Why do people want to immigrate to the U.S.?

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It doesn't bother me in the least that there are people in some other countries who believe they would be worse off living in the US than where they are. That seems fine to me. Why can't people be happy where they are? It doesn't bother me that many Canadians think themselves better off than their counterparts in the US. Why shouldn't they, it's their country. I am a computer programmer and it's my understanding that the work I do pays much better here than in Canada, and with many consumer goods also being more expensive in Canada, I believe I am better off in the US. OTOH somebody in the US working in manufacturing in an "open shop" environment while caring for a chronically ill parent might be worse off than a Canadian in a comparable situation. Nothing is black and white and so many arguments could be avoided if people could just accept that.

I am not bothered by it either. Don't know where you got the idea that I was bothered by it. I envy folks in some other countries for many certain things. That's not the issue. Im neither defending nor attacking the US.

My point is that itjust sounds silly , to ask "why would anyone wanna move to the US" when we have things like "racism".

The wretched parts of the world are the norm of the planet, and not the exception. Poor third world countries have less good stuff than we have, but have the same bad stuff (like racism, or the equivalent)that the OP sites. And millions of refugees try to get here to flee things like ethnic cleansing, and genocide- the same thing but far more life threatening than any bigotry they would get here. So it comes off as silly to ask it that way. If you asked it differently ..like saying "why would anyone move from one of the other industrialized nations to the US?" then the OP would sound less silly. And you're just reiterating my point -by comparing the US to Canada (another industrialized nation). Most of the world is not Canada. More of the human race is in places like India, China, Indonesia, Africa, etc,than lives in Sweden or Canada.

I wasn't trying to argue. I was actually just trying to "chime in". Who else here has been asked not to argue when they didn't think they were trying to argue in the first place?

My understanding is that Canadians and UK citizens don't get the huge tax deductions that Americans do.

So Americans *can* pay substantially less income taxes.

Canada & the U.K. are the poster children for socialism at the moment. Just saying.

My grandson has residency in the USA because his career path in basketball is to play at a higher level than available in NZ. Basketball isn't a mainstream sport here, (the number one sport is rugby). He doesn't plan to immigrate to the USA though in years to come, he is considering playing in Europe instead. He dislikes the political climate in the USA. For the time being though, he is in the best country to further hone his talents to an international level.

People emigrate looking for a better life, it's as simple as that.

There's more to the quality of one's life than money itself. For example, I take for granted having excellent public transportation, easy access to a huge range of fresh, very high quality food, including any local speciality or delicacy you might want from neighbouring European countries at reasonable prices and quite a few other things that would dramatically raise my costs in the US.

And there are also cultural differences, different laws and customs etc. I enjoy visiting once in a while but I'm happy where I am.

Surprisingly enough, I am lucky to live just a few miles from a huge Asian market despite living on the East Coast of the USA. One of the things I learned while learning to cook is that big retailers like Walmart sell specialty items in selected neighborhoods. I just went to the 2nd closest Walmart to buy some Gamesa arcoiris marshmallow cookies made in Mexico that aren't normally found in grocery stores. Just $2.68 for a big box of cookies.

On the other hand, I should mention that I don't live in my birth country, so I probably appreciate more than some the ability to move to a place that better accommodates your likes and dislikes - I'm not even talking about running away from poverty or war as my reasons for moving were not of an economic nature.

America has a better leader than Canada does at the present. I'd rather live in the US than be under the rule of the bloody thirsty Justin Trudeau. He has a lot of blood on his hands.

I should have been more clear in my original post. I do not agree with people who believe the U.S. is inherently racist, racist to the core, racist to the last person or other emotive hyperbole because it's patently untrue. We have politicians who misrepresent the U.S. in this way to their benefit.

My point was, such people portray the U.S. as horrifically and wholly racist and if that were true, why the hell would anyone want to move here? It's not true and people do want to move here for the numerous reasons that have been given in this thread. Reasons I was hoping to hear and the result of which was the intent for me starting this thread in the first place.

You're right, Naturalplastic, the original post did sound silly; it was meant to.

^
People greatly exaggerate online and in the media and also due to the internet some of the problems you have been struggling with lately get a lot more exposure. I noticed here that some Americans struggled to adapt to the (more) negative image they've been getting internationally in the last several years. It's OK, everybody has problems and you are going through somewhat of a troubled phase.

Most Western Europeans who actually do some research or ever set foot in the States don't consider it a horrible place or more racist than others. They just don't have many reasons to think life is better there than it is in their own countries, just like most American with a decent standard of living aren't much interested in immigrating somewhere else.

What are you talking about? Neither country has ever had a socialist government. The UK hasn't even had a centre-left government for nearly ten years. There's nothing remotely socialist about either of them.

Calling normal capitalist societies "socialism" is why young Americans think that capitalism is bad and socialism is good.

I think the exceptional opportunities for europeans who got to study for free in Europe haven't been mentioned.
Basically, imagine being a young doctor without 100k in debt - which country would you choose to work in? The one where everyone gets to charge high fees because it is understood tgat they have to repay huge loans (but of course, you don't have to) - or the one where you now have to pay the taxes to allow other medical students to study for free?

It might be a highly egoistical but profitable choice to work in the US after graduating from a European university....