this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
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The Hollywood actor is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in the United States. In recent years, that has regularly led to criticism from President Trump, who has called him a “second-rate movie star,” among other things. According to Clooney, it didn’t bother him much. “It’s not my job to keep the President of the United States happy.”

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[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I think you're conflating the wealth of the nation and the wealth of individuals. Saying that if you really want to go to France it's possible, you just need to sell or abandon your belongings, walk away from your debt, abandon your family and travel by steerage on a cargo ship to get to France and live illegally because you don't qualify for any type of long term residency and you also can no longer return home because you'll be homeless and left to die in the street is... Unrealistic.
A very significant number of Americans simply do not have the resources to fail at something like that.

[–] ranzispa@mander.xyz 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I think you're making it much more difficult than it actually is. I just checked prices for a flight new York - Paris and it is less than 200€. That amount of money should be easy to source for pretty much anybody. Make it 1000 and you have 2 months of breathing time without having to immediately get a job. In Europe you can stay for 6 months without a permit; that gives you 6 months overall to find a legal job, which should not be too difficult. That way you get back to paying your debt and you can send your stuff in boxes from America to France. I met plenty Americans in Europe, they were not rich people. Although I'll give you that most people who leave America did have some kind of problem in there and decided to leave. I met a bunch of people from other countries where mostly people want to see different places, and so they do that.

simply do not have the resources to fail

This applies if someone else depends on your income. Indeed, if you have children leaving the place where you are in such a way is a bit risky. Would be better to first get a job and then move. If you don't have children or a family member that depends on you, I don't see how losing one year of income could noticeably ruin your life. You're always in time to go back and get back to your previous life, if you didn't enjoy the new place.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

Most of the country is not New York, and transportation is more expensive. Basing travel costs off of the cost at a major transit hub isn't representative.

France requires you to file your visa applications before travel. If you show up on a travel visa and then apply for long term residency they'll reject it because you didn't follow the rules.
A residency visa requires €1400 a month in income, so good luck getting residency with €1000 cash. Particularly when a significant portion of Americans don't have that to begin with.

No one said you had to be rich to leave America and move to France, just that it's not available to most Americans.

I don't see how losing one year of income could noticeably ruin your life

Says the person who is obviously not American.
https://www.norc.org/research/library/most-working-americans-would-face-economic-hardship-if-they-miss.html Remember that we don't have a social safety system here like most countries do. Being unemployed means you don't get medical treatment , and even if you're employed the costs can be devastating in their own right. You can end up homeless, where housing assistance can have a wait list of more than a year, if it even exists. Same for food assistance. The only medical care you're entitled to is that the ER must do the minimum necessary to stabilize a life threatening condition.
That's what's looming over Americans when we weigh taking financial risks. Loosing a month of income can create an unrecoverable financial burden.

That's what I mean when I say most Americans can't afford to fail at something like that. They may be able to afford to do it, and it might work out, but if it doesn't the consequences are crippling.

How often do you see an elderly person in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank doing menial labor at a supermarket or hardware store?