Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Europe
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:07 PM
 
Location: Finland
24,205 posts, read 24,646,382 times
Reputation: 11103

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
The point is that a lot of the disposable income in the US isn't truly disposable. It gets tied up in savings for children's college education, health insurance and co-pays, and other basics that are benefits in European countries. The true measure of disposable income is what's left after subtracting those expenses in the US.
Exactly.

The average gross income in Finland is $46,500 a year. I get that for example, file separately and have two kids, so I take home $39,129 a year in the US. The US average wage is $54,000, so they take home $45,317. So a US average Joe with higher education has $6k more disposable income a year than an average Matti paying US taxes.

If you file that $54k in Finland, you take home only $32,400 without deductions (and there's like 20 of them possible, so most likely you're entitled to one or five), and here comes the difference when some of you are only blindly looking at paychecks. You think "wow, only 32k, those Finns are poor because I take home 45k a year". But remember the child benefits, mortgage interest reductions, pension insurance reductions, the househould support reduction, free healthcare, free education, 5 weeks mandatory holidays, paid maternal/paternal leave, union membership reduction, house-to-work cost reductions aaaaaaaand everything else we get for our tax money. And this during a lifetime makes quite the big amount of money, as already the child benefits are $61k total when you have 2 kids.

Last edited by Ariete; 07-08-2014 at 06:16 PM..

 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:08 PM
 
418 posts, read 555,321 times
Reputation: 306
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
So 8k a year, and you graduate in four or five years? So if you have two kids, it's a total of 64k-80k. That's a lot of money compared with the $0 that you pay in Sweden.

In Sweden you get $153 every month in child benefit for every kid you have until they are 16, so $58,700 FREE MONEY combined.

All this must be included (and more), because that's some of the reasons why the income is lower than in the US!

It's not free, it's tax money!!!!

People in the UK forget this fact too. It's not a gift from g-d or something, it comes from somewhere, like the education, the healthcare. It's not free!

So if you don't have kids, never get sick you don't get anything back for the tax money you pay for those services.

If you have 10 kids who go to university, and have a lot of medical issues, then you get a lot more than you pay in.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Bretagne, FRANCE
194 posts, read 268,493 times
Reputation: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli View Post
We know in terms of QOL rankings, it is all European countries (plus Canada/Australia), but let's be more realistic here. I have known many Europeans who went to the US and never wanted to leave, so there must be something attractive about America.

Higher salary, lower taxes and cheaper housing come into mind. I am sure the real purchasing power is higher in America, probably substantially.

Everything is much much cheaper in the US, including cars and gaselines. With automobiles, you have more flexibility to go to the natural and venture into wherever you want, not where public transit is capable of bringing you. Gas price is like 3 times high in France than in the US.

I know consumerism is frowned upon by many, but for most, purchasing power is crucial in terms of quality of life. America is simply very affordable, including many of its largest cities, at least by Europe standards.

But on the other hand, Americans cities are more boring, less beautiful. Density is low and there is too much suburbs. Dependence on cars is a negative too.

Do you (sometimes) envy American lifestyle?
No!!!
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee View Post

Income inequality is not in and of itself a bad thing. There's relative and absolute income after all. Income distribution is unequal in America, but Americans have higher incomes than other OECD nations in an absolute sense.
Exactly! I really don't care about George Soros income and income equality. I care about income.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:18 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
Remembering that the education is free in the Nordics, everyone is at least given the opportunity to rise up to a higher strata. From a Mississippi trailer park it's 100 times more difficult.
Maybe you are unaware, but education is FREE in Mississippi.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:20 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee View Post
Well, the United States is a very diverse country of 320 million people. Sweden is a very homogeneous country of 9 million people. Somehow that fact gets lost in the comparison.
Comparing the US to Sweden is a silly, useless exercise. The demographics are totally different.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:26 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
You are probably right based on economic factors.

However, there are still reasons to visit Greece: islands, beaches, food, interesting ruins, birthplace of western civilization, etc.

There is no reason to visit Mississippi
Your biased and uneducated opinion is worthless. If you ever go there, you can offer a more useful opinion. Mississippi has beautiful beaches and many many places that are interesting to visit.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:27 PM
 
418 posts, read 555,321 times
Reputation: 306
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003 View Post
Maybe you are unaware, but education is FREE in Mississippi.

You meant to say it's covered by tax money. It's not free, it's not a gift. It isn't paid for with monopoly money.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:29 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
In Sweden you get $153 every month in child benefit for every kid you have until they are 16, so $58,700 FREE MONEY combined.
But it's not "Free money". It's money earned by somebody else. It's money stolen from working people.
 
Old 07-08-2014, 06:32 PM
 
Location: Dallas
31,285 posts, read 20,623,627 times
Reputation: 9309
Quote:
Originally Posted by BritinUSA View Post
You meant to say it's covered by tax money. It's not free, it's not a gift. It isn't paid for with monopoly money.
You are correct. It's just like Sweden. It's free to the student, but it's taken from workers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Europe

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top