i agree. i live in holland and ive found i have to somewhat hide my success, soemtimes i even lie and say im a student to keep from being resented.
money in america usually gains you respect, people see you with a nice car and appreciate the ambition and hard work it probably took you to get to that point, but in europe rich people are usually born into it.. so when the common folk see it they see a lazy asshole with an easy life.
part of the reason for this discrepency is labor mobility. in america its possible for a mail man to build a corporate empire and then lose the same empire and become a mailman in the same lifetime. whereas that is very very rare in europe, if you're a mailman at 25 you'll be a mailman at 65.
that being said, the economic freedom in america comes at the price of personal freedom. america is a very fascist place to live compared to holland or most of europe. (and i dont mean drugs) ideally you should run your business out of america but live in europe to take advantage of both systems.
For me personal freedom is much more important than economic and if i ever had to make a choice i'd stay in europe and become a mailman
- Seth