The main question I get from Australians who knew me 30 years ago is, “Is it worth it?”
They’re referring to my choice to live in the United States.
I left Australia with my parents at age 11 in 1977 but came back for a year after high school to live with my brother in Tannum Sands, QLD. Everyone I knew then and then see today is in good financial shape. They’ve all married and had kids. They all own homes. They all have abundant resources set aside for retirement. They want to know, is it worth it to live in America?
Australia has the highest minimum wage in the world of about $16 an hour for adults. Every working Australian gets a minimum of four weeks holiday a year. The country has a generous welfare state and socialized medicine.
In regional Australia (as opposed to the big cities), people tend to trust each other. They leave their homes and cars unlocked. They do business on the assumption that their mates are telling them the truth. In other words, they enjoy high social capital because 98% of the people around them are white and most of the non-whites are Asians who are welcomed into their communities. Most of the Asians I see in regional Australia enjoy higher academic scores than the whites, higher incomes, and they tend to rise to the top, owning businesses and working in professional capacities.
Unlike my eight months in Australia in 1989-1990, I notice no anti-Asian sentiment today.
My answer to the question, “Is it worth it?”, is maybe. Los Angeles is an exciting city for me. I get to mix with outstanding people, leading writers, intellectuals, professors, etc, who I would rarely if ever meet in regional Australia. Regarding economic matters, while the Australian and American dollars are basically at parity, that dollar goes about twice as far in purchasing power in American than in Australia.
