best countries to live in the world 2010 (generations, education, retirement)

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

This is just me personally, but I have this crazy notion that my body has the ability and responsibility to take care of itself; when it can no longer do that, it's time for me to move on and free up the wasted resources for someone who has a body that can.

I'm 71, and I'm a lot closer than you are to seeing that philosophy play out, but it is also mine and I'm living with it. The hard part is convincing my doctor that when he is my age, he might see it the same way.

Originally Posted by ♪♫♪♪♫♫♪♥

And if they've been healthy their whole lives thus never paying into a system they didn't really need, then discovered a cancerous tumor one day...what's next?

If my doctor told me I had cancer, I would shake his hand and thank him for his service, and walk out the door and start looking for an exit strategy that did not involve pain. A doctor would no longer be useful to me unless his name is Kevorkian.

[pigeonhole]

ChrisC and Visvaldis, I think you are daydreaming.
France is very much a class society, at least as much as the American society, and the bourgeoisie here is calling the shots, not the working/middle classes.
And exactly as in the US, you have to "make it " or you are seen as a loser.
And I've not been staying in France for a few months, I'm French and I've been living there since I'm born (54 years ago).
And yes , there are no slums near the Louvre and the Eiffel tower, but go look under the bridges of Paris, there are scores of bums living on cardboards...

[jtur88]

Before you compare the two continents slum-for-slum, you need to recognize one basic fact. Outside the USA, in most countries, the higher economic classes still live in or around the inner city, and the slums are out in the suburbs. So if you go to Europe and look in the inner city for slums and you don't find any, that's not where they are.

[Lycanmaster]

Originally Posted by Visvaldis

Good post!
I think that the phrase 'making it' means nothing more than money. For those who value money above everything else America is an excellent choice.
The people who are obsessed with 'making it' can be seen every day, they run around in a frenzy, full of anxiety, stressed and strung out. They are so busy with 'making it' they have little time to enjoy life.
The adage holds true; Americans live to work.
I've lived in Europe for a long time and noticed the differences. Contrary to popular American belief, the Europeans do not rely on the government to take care of them. But the safety net in Europe provides in cases of unemployment and health problems so that the citizens do not wind up living in the streets. That's why Europe does not have the vast number of homeless people, nor the expansive slums like in America.

+10. And the safety net in Europe helped cushion the economic blows from the recent economic crisis for the average European family to a much greater degree than has been the case in the US, according to a MSNBC article from last year.

[Lycanmaster]

Originally Posted by frenchie

1 france
2 australia
3 switzerland
4 Germany

etc.............

why france

because medicare healthcare, VACATION(A lot), we can strike as much as we want and not to be afraid to be fired. the nap is allowed, lunch for 1 or 2 hours is okay
retirement
35 years for military(if you want) , 50 for ingeneer(train) policeman etc....
you don't have to save money, it's done by the boss or government, etc........

link
2010 Quality of Life Index

The distribution of wealth is also not as badly skewed as it is in the US, so the average European does have a higher quality of life than the average American. Although upper-class/wealthy americans live better than their counterparts in Europe.

[paulpan]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

I don't really care about 'making it.' I have no problem with work, in general, but my life does not revolve around my employment; my time spent there is a commodity I am selling to my employer. I am not living at that time; I'm a drone hired to do a job, and I do it well. But there is nothing in life that I wish to accomplish that has a thing to do with my employment. It's money to live and that's that. I'd rather be imitating da Vinci.

Very well stated!
I have always viewed my employment years the same way. Some people claim, they love their work, and I believe some may, but I could never understand it. To me it was solely a mandatory time, that I had to sacrify... The only nice part of being at work, was staying around people. On the other hand, staying around some other people was exactly the reason, that my work felt sometime like being in hell...
BTW, I was healthcare professional (just for those who care to know).

[paulpan]

Originally Posted by jtur88

If my doctor told me I had cancer, I would shake his hand and thank him for his service, and walk out the door and start looking for an exit strategy that did not involve pain. A doctor would no longer be useful to me unless his name is Kevorkian.

I don't know how my mental state would get effected, but if I didn't become too much a 'nuts' after such news, I would do exactly the same.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Glennnat

Now as if it was not bad enough that the average french earns 44% less than the average american in terms of gdp, according to the cia factbook purchasing power parity france gdp if it had a cost of living similar to usa aka gdp official exchange rate= 2.6 trillion, it is in reality only 2.1 trillion.

If you think the only thing in the universe that is worth expending every single day or your life in pursuit of is more money to buy more junk with, then America is the place for you. If you have any other criteria for quality of life, America may not be the place for you.

[paulpan]

Originally Posted by jtur88

If you think the only thing in the universe that is worth expending every single day or your life in pursuit of is more money to buy more junk with, then America is the place for you. If you have any other criteria for quality of life, America may not be the place for you.

Bingo!
America is good for people who want to live financially sound life, as outlined by glennnat earlier, but there are a serious downsides here.
Those downsides make me consider moving out of the country for good. I've lived in other countries before, and there are different downsides there, but more acceptable to me, at least.

Going back to the OP, he actualy does not make a good point, since all he/she brought up was essentially matters of money. Yes, one can afford long vacations, early retirement, etc. also in The US, because one can earn enough to let it happen, as long as the earnings are well managed.

[pigeonhole]

@pigeonhole, lets not forget all those bums who illegally smoke and sleep inside central station either


We French positively adore them!
If they sleep, smoke and **** (their pet German shepherds) everywhere, it's proof
that French Society is sooooo tolerant and soooo humanitarian.
We love so much our poor that we don't want them to become rich, selfish and materialistic like the ugly Americans.

I'm kidding of course, but unfortunately this is an excerpt of the dominant ideology in France!