I agree on Europe. While it might/might not be in a worse condition financially than US is, but here's one keyword - population density. And another - history of nationalism, and wars between nations, whenever times were tight. Same old, same old. Believe it or not, in Poland, country who have suffered so much from the hands of Nazis, neo-Nazi movements are doing quite well, and yes, are mostly kept on the radar by the local forces, but not necessarily pursued meticulously and erradicated.
We are considering Canada ourselves (having emigrated once from Poland, while not having children back then, makes us one of these rarer kind, who CAN part with their luggage in the journey
, when it seems like a right thing to do), but one problem - with what I currently have saved, I could perhaps afford some decent amount of land, somewhere in the wild. But nowhere near the productive areas/high tech centres, that I could work in (software engineer, enterprise). And I do not fancy the prospect of approaching the financial meltdown, with a mountain of mortgage on my land. Another thing, Canada seems to be facing their very own housing bubble right now (as well as Australia), from what I've heard (housing prices in CA seem to confirm that, they are just ridiculously high, from what I've checked).
I could probably move to US relatively easy, if I asked in my current company (got this impression on my visits in our US HQ, that if I ask for that, I'd be welcomed), but I am concerned about what is going on in the USA today, technically it is getting to be a totalitarian country by any measure, and it is freaking scarry (I meant, USSR at least had this counterweight in the form of US, but once two world's biggest superpowers are officially tyrannies, well, who's going to stop them? People? I do not think so, they ones who would, will be in camps, under military supervision, and probably interrogation)
As for other than developed countries, hmmm... There is this saying in my country, "before fat one got skinny, a skinny one got starved" (hope it is not puke-clumsy translation, and if anyone can give me an equivalent English proverb - I'd love to have one, I am kind of proverbs collector - here's another one - "proverbs are the wisdom of the nation"
). So in general, I'd agree that aftershocks of financial collapse would be much worse in other places, than in developed countries - although standards of living will drop drastically in developed nations, there's this difference between living a life worse than my parents/grandparents had, by comparison, and dying from hunger and lack of medical attention, like it might very well be in 80% of developing countries, cut from their money supplies and international help. I mean, the drop in percentage terms will be much higher in developed nations, but on the other hand, developing nations cannot afford even a very slight drop, without entering "starvation" mode for many many citizens - they can barely make the ends met today. And make no mistake, people who are desperate, would hate and kill anyone who is not in exactly as dire circumstances, as they are - if they only can, and even better, if it gives them a hot meal or two. So I'd rather not bet the farm on the fact, if the local sheriffs will or will not look the other way, when some "fecking wealthy foreigner" gets whacked from this side or that.
In general, it is not a pretty picture, and I'd say like others, that IMHO - USA, (if you are already there, and have taken at least some basic steps to prepare - and do not forget that it is much easier and cheaper to get prepared there, than in other countries), Canada, Australia, New Zeland - would be on my list. I haven't done deeper research on Iceland yet, but it also slowly gets into consideration - but his stupid language, and so far north, and such a shithole, in general