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I think you just need to get used to the fact that not everyone has the same views as you, you don't like America some people love America... different beliefs, that's all.... its human nature.
But you understand that one needs knoweledge of other places before he can judge if his country is good or bad?
As others have mentioned: It depends what your priorities are.
Making a lot of money and buying a huge house is certainly easier in the USA. Americans value creating one's own financial destiny greatly.
At the same time, the European lifestyle (IMO, the focus on smaller pleasures, for lack of a better term) is more attractive for some. Not everyone cares very much about having a 3000 sq/ft house or maxing out IRAs.
I fall more into the second camp.
However, since my family has decided to live in the USA for now, we decided on New York City, which of course is hyper-American in many ways, but still has a European feel in many areas (for instance the Village).
I suspect my wife and I will retire in a more affordable country in or around Europe, such as Bulgaria (where we have some Russian friends living) or perhaps Montenegro (or thereabouts) when the time comes (hopefully sooner than later :-D).
I totally understand why some love living in the USA, and I completely get why others prefer Europe.
Yes, it depends on your priorities.
And, here my two cents....the two places have very different systems, so if you are born in the US and welll entrenched in their system, you'll find Europe a bit strange and uncomfortable...
The same goes the other way around, if you are born in Europe and are entrenched in their system, the American System will appear as harsh, etc.
So, the answer is subjective.
What you just mentioned is all true and what I wish existed here in the US. These are basic things that don't need a rocket scientist to realize should exist in a society. People say Europe has issues but what exactly are they? I'm talking about Western Europe here. I feel like America has way more issues than Europe. Look at our way of life. Look at the attitude towards food, the dependence on cars, the wastefulness, the republican views on abortion and other things, etc. People here don't care about recycling or taking care of the environment. Why in the world not? I have been to England, France, Luxembourg, Germany, and New Zealand, and truthfully I felt more at home there than in America. I'm from the middle east originally, and am glad to be in the US vs. there because women don't have rights whatsoever. I'm not saying the US is the worst place in the world, but I think there need to be many changes here. Look at suburban sprawl. Who the hell thought that would be a good way to live? It makes life more expensive and wasteful to say the least. The US has more incarcerated people than anywhere in the WORLD, and they claim to be a "free" country. Give me a break.
I am in the process of finding a city in the US that fits me best, and so far I think it's Portland. The lifestyle there is similar to Europe's and Canada's because it's not car dependent, good public transportation exists, people care about recycling and taking care of the environment, fresh and healthy food exists, people are active, etc. I've considered Denver but unfortunately it's not very attractive of a city (although the nature is wonderful) and it's still car dependent.
There is truth to what you say about the differences between the US and Western Europe, but you can still find most of what you're looking for in Europe in the US. I agree with you that Portland is a good city to look into. Others to consider would be Seattle, SF and Boston (that I personally know of). Unfortunately, all of these are cost prohibitive, but then it is still likely cheaper for a US citizen to move to an expensive US city than to move to somewhere in western Europe.
I often said I like the States as a country but here's my view on a little bit of the negatives:
very unforgiving society:
when you're poor, you're a looser. I actually watched people say this, here on CD, and in real life.
Employers can do background checks on you (illegal as hell in Holland) if you did something stupid in the past, it'll hunt you for life;
Maybe severance pay is common practice, but from what I heard and read, that's mostly for highly skilled workers. Low skilled workers can be fired easily, without a pay whatsoever;
living in dept:
you need a Fico score, in order to get a lone, and you need a lone, in order to get a Fico score? lol this is like the opposite of where I live: if you're already in dept, you wont get a lone. I actually know someone in America that paid off his lone, in order to get another lone for a car. Lone for the new car got denied, 'cos because he paid of the first lone, his Fico score dropped! They told him he should have upscaled his existing lone in order to get more Fico points. That way he would have gotten the other lone to buy the 2nd car. IDK but it sounded crazy. Please tell me this isn't true
buy everything you need in life on a credit card, in order to keep your Fico score high. And without a good score you won't even get a phone contract, not able to rent a house, or buy a house. Seems like everything is based on you being in dept.
Health care;
Maybe there's Obama care now, but it's a mess and still has a long way to go. in the mean time people have like a 7000 dollar deductible a year? So you still have to pay for every little doctors visit;
Although you're insured for healthcare, you still have to pay like 10% of the costs if you need surgery or cancer treatment?
I have had so many health problems in my life, I think if I had lived in the U.S, I'd be sleeping under a bridge right now!
But, there are also a lot of positives about the U.S. like said before, it depends on your priorities.
One thing: it seems High skilled workers are much more appreciated in the US compared to European countries
As others have mentioned: It depends what your priorities are. Making a lot of money and buying a huge house is certainly easier in the USA. Americans value creating one's own financial destiny greatly.
At the same time, the European lifestyle (IMO, the focus on smaller pleasures, for lack of a better term) is more attractive for some. Not everyone cares very much about having a 3000 sq/ft house or maxing out IRAs.
I fall more into the second camp.
Only for some people. And it's not as easy today as it was generations ago, before the price of housing became hyper-inflated, and wages stagnated. If you're in tech, or corporate law, or are a surgeon, or had a great business idea that really took off, yes, you can still buy a "big" house by European standards (depending on where you live! Not so big in NYC or the Bay Area). But that's a small percentage of the population. And opportunities for upward mobility have shrunk, thanks to state governments cutting support to public universities back to almost nothing.
