I know places like Portugal and Spain are going through serious housing crunches right new and I know expats often exaggerate those problems. So where can an American flee oppression without just oppressing someone else?
For context: I’m a progressive lefty, thinking about long term relocation options cause the fash is getting pretty thick around here.
Edit: I know immigrants and expats (US or other) are not solely responsible overseas housing issues, but housing issues definitely exist across Portugal, Netherlands, etc. I don’t want to increase that burden and would feel shitty if my housing offer outbid 300 local applicants.
The whole thing about Americans causing housing crunches is absolutely ridiculous. The total number of Americans in Spain is something like 68k, and many of them can be assumed to live together or with Spanish spouses who would need housing themselves, so the impact on housing is a rounding error.
Another thing to remember is that a lot of these Americans in Spain are children of Spanish citizens that were born in the US to avail of US citizenship, which is not uncommon in families with the means to do it.
You are not oppressing anyone if you move to a new country and make an effort to integrate, follow their laws, and leave the country cleaner and better than you found it, or don’t leave the country and begin to contribute to its tax base and social system as soon as you can do so.
Source: American trying to integrate in France.