Topic: Is US Citizenship is a Curse or a Blessing? (Read 2669 times)

Exactly, people in the 3rd world nations see the various show case of benefits rendered by the US and other civilized countries on CNN,BBC,movies,documentaries and even on the internet.So if you ask me would you rot away in your country or approach the opportunity of the US Citizenship and live a better life if you were in such situation.

http://www.uscis.gov/greencard

Main methods:
- Employment
- Family/Marriage
- Lottery

After the introduction of Fat Car legislation, it is I imagine a nightmare for US citizens abroad as banks are increasingly hesitant to open accounts for them to avoid risk of fines for non compliance

How to get the green card? Anyone is having experience here?

Definitely a blessing. Try being born in third world country.

Does it really matter if one group of people sharpens its sticks with special rocks while another just rubs their sticks against whatever boulder they find? They could upload a 10kB series of texts from their Wikipedia-equivalent to one person and completely change our world as well as the power structure. Putin's given the secrets of potato phasers and wireless electricity with 95%+ efficiency, and Russia'll be the most developed nation within a few years.

IMO, if aliens will land on Earth, they will consider to talk only with the most developed nation on the world: us

In my point of view, who has great mind and utilize every opportunity in US, they will get benefited. Only US citizenship not benefited to anyone 

Most european countries have much better welfare benifits then that are available in the US.

You do not only get protection from the US government (via acts of war), but also get some level of protection from overseas governments as they will not want to hurt a US citizen unless it is absolutely necessary. Also, in the event you are wrongfully arrested, you would likely have diplomatic support form the US government which has a lot of influence throughout the world.

Purchasing power is great in the US. Sales tax is lower than most other countries' VAT or equivalent. The ease to travel is also great. An American passport opens all doors. Then, the US may be the best place in the world to start a business. Entrepreneurs are praised everywhere, and if you have a good idea, you'll find investors.

The bad part is taxation on your worldwide income, and  many things done by the FBI, the CIA and the NSA are really dirty ones.
Property tax is horrible in some states. Worse than in Europe.

Being a US Citizen come with all kind of welfare benefit the rest of the world simple don't have access to.

Plus you get protection from the US government when traveling abroad.

It depends on what's the other option. I'd prefer being a US citizen over being a citizen of nearly any other country.

Pros:
-Virtually no taxation and heavy subsidization if you're making <$25k.
-Very high access to quality healthcare.
-Wide cultural diversity, well-developed cultural production.
-Virtually 100% access to quality K-12 education (maybe not the best, but it's not that bad).
-Hosts some of the most prestigious post-secondary schools in the world.
-Very large supply of educated citizens to employ in service sector.
-Relatively free media, I guess.... which seems a shame on everyone's part.
-I think Justin Bieber came from Canada rather than here.

Cons:
-Next to Canada. Bieber just walked right on over
-Social immobility from extremely progressive tax/welfare system. You can work 200% more, but only make 115% more at the end of the year unless you're paid an exceptionally high hourly rate.
-Cost-inefficient healthcare system, low life expectancy.
-Very high homicide rate and prison population.
-War on Everything by means of shoving so much money down the problem's throat, we imagine we must be killing it by choking it to death.
-Government's long-term plan for preventing economic collapse is inflating debt away.
-Extreme import reliance, consumer nation relies on 3rd world & developing countries to work so we can eat. Mining, manufacturing, agriculture makes up ~15% of total US GDP.
-Piss-poor Internet infrastructure, crumbling roads, a train system I can't imagine is worse anywhere else on Earth.
-Over-educated population - very difficult for uneducated to rise above class they were born into, while educated also have little chance at generation-over-generation success due to extremely progressive taxation.
-US military adventurism, blood on almost everyone's hands.
-US immigration & drug policy, among other shameful government policies with effects ranging from unnecessary deaths to destitution to no, really, I need a freakin' passport to walk a few blocks to Canada, now?
-US domestic spying, arbitrary law respected only at will by government

It's a blessing 100%.

