
An Aussie in NY - bhoung
http://delimiter.com.au/2011/01/28/an-australian-developer-in-new-york/
======
Lewisham
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.

~~~
endtime
>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.

This is kind of a partisan viewpoint. Both sides of the aisle believe that
they are working towards the betterment of the country - they just have
differing ideas on how to do so.

------
weeksie
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.

~~~
shimi
You can pretty much get away with anything in Newtown :-)

------
cletus
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.

~~~
weeksie
Mate, I think you're making too many generalizations based on things that feel
true, you know, 'cause that's what everybody says.

Statements like "social security is a time bomb" belay a misunderstanding of
what you're talking about. SS is just fine, there are many other, more real
issues—but I don't want to get into a policy debate. My point is that you've
been here 4 months and should give it a few years before making such sweeping,
half-informed judgements.

Anyway, drop a line sometime if you want to grab a beer. I live in the WV as
well and I can point you toward much better pizza than anything you'll find on
Bleecker.

~~~
podperson
How is SS not a time bomb? In Australia you are required to deposit your
retirement money in a super acct. But that acct is yours. It earns interest
like an ordinary investment.

In the US you give it to the government as part of your tax and the government
spends it on wars in Iraq, interest payments to China, and tax cuts for the
rich. When it comes time to collect ... good luck with that.

I certainly agree there are many more issues (healthcare!).

I'd suggest Sydney->NY is not nearly the culture shock that Sydney->almost-
anywhere-else in the US would be. I think whoever said Sydney is to LA as
Melbourne is to NY was from Melbourne. (Although they do share awful weather
in common.)

~~~
stevenbedrick
Not that I disagree about SS being a time bomb, but I think you're slightly
mistaken about where SS revenue comes from (or I could be mistaken; anybody
out there who knows for sure should please correct me). What most Americans
think of as "federal tax" is actually several separate taxes, and which ones
any given individual actually pays varies depending on their employment
situation.

There's a specific tax that workers (either self-employed or otherwise) pay
that goes to social security (as opposed to the general federal income tax),
and as far as I know, those specific funds go to the central social security
trust fund rather than the federal government's general fund. Funds used for
invading other countries, paying off interest payments, etc. etc. comes from
other revenue streams.

As I understand it, the reason SS is potentially in trouble is that, the baby
boomers are beginning to retire and draw on the system. This represents a
simultaneous large decrease in the number of people paying into the fund and
increase in the number of people extracting money from the fund. The precise
financial implications of this seem to be up for debate- some people say that
there will be sufficient money to cover everybody, while others say that there
won't be.

I personally don't see how it can possibly work, but I'm certainly not an
economist so what do I know? At any rate, I don't expect to see a dime of it
when my time comes. At this point, I view the whole thing as basically a
charity for baby boomers, and from that perspective it kind of makes sense-
unless we want to let them die/starve in the streets, we're going to end up
paying for them one way or another; we may as well make use of the existing
infrastructure for helping to support elders.

~~~
alex_stoddard
Again I could be mistaken and would really appreciate correction from someone
who knows better by I am much more cynical about the SS trust fund.

As far as I can tell the really scary thing is that that "trust fund" has been
largely "invested" in treasury bonds. That is the source of the massive
"intragovernmental holdings" portion of the national debt. i.e. the excess
income from SS tax has actually been spent on other government needs.
[http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/retirement/social-
security...](http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/retirement/social-security-
trust-fund-illusion-debt-deficit-bonds-borrow/19806199/)

~~~
stevenbedrick
Fair enough, but if those treasury bonds don't end up being worth what they're
supposed to to be worth, it seems to me that we've got bigger problems than SS
going under.

However, I heartily agree with your request for correction by someone who
knows better- this is about the full extent of my knowledge on the subject,
and I'd love to hear from somebody with expertise in this field.

------
shimi
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.

~~~
Dylanlacey
Uh, you might have missed it, but there isn't much _usable_ land in Australia.
That's why we're obsessed with property: There's not much for it.

Starting housing prices in the greater Brisbane area are about $400K. You can
go down to $300K if you're willing to live an hours drive out of the city
(Which means 1.5 --> 2 hour commute when there's traffic).

Sydney is worse, much worse. Housing prices all over the country are insane,
and not going to get better any time soon. When I hear about housing prices in
America pre-collapse, I just laugh.

------
ry0ohki
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.

~~~
kijeda
As an Australian in California, and having lived and worked in two European
countries too, I'd say that Australians work less hours but actually are more
focused when they do work. I see a lot Americans at work, but not doing work.
Long lunches, chatting to colleagues around the office, browsing websites etc.
seems to be far more prevalent in American workspaces.

~~~
Dylanlacey
Interestingly, I once read a study that said that Aussies do the most overtime
of any western nation, which seemed off. _Shrug_

