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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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