An Aussie in NY (opens in new tab)

I too am an Aussie in NYC, having moved last November for work (in my case, Google).

NYC is an amazing city, particularly if you're willing and able to pay the exorbitant Manhattans rents. Or you're sufficiently socially skilled and/or lucky to partake in the great private welfare system that is rent stabilization (and rent control but that's mostly irrelevant these days).

To me NYC exemplifies Western capitalism, both the good and bad parts. There'd is incredible commerce--and wealth--here. But there's also poverty and homelessness for those tha have fallen through the cracks in the system.

One thing America excels at is service, whether it be retail, restaurants, businesses or whatever. Ther are of course exceptions but for those Americans who complain about service: compare it to most other Western countries and you'll appreciate it that much more.

Despite all that the American experiment seems broken--eve dying. Health care is a disaster (not that I'm necessarily advocating public health care). Social security is a ticking time bomb. Most governments are in serious debt, even to crisis levels. Once you see cities and possibly states default (or just require a bailout) you'll see a fresh eave of financial scandals.

Wall Street seems addicted to debt, to the point of being the engine of financial collapse. Most Americans live beyond their means. America has a number of engineering marvels from the 20th century that look like not being repeated any time soon. They're simply not economical anymore. Think the Moon landings, the Golden Gate bridge, the Hoover Dam, etc.

A lot of the country seems to be in decay. The culture seems increasingly fractured. Honestly it reminds me of the dying days of the Roman Empire. I'm sure there was incredible wealth in Rome the day before it was sacked.

Still, it's hard to argue with a fresh mozzarella slice from Bleecker Street Pizza.

Oh as far as tipping goes, I agree it's strange and I often have to check tipping etiquette in various situations but remember it isn't mandatory (built in service charges in restaurant bills notwithstanding). Example: last week I took a cab from SFO to Mountain View (expensive!) and the driver had no clue. He kept going the wrong way, asking for directions from my phone, ignoring me telling him which exits to take, etc. I didn't feel bad stiffing him on the tip although he still felt entitled to it.

As an American who worked in Australia, I can vouch that you guys (luckily) don't share our same crazy work ethic. I was practically alone in the office of a large corporation once the clock struck 4pm on a Friday. I think you'd fit in well in New York though because they have the same teasing sense of humor that I found everywhere down under.

I think this article perhaps focuses a little bit too much on the negatives :)

I'm an Englishman living in California, and I don't really plan to leave here. I like it here. I like the people, I like the weather, and I like the way things generally work from day-to-day. It's really easy to latch onto things that seem, to my eyes, badly broken, like health care, but forget that otherwise, things are pretty sweet.

Sometimes, people ask me what I think of the US. And I might mention health care or something, and they'll reply, "Yeah, the US sucks, huh?" My usual response is "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be here."

What I don't really understand is that, at least in California, it seems most people see all the bits that are broken, and know they are. And then you get a President who is actually trying to at least place a band-aid over the wounds, and you get cries of Socialism and Nazis. That's the insidious bit of America that I can't stand: America is a country that constantly wants to, and tries to, reinvent itself. To always move towards betterment, as individuals, and as a country. And yet there are a great many vocal people who succeed in holding it back. The ills of today could be gone tomorrow, but they won't be, and that's a shame for everyone.

It's a pretty spot on comparison. I moved here from Sydney about 3 years ago and feel basically the same. Though I don't have the same aversion to tipping that he has, probably because I (having grown up in the US before immigrating to Oz) understand how to work the system—particularly in bars. As for the unicycle/mustache thing, I lived in Newtown in Sydney, and that sort of thing wouldnt have garnered more than a doubletake there either ;)

Still, I miss my four weeks of vacation and my stress free access to medical care. Oh yeah, and the extremely efficient government agencies. The difference between Aussie immigration (DIMIA) and American (DHS) is striking.

I'm a not born Aussie who lives in CA.

The post was fun to read and I can pretty much agree with everything.

One difference that I spotted was the accent barrier. For non English speakers Australia can be painful it doesn't matter how good your English is you find yourself repeating your sentences, or spell out every name in the family including my boys English names (no Aussie could understand the name Dean when it came out out of my mouth). In California no such issues (I felt vindicated when I moved over here) only comments that my English is too British (which is the result of the effort I put to get Aussies to understand me).

Another thing that I miss about Australia is that life aren't serious, every man is with in his right to make an arse of himself any now and then and that's just fine.

One thing that I don't miss is the property obsession, everything in Australia is about the property. We don't build proper highways because we can stuff in a few more units, we don't build a railway because it will generate noise which will hurt the property market in that area. If you want to build a startup it will sense only if it will: speed up building property, help people pay the mortgage on the property, help banks claim the mortgage on the property etc...

All I want to add is that I do wish the Health / Education to be here as in Australia.