MarkKol

Even if that is true and France did contribute 5 billion euros more (Germany is still the largest contributor) the food grown on German, Spanish and Polish soil ends up on your French shelves in Franprix at no additional cost because the EU countries don't impose tariffs on each other. So you're welcome. Which transatlantic treaty? Because of a slower economy quite literally, AfD says the EU is too bureaucratic, you know what's really bureaucratic? thousands of trucks lined up on a German-France border because now they need customs inspection and paperwork to pass through your country. You don't border a single non-EU member state so you don't know how bad it gets, and neither does AfD.

I think turning on nuclear and focusing more on energy is a better approach (AfD’s proposals). Europe focuses on being “green” and climate friendly while we pay astronomical prices for gas and energy. We Europeans are totally ignorant on energy prices, we might think that paying 1.60 or 2 euros per liter of Diesel or petrol is the norm everywhere in the world. We are the exception, we are more expensive than everyone else.

Germany on its own has no shot at competing with the US, China or India, their country is too small and their population is minuscule. On their own they are resource poor, mineral poor, and oil poor. This isn’t 1945 anymore where the population of Germany was closer to the US’s population. If you listen to Alice Weidel, you’ll notice she talks about Angela merkel the same way Trump talks about Biden. She basically blames her for all the modern issues Germany faces today. French farmers are heavily subsidized by the EU, the largest contributor to that budget is Germany. A “Dexit” would be a disaster for Germany, Whatever damage the EU inflicts on It’s countries pales in comparison to the damage you would cause by leaving it. AfD has some good ideas imo but what’s the point if they’re just going to ruin it with dexit. It’s just a slower economy for everyone. The AfD is acting like there will be no economic consequences to anti-immigration and Germans will just magically start reproducing and filling out all the jobs. Germany received so many immigrants precisely because they needed them more than others. Look at Germany’s population graphs, they’ve barely grown by 10 million people in the last 60 years. The US has grown by 160 million people in that same time period, every country has grown substantially more than Germany. China has grown by 744 million people in 60 years.

Insane

You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to immigrate to the US and get sponsored by an employer, I was subject to this process, I would know. The unskilled visa category is impossible to get, these are low paying jobs that require no school or practice. The skilled visa category or H1B requires a bachelor’s degree, that’s at least 4 years of school after high school, you still have to be sponsored by an employer after you get your degree, which means you have to prove you’re exceptional enough and worth the time for the employer to go through immigration bureaucracy/complicated administrative processes. And guess what, after all that, you’re still considered a temporary resident, you won’t get a green card or citizenship.

Besides the far-right parties, I'm afraid Russia will start testing NATO's defense promises in Europe. What prevents them from doing so? America and Europe better hope China and Russia start collapsing soon because we don't have much time left with these incompetent idiots. Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and JD Vance are terrifying, have you ever been driven in a car with a person who can barely keep it in its own lane? These people are terrifyingly incompetent. I almost want to cry when I remember these people have important defense roles in our governments. They're not gonna defend shit. These are just more reasons to federalize, something we're not going to do. Idiots, complete and utter morons. If I were Russia I would launch a missile towards the Baltic states, and count on Trump's ignorance to dismiss it as an accident, a very safe bet IMO.

Everything you listed is better in Europe, people move to the USA because of the opportunity, business-friendly environment, better socialization, and higher wages. Life in the United States is more exciting and thrilling, whereas Europe's more balanced and peaceful. To be like the USA, Europe needs to federalize, adopt a similar language among the union countries. It needs to have its own local globalization effect, where each country prospers due to increased connectedness and integration with the other, but it's never going to happen. Some countries seem to be more eager to leave to union instead of further integration. A grave mistake, far-right parties are on the rise here, these parties are insanely isolationist, It doesn't take 10 minutes of thinking and contemplation to understand where isolating your economy leads. If these countries really do end up isolating themselves, I'm afraid Europe won't be a good place to live anymore, in more ways than ever. Example: BREXIT Germany's Afd Party will end up degrading the entire continent America is also isolating itself, so we'll see what happens, maybe the West will burn together TLDR - These far-right isolationist parties are brewing a shit storm that's coming to the EU, similar to what Leo called the "political winter"

Ok private message me Also at what age did you leave?

How was it at the very beginning when you moved?

I was hoping you’d reply as I was quite sure you left somewhere from Eastern EU to the UK before Brexit, I might be wrong though.

Where do you go?

You know that the whole country is pretty much dead during the summer besides the Adriatic part. I guess I haven’t been there yet, I traveled the whole world that I kinda forgot about my own country. There are also many benefits to living in the States, yeah I can come back during summer but as the guy above mentioned, college tuition is expensive so i likely won’t have the time or money to go back every year.

My dreams were always to live in the States, but as I’m growing older I’m liking my own country more and more. Especially now that I’m presented with the opportunity to go, I’m hesitant, and this is my main issue. America has this really unattractive hustle culture that’s constantly in the air. Something that not even Germany has, never mind Croatia.

I don’t speak German, it wouldn’t work. What question is what the hell should I do?

So I’ve been given an opportunity to go study in the States, which could lead to a green card/permanent residency later on. My country has pretty mediocre opportunities for almost everything in life, and I still haven’t burned through my socialization karma. The biggest city is about 750,000 people in a pretty non-scenic part of the country, the nightlife is questionable, some people have said It’s good but my personal experience doesn’t match that. I feel like I’m denying myself future opportunities and benefits because of this attachment. This lack of opportunity really shows, because the population of the entire country is about 3.9 million, and we’re losing about 10% of our population every 10 or so years. There are also things even a small European country like mine does better than the US, like safety, healthcare and cleanliness because America is a dirty ass place. I’ve been grappling with this issue for a long time. I would very likely be studying somewhere in California or Texas. As it’s much cheaper there.