "That's why I'm here tonight with a special message to all you deniers. It gets better. Yes there are millions of people in world just like you, in nice places like Switzerland and Sweden. They enjoy high standards of living and freedom and they're socialists. Studies show they're actually happier then we are and that's not surprising because the only difference between American socialism and European socialism is, European socialism works.
For their tax dollars Europeans get full health care coverage, a generous pension, daycare, long paid vacations, maternity leave, free college and public transportation that doesn't smell like pee. Whereas our tax dollars goes towards military bases in Germany, subsidies to oil companies, building bridges to no where, wars and putting half of Cheech & Chong in prison. They get universal health care. We get a blue angels fly over the fiesta bowl. They get paid maternity leave. We get the Octomom. They've got air bus. We've got... the bus. Isn't there anything we still do better? Even their paranoid racist loners look like speed skaters... and ours look like Porky Pig."
If you vote with your feet, you too can be one of us at Global Expats. If you join us, you'll be able to afford dental insurance unlike 132 million folks back home. Now that's something you can smile about.
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Mon, Jul. 26, 2010
Healthcare debate: Dental care lacking for millions
"estimated 132 million people in the United States without any sort of dental insurance. It's an endemic problem among the unemployed, the poorly paid, and those without medical insurance."
http://web.archive.org/...
Let's remember if America is such a great success model of private industry then how come do federal employees earn 60 percent more than private sector employees. Something has changed here. I didn't leave the America that I grew up in. I left Tea Party America.
In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
http://finance.yahoo.com/...
As we laugh through our tears with Bill Maher, let's please remember that while we can all be proud Americans, we don't have to be proud of the broken American social safety net that leaves 59 million Americans medically uninsured, 40 million Americans on food stamps, 60 million without paid sick leave. Whereas in the European Union and other major industrialized democracies around the world as Bill Maher reminded us that doesn't happen. In a way that gives new meaning to "Only in America", doesn't it?
Americans gave up vacation time worth $67.5bn last year ...
and carried on working By David Gardner
Last updated at 2:30 AM on 26th May 2011
Americans gave up vacation time worth a staggering $67.5 billion
last year and worked instead, according to a new survey. With the
recession still biting hard on Main Street, all work and no play
has increasingly become the norm.The average American employee got
18 paid vacation days in 2010,but only used 14 of those days off..............
Workers in France got 37 vacation days last year and used 35 of
them while the average worker in the UK took 25 of their 28
days of paid leave.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...
For anyone who can't see this video, here's a partial video transcript below:
Well this American dream is beginning to seem more and more like a nightmare, with every passing day.
Daddy can you come to my game? Oh, baby please don't work late. Another wasted weekend and they are slipping away. Cause he works all day and lies awake at night. He tells 'em things'll get better, just take a little more time. Cause he works and he builds with his own two hands and he pours all he has into a castle made of sand. But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in. Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands. His kingdom stands. Used to say whoever died with the most toys wins but if he loses his soul. What has he gained in the end? I'll take a shack on a rock over a castle in the sand. Now he works all day and cries alone at night. It's not getting any better, looks like he's running out of time. So he works and he builds with his own two hands and he pours all he had into a castle made of sand. But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in. Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands. His kingdom stands.
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