"In the United States,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville, “a man builds a house in which to spend his old age, and he sells it before the roof is on; he plants a garden and lets it just as the trees are coming into bearing...he embraces a profession and gives it up; he settles a place and soon afterwards leaves to carry his changeable longings elsewhere.” In some ways, this restlessness in the midst of plenty is America's most remarkable feature.
This year, around 40m Americans—one in seven—will move house, the equivalent of the entire population of Spain. Between 1995 and 2000, almost half of all Americans have changed address, more (often far more) than in any European country.
--From the Economist, 14 July 2005
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