It's a vicious circle in my eyes. There is no incentive for the politicians to change anything, they will get elected anyways (with they I mean the whole group of politicians, not necessarily the individual). And to get elected in the first place, one needs to have huge funds to pay for the campaign, etc.

This onion article is hilarious, but there is some scary truth to it: http://www.theonion.com/articles/american-people-hire-highpo.../

Yeah, it's interesting, that Britain is moving into the US direction with this as well.

Edit: Rather sad/enraging than interesting, I might add.

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought of this exact post from reddit. It's a frightening story.

I guess she can only write from her own perspective, but you are right.

I have many friends that experienced huge difficulties integrating themselves into the new society and other ones that had no problems at all. This seems to depend on the person, on the circumstances and on the people one meets.

I take it, you have lived/live in a foreign country as well?

I know the guy; he is an insanely smart person and has been publishing important papers for 30 years now.