[statesandspain]

> I also find the social issues of the US (unequality, racism) more disturbing than the ones there are in Europe.

I grew up in the US but have lived in Barcelona for several years now.

I don't believe that racism is worse in the US than Spain; in fact much the opposite. I live in a mixed-income neighborhood in Barcelona and see far more casual discrimination against low-income immigrants and the local Roma subculture here than I've seen in any major US city. The US has historically had really bad racial policies and there are definitely still parts of the country with a backwards view on race and class, but most of the US (and certainly the parts of the country where a high-skilled immigrant might move to) just isn't like that anymore. I can't speak to the rest of Europe, but Barcelona at least seems behind here.

That said, I do agree there's a lot more inequality in the US than Spain. (It seems to me though that's more about the middle and upper class in the US being much richer—the poor in Spain don't seem to have an easier life than the poor in the US.)

[cplanas]

Oh, I'm from Barcelona myself. While I agree with you that the upper class in the US is much richer than in Barcelona, I strongly disagree with you about the poor. I think very often about my particular situation, and what would have happened to me if I would have been born in the US. I come from a family that would be on the lower side of the middle class; unfortunately for us, there is a genetic illness running on my father's side of the family. In Spain, to get healthcare was never a problem; I'm not sure if that wouldn't have been an issue in the US. I see the same problem with education: while we were not poor, I am not sure if I would have been able to go to one of the best schools in my country, as I did for free in Spain. Free education and healthcare are very important.

On racism, I don't wanna sound harsh, but I believe you only see less because the US is much more segregated. I am typically perceived as Hispanic by most Americans, and believe me, racism is an issue. I don't want to imagine how it is for an immigrant from Africa or Latin America.

[statesandspain]

> In Spain, to get healthcare was never a problem; I'm not sure if that wouldn't have been an issue in the US.

Yes, the Spanish healthcare system works quite well; I'm a fan! It does a much better job of ensuring coverage than the US system, particularly for the lower middle class. In the US, the poorest ~25% have good public coverage through Medicaid or Medicare and the top ~40% do ok with the employer-subsidized system, but there's a giant donut hole in the middle with no good options and the system sucks for them.

> I see the same problem with education: while we were not poor, I am not sure if I would have been able to go to one of the best schools in my country, as I did for free in Spain.

I admire Spain's commitment to free university education and I think it's a good deal for some folks, the lower middle class in particular. But for helping the very poorest advance, I'm not sure it works in practice. The Spanish high-school graduation rate is much lower than the US one, and anecdotally at least I feel like the children from low-income families I know here in Spain are less likely to consider university or a professional career an option at all compared to their peers in the US, despite it being free. I'm not sure how to fix this.

> On racism, I don't wanna sound harsh, but I believe you only see less because the US is much more segregated. I am typically perceived as Hispanic by most Americans, and believe me, racism is an issue.

It's possible that US cities are more segregated on average, but I don't think that's driving my personal observations. I've lived in low-income neighborhoods with 20-90% minority populations my entire adult life, so I've had a lot of exposure to race relations to calibrate against. More concretely, my wife happens to be hispanic, and feels she's experienced more negative racism in Barcelona than she ever did in the US.

[aplanas]

> But for helping the very poorest advance, I'm not sure it works in practice.

I think it does. I studied in the south of Spain (I am Spaniard too), and some of my fellow students comes from very poor sides of the city.

It is very frequent now to see teachers, lawyers and other careers that requires University level studies that are Gypsies, that were born and raised inside those communities.

IMHO free quality education is the perfect equalizer, but it is true that there is much to do there.

[trcarney]

>IMHO free quality education is the perfect equalizer, but it is true that there is much to do there.

There is no such thing as free education. Someone is paying for it

[cplanas]

> More concretely, my wife happens to be hispanic, and feels she's experienced more negative racism in Barcelona than she ever did in the US.

I'm a bit confused by this. Racism in Barcelona against Hispanics? It's because she doesn't speak Catalan?

[otagekki]

When you speak Spanish but don't look European, some people in Catalonia can mess with you for not speaking Catalan.

[returningfory2]

> That said, I don't believe that racism/social issues are worse in the US than Spain

My current theory is that the difference between Europe and the US right now is that discrimination is about the same but that in the US racism is openly discussed and criticized. This leads to an illusion that racism is worse in the US because we hear about it more. In this theory Europe like the US in the 60s in which racism was prevalent but sort of more hidden in the dominant white public consciousness.