I often said I like the States as a country but here's my view on a little bit of the negatives:
very unforgiving society:
when you're poor, you're a looser. I actually watched people say this, here on CD, and in real life.
Employers can do background checks on you (illegal as hell in Holland) if you did something stupid in the past, it'll hunt you for life;
Maybe severance pay is common practice, but from what I heard and read, that's mostly for highly skilled workers. Low skilled workers can be fired easily, without a pay whatsoever;
living in dept:
you need a Fico score, in order to get a lone, and you need a lone, in order to get a Fico score? lol this is like the opposite of where I live: if you're already in dept, you wont get a lone. I actually know someone in America that paid off his lone, in order to get another lone for a car. Lone for the new car got denied, 'cos because he paid of the first lone, his Fico score dropped! They told him he should have upscaled his existing lone in order to get more Fico points. That way he would have gotten the other lone to buy the 2nd car. IDK but it sounded crazy. Please tell me this isn't true
buy everything you need in life on a credit card, in order to keep your Fico score high. And without a good score you won't even get a phone contract, not able to rent a house, or buy a house. Seems like everything is based on you being in dept.
Health care;
Maybe there's Obama care now, but it's a mess and still has a long way to go. in the mean time people have like a 7000 dollar deductible a year? So you still have to pay for every little doctors visit;
Although you're insured for healthcare, you still have to pay like 10% of the costs if you need surgery or cancer treatment?
I have had so many health problems in my life, I think if I had lived in the U.S, I'd be sleeping under a bridge right now!
But, there are also a lot of positives about the U.S. like said before, it depends on your priorities.
One thing: it seems High skilled workers are much more appreciated in the US compared to European countries
What does "in dept." mean?
The way most health insurance works is that the insurance company pays 100% for some services, 80% for others. Yes, the 20% can cause people to go bankrupt, if they have a very costly surgery. However, Obamacare is supposed to eliminate that co-pay for people who can't afford it. Who really gets stuck in Obamacare are the middle-class, who don't get any subsidies, unlike the poor, so they have high monthly payments for their insurance, plus co-pays for services, and they choose the level of deductible they want, depending on how much they want to pay for their monthly premium.
However, that's not the only problem with health care. Another problem is that doctors are not well-educated in certain fields. They're not able to treat patients with many types of chronic illness, so those patients end up disabled and having to apply for public assistance, i.e. Social Security disability, IF they qualify, which some don't.
There's also a problem with health insurance refusing to pay for certain medical testing, so again, people go undiagnosed, and suffer needlessly for years. A doctor where I live was actually sued by the main insurance company, because they said she ordered too many of a certain expensive test (she's a specialist in certain types of disease), and they claimed these tests were needless, and that she was defrauding the insurance company! However, I think that even European health care systems have their own ways of keeping costs down and limiting procedures, so I wonder if there are cases there, where people aren't able to get adequate treatment.
To shed some light on the car washing issue in Germany:
It is allowed on Sundays in 9 states and prohibited in 7 states. However, from personal experience I can tell you that most likely nothing will happen to you, even if you decide to wash your car anyhow - especially if you do it in your own yard.
The way most health insurance works is that the insurance company pays 100% for some services, 80% for others. Yes, the 20% can cause people to go bankrupt, if they have a very costly surgery. However, Obamacare is supposed to eliminate that co-pay for people who can't afford it. Who really gets stuck in Obamacare are the middle-class, who don't get any subsidies, unlike the poor, so they have high monthly payments for their insurance, plus co-pays for services, and they choose the level of deductible they want, depending on how much they want to pay for their monthly premium.
However, that's not the only problem with health care. Another problem is that doctors are not well-educated in certain fields. They're not able to treat patients with many types of chronic illness, so those patients end up disabled and having to apply for public assistance, i.e. Social Security disability, IF they qualify, which some don't.
There's also a problem with health insurance refusing to pay for certain medical testing, so again, people go undiagnosed, and suffer needlessly for years. A doctor where I live was actually sued by the main insurance company, because they said she ordered too many of a certain expensive test (she's a specialist in certain types of disease), and they claimed these tests were needless, and that she was defrauding the insurance company! However, I think that even European health care systems have their own ways of keeping costs down and limiting procedures, so I wonder if there are cases there, where people aren't able to get adequate treatment.
Sorry, I meant "in debt" like "owe a debt" to the banks, credit companies etc.
Of course The Netherlands has it's problems too, didn't say they didn't. For instance, insurance companies trying to "force" pharmacies to only use certain "cheap" brands of medication. And the problem of down scaling on employees due to cuts. Nurses working as independent contractors with such low pays they cant afford insurance.... just a few of the issues
Also, Europe is much more crowded and that's why we're more aware of our pollution rates, we also don't waste as much of our land like you do in the USA where large cities have a 50 miles radius (beause of suburban sprawl) if not more. That's an unnecessary waste of large amounts land which could be much more productive.
Productive for what?
We're not "wasting land" - we're just using it differently than those who have very little available land would.
Yes, it depends on your priorities.
And, here my two cents....the two places have very different systems, so if you are born in the US and welll entrenched in their system, you'll find Europe a bit strange and uncomfortable...
The same goes the other way around, if you are born in Europe and are entrenched in their system, the American System will appear as harsh, etc.
So, the answer is subjective.
Whoa - you're making so much sense - you're going to break the internet!
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