Not saying I'm an incredibly worldly person but I've visited my fair share of countries and politics/foreign policy aside, the United States is the best country in the world.

I wouldn't live in any other country.

well lot of people in this world try to get US green card every year and yes they chase "American Dream "
human has a nature instinct ' never satisfied '

for me as asian guy , maybe lived in some european countries will be a good choice than other country in this world.

I could understand that, but I believe it's because American cultural influence around the world. Personally if I could have chosen what citizenship to have, it would be a Swiss citizenship.

things are getting worse in the U.S., but everybody also likes to complain. i'm pretty sure most people would choose U.S. citizenship vs. any other random country in the world (which could include developed countries or under-developed ones).

That is only the case for the time being.  That can't be sustained for long and I wouldn't want to be dependent on them when things start to fall apart.  Government's track record in such instances is far from stellar.

I'm not a fan of California's economics at all, but weather wise and on social issue(besides guns) is what I listed them for, should have made that more specific.

Its natural resources will be leached dry though eventually so all you have landscape which is slowly being destroyed by development.

California?  WTF

California is more like a EU state than anything else in the US.  It has social programs coming out of it's ass and has to do creative bookkeeping to claim it has a balanced budget.

If anything Greece copied CA's public employee and benefits model.


The only good thing about the state is the natural resources and the landscape and even that sucks now with this horrible drought.

depends really on many factors but like someone has already said its great if you love to leach off other peoples taxes

It can be very good or very bad, depending on your situation. But everyone privacy here gets invaded. You have more freedom in the former soviet states now than in the US. In terms of comfort, many of us live comfortable. It's better to live here than say Somalia, but you can live comfortable or freely in other places too.

Well in that case if I had to pick between the two, it would be Liberal Democracy due to decentralization of government power. But the way it was presented looked more like Federal State vs Unitary State.

Well, I'll try to forget about rhetoric and speak about the major differences.

Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principle of separation of powers. Power is divided between judicial, executive and legislative branches on all regional levels. And branches of power are formed through independent elections procedures and have some degree of autonomy.

People's Democratic Dictatorship aka People's Democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principle of democratic centralism. The power is unified and indivisible on all levels, all decision-making processes are handled by hierarchical system of councils. Regional councils are formed through elections, but higher councils are formed by members of lower councils and lower councils have the right to revoke their representatives. In some implementations high council could be controlled by another administrative body which could be formed through direct elections or appointed by the president.

Please explain each one, and I will provide an answer.

On regards to the stagnation economically, Europe, Canada, and to a greatly lesser degree the US rely on capital producers from the 3rd world to immigrate to their countries in order to sustain them due to low domestic birth rates. This parasitic behavior has caused the developing world to have issues with creating a capital base from which to tax.

Blessing.  Only exception may be if you are a US citizen and have to work or live abroad for extended periods.  Due to restrictive income laws many international banks refuse to do business with US citizens.

The USA is in a period of stagnation or even decline but the rest of the industrial world, e.g. Europe is not doing too great either.  The fact that other countries are doing better doesn't mean USA is doing poorly.

However, if the people of the US do not muster some political will to prevent constantly being lied to about their long term prospects I can see the US entering a decline along the lines of post WWII United Kingdom.

It would be nice if our original constitutionally limited republic drafted by the framers didn't get perverted into a democracy which was then played into an oligarchy but at this point, I'd take the no confidence preference allotted by a parliamentary system. That said, we still have widespread gun ownership under the current system. If a benevolent monarchy was possible, I'd go with that also. Ultimately, I'd prefer a totally free society/world w/o governments. We're miles off I know.

Which kind of democratic system do you prefer, People's Democratic Dictatorship or Liberal Democracy?

