One of the good things of living in Europe is the lack of fear. Kids play around schools, on the street, the many play-yards in the neighborhood, without any supervision at all. There are no neighbours that have guns, the police is mainly a service to the public and there's no constant fear of perverts and gunmen.
My friends and family in the USA don’t have that luxury of being able to walk the streets without looking over your shoulder. To see their kids play without a worry. To cross the street and have right of way. In the USA anybody in your street, anybody at your school, could blow up and go on a rampage. 600 million rifles for a population of 330 million seems a little harsh.
For the first time in a century the constant rise of crime in the USA is flattening. There are no real figures available since the lobbyists of the NRA caused it to be illegal to research gun violence patterns but the most neutral source I could find reports no increase in serious crime since 2019. Some cities like New York have reported 20 to 30% less crime over the last Four Years, but yet in States like Arkansas and Alabama there's been an increase.
Economically the USA is doing great. If you have money and play the stock market things are amazing. March 13, 2020, the Dow Jones Index stood at 23,185 and exactly Four Years Later at 39,889 - an increase of 72% over 4 years or 19% average per year! I can't believe shareholders complaining: “The President is killing the country. We’re in a crisis. We can’t afford our million dollar home anymore”. Wow! Your 72% rise in wealth certainly beat the 0.003% interest my bank paid me over the same period! People with fixed income or minimum pay do suffer as always. They pay more taxes per dollar than entrepreneurs and have little or no defenses against inflation. It's good that we saw inflation going down from 7% in 2021 to 3.4% now, but minimum wages have not gone up and social security has only been slightly adjusted.
We sold our Nashville house with a nice profit and bought a cheaper place in Spain. With less space, but… closer to the beach, further away from guns and imaginary perverts, further away from overheated politics not going anywhere. Our real estate taxes and insurance are less than 10% of what we paid in Tennessee. Power, gas and water total less than 100 dollars a month, but we’re still take baths and showers everyday. Our monthly bill for internet plus 2 mobile phones is just under 40 bucks, inclusive of calls to our family and friends I the USA. Healthcare is great. The average retiree pays 145 a month for private insurance without co-pays or long waiting times, and if we pensioners go to the free State Health Service e don’t have to pay for any of our medications.
The only worry we have is that the November election may madden politics in this part of the world. Socialists and fascists here drink together, talk together and make things work together. Right wingers and leftists dance at the same street parties and cheer for the same futbol clubs. If it would become like back home where everybody is bickering and nobody seems worried about the quality of life, our little paradise in Spain, the tranquility of Portugal, may be in jeopardy.
Europe is politically moving to the right, too. People feel more and more out of touch with the powers that have sold off the post office, allowed the free market take over infrastructure and enabled the wealthy becoming filthy wealthy. But, the gap here in Europe between the Privileged and the Poor, no matter how difficult to navigate, is still a small step compared to the giant leap in America.
The worst thing about talking to our family and friends across the ocean is hearing their fear. Fear of their health going don and care becoming unaffordable. Fear of crime rising. Fear of immigrants getting free guns handed out after crossing the borders. Fear of inflation tying you to the house. Fear of foreigners stealing your job and Biden stealing your freedom. All unnecessary fears of non-existing threats. But it looks like fear is now the driving force of life in the USA. People are embraced in it, talking about it is way more rewarding than trying to shake it.
Franklin D. Roosevelt all of a sudden is more dead than ever. “The only Fear you have to Fear is Fear itself” is no a long-forgotten truth. Please America, wake up and repeat after me: The only Fear you have to Fear is Fear itself! And if we repeat that often and loud enough, the sun ill start shining again, there will be smiles on our faces and our children may have a future again!
