[hobs]

Pretty much every Greek that I have met (my father included) did it for a better future (money, no future with the military junta, american base left later.)

Plenty of Greeks have no interest in going back because they want the "American" life, but there's no question you ate better in the village, had more community, or had a sense of history - what you didn't have was more than ~35k euros a year, if you were lucky.

[mikrl]

A philosophical question is whether one could have it all?

Maybe the relative poverty fosters that kind of culture, and a high earning society necessarily becomes atomized, or perhaps atomized societies fosters high earning.

[wordpad25]

Being poor fosters comradery and social connections

Everyone knows everyone in a ghetto. Gated communities often don't know their next door neighbors.