None of those really apply in America anymore for a normal citizen, maybe if you're at least Petite Bourgeoisie, but anything less is extremely hard. Basically Numbers 1 and 2 in my opinion only apply to the top 10% of income earners have the privilege of visiting foreign nations, and possibly getting captured. Biggest jobs market? Yeah if your well privileged enough to get a STEM college degree then this applies, anything less than STEM masters degree which is only available to Petite Bourgeoisie and Bourgeoisie dooms you to low pay service industry jobs(McDonalds, Walmart, etc) due to the end of American domestic manufacturing. But that is my opinion, and you have yours so lets be friends

Another issue/con with the US is it's useless subsidy for the Defense of; Canada, South Korea, and the Western World, the US shouldn't be paying for the defense of nations that have the complete ability to defend themselves. Hell the UK, and Greece(explains a lot) are the only nations in NATO meeting the standard of paying 2% of GDP in Defense Spending.

Totally agree with you on this one, US has most Liberal gun laws in the 1st world.

For a normal citizen, it is a blessing. Because:

#1. Added protection. You will be rescued within hours, even if you are kidnapped by pirates in Somalia.
#2. No need for VISA, for visiting most of the world nations.
#3. Access to the biggest job market in the world.

Pretty much any non ex-convict can buy and own a firearm or as many as you want and all the ammunition you can afford. And the kinds of firearms range from old school flintlocks to modern semi-automatic weapons. I used to be what one would call a 'gun polisher' which means someone who lives and breathes the 2nd Amendment. I still hold it in high regard but I'm just not into guns like I used to be. For instance, I envisioned myself w/ all the top of the line pistols and assault weapons but in reality, I'm cool w/ a few pistols and a shotgun for home defense and that's it. We live off the beaten path and most of my neighbors have plenty of guns so our block is pretty secure.

I have never heard of a place called "Rusia".

It's a curse of curse, because taxation rules are crazy.

http://americansabroad.org/issues/taxation/us-taxes-while-living-abroad-faq/

~105% Debt to GDP. ouch.
 

And the Retarded Union of Super Idiots and Alcoholics is heaven on earth.

It's a curse. The FSA (Fascist States of America) is a hellhole.

It's a blessing if you are white.

It's a blessing. Complaining about expensive healthcare? Yes, it should be free, but at least you have healthcare. Better than just dying in the street.



It gives you the freedom to invade any country you want even when it isnt a threat?


LOL. The irony. America and American soldiers commit massacres all across the world every year without fail.

You may be right to criticize USA situation because healthcare is expensive, bad privacy lows etc. but please understand that in overall quality of life (salary, quality of education, available jobs, security, quality of health care etc.) USA in one of the best countries in the world.,
If you want to study or find good paying job, or start business, you will go to USA, not Africa or some other third world country.
what do you think, why so many people from Mexico so desperately trying to enter USA, even with a risk of life?
From their viewpoint USA is golden opportunity, almost heaven on the earth.
Sure, many things can improve in USA, like in any other country, but for the most people in the world US Citizenship will be great blessing, not punishment

People often criticize the us but if you look on how many people want to get into the us and Europe and how many into Russia and china....
There is a clear indicator where is better to live.

A true blessing for those coming from 3rd world and get free education and free health care.

True but those tend to be predominantly 3rd world nations, specifically nations that were "Liberated" by the US. Also not to sound aggressive, but could you provide the Pros of US citizenship? It would help with discussion, etc.

Absolutely.

As a soldier I appreciate the freedom the U.S. gives me and that is why I fight for mine and everyone else's right to be an American.

It is no surprise that the U.S. has it's own flaws, however we do not have savage militia soldiers terrorizing and killing hundreds of people which seems to be occurring frequently in other countries lately.

It is a blessing for people who are depended on government and required state subsidy. That is more than 50% of the population.

It just came upon me that US Citizenship is more a curse not a Blessing.
Cons:
US has highest healthcare costs in the 1st world
US has highest gini coefficient in the 1st world
US has worst privacy laws in the 1st world
US spends 687.3 billion on military spending, which doesn't create capital or useless capital(war devices)
Pros:
No Value Added Tax
Significantly lower Income tax
Best Colleges in the world(if your privileged)
California (although I've heard Chile is a great alternative)

Anything else to rant about? Add more!