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The reason Europe works the way it does is because they want it to work that way. (the "nice" parts of Europe like Switzerland in any case)
It's not "the system" in America that fails. We could try our darndest to clone European "systems" here but they would fall apart quickly. The people here in America don't WANT to have efficient public education, reasonable work benefits, good education, etc... If they did, we'd already have them by now. There is literally NOTHING stopping us except ourselves.
I came to this realization after traveling & working with Europeans. School is a good example. What I notice about European school systems that's most different is that the students WANT to learn. In the U.S., most of the students want to be on break, play sports, do anythign really, OTHER THAN read and learn. We don't even go to school to learn. We go to school because that's what we think we "have to do" to get a job which we need in order to survive. We carry that with us through our entire working lives. I bet most Americans would not go to school at all if they thought they didn't have to in order to get a job someday.
Europeans' lives don't seem so hyperfocused on school-work-money-buystuff, rinse and repeat. That seems to be all we do in America. We go to more and more school so we can get the good job so we can buy a bigger living box which means we have to work more & possibly go to more school so we can buy an even bigger living box & fill it with more stuff, get a car with plushier seats & more stuff in it which makes us have to work more & possibly go to more school to get a better job... indefinitely.
The USA has over 6 times the percentage of non-whites than does Switzerland. The reality in the world is that whites on average are much more productive from an economic standpoint around the world than others...there are pockets of wealth among Asians such as japan Korea, Singapore but overall whites generate much more on average than Asians as a % of their population and both dwarf what blacks generate.
The blacks were brought as slaves and now the USA is paying for this horrible sin with a huge economic drain and rampant crime.
Switzerland benefits from never having to pay for wars, a niche banking economy, and a small educated populace that speaks multiple languages which increases their value in the business world.
Let's face it, the USA is in serious decline due to the demographic trends leading to political disaster....just look at our 2 Presidential choices our idiots have made for us.
Europe has the Roma which they would characterize the same as you do African-Americans. It's amazing how we can spit on a group of people, then blame them for not bootstrapping as well as the rest of us when they slip on our spit.
Most of what she says holds true for most of the western world. Americans are crazy about being seen to be at work. The horror of part time work is so weird. No one at home believes me when I tell them my only two choices are full time work or no work.
Have you ever used public transport? The biggest problem they face is getting enough ridership to justify more frequent service, but more frequent service is needed to attract higher ridership.
No, there's not a catch. The reason Americans put up with their system is the rah-rah-USA! stuff which has conditioned them to think it's some sort of privilege to be at work all the time, eat lunch at your desk, take no holidays, etc, etc. Literally every other first world western country works harder, spend more time outside of work and has significantly better quality of life. Just look at how many people on city data rave about how wonderful America is without ever having lived and worked overseas or often even travelled overseas or read about how different systems work.
Great point! My brother tells folks in Joklahoma about how awesome it is here in Australia, and all he gets is "The taxes and COL are SO high"!! or "You pay 80% in taxes" or such nonsense! I love how people who've never left the joke of a country, rip on places they've never been to, or know nothing about!! Why are there so many americans that think the U$ is perfect and better in every way-it's not in most ways it's worse!
When you "Work for change" posting to Vox is kind of "Low Brow" journalism.....If she'd posted to other papers, again, that's not 'Working for change" What she needs to do, is to start writing to congress, having others write having people vote FOR who WILL change the way it's done in Congress. Writing a hack piece? Been done, no one remembers who did them....
Writing to Congress does oh so much!! REally? If they even get your letter or email, and that's a big if, and they don;t agree, that's pretty much it. The U$ is run by, paid for, and favors the wealthy and Corporations. All the letters in the world won;t help- or else there'd have been significant changes by now. Are you really THAT naive or blind?
Oh, please. Allow me to say what I bet the 320 people who chose to read the OP without responding to it probably wanted to say: The author of that article is a privileged jerk.
The fact that she had a lousy job doesn't mean the U.S. has a "lousy work culture." Jobs with benefits and which pay well are out there. Instead of whining about what "the U.S." (the government) needs to provide, she should start pounding the pavement, and chuck the idea that a full-time job is beneath her. Quite frankly, it sounds as if she'd relish being part of the almost 50% of Americans who don't even pay income tax.
The World Owes Me A Living is an.old song.
It does- and I didn;t know you knew the author intimately I hate to be the bearer of awful news, but the U$ is NOT perfect in all ways!, and does NOT do every conceivable thing better than every other nation on Earth. Not every good hard intelligent worker in the $tate$ has it great! One thing I laugh at americans about is so many think that if it isn't happening to them, it isn't happening or can;t happen to anyone, ever.
By that twisted yankee logic, EVERY male should be able to throw a 94 mph fastball, never gain weight, and never lose their hair after 50
I can't recall the last time someone took a semi truck through crowds here in a religious anger of killing (Even the ones here wouldn't do that)
Switzerland was not invaded by Germany...Now why? I guess that EVERYONE knows how to use a gun....
Evangelical christian element...OK, so you don't believe...Lots of people don't, but they have to let others know this...for some reason.
I can't recall the last time 7 cops were killed in Switzerland either, or 20+ kids gunned down at school, or freeways blocked off, or people dying due to illness and no access to care, or being laid off from their job so some CEO can buy a new jet, or kids being shot while playing, or cops shooting unarmed civilians, or Switzerland leading the free world in gun deaths per capita. or religious nuts shooting people, or a shooting with 4+ victims daily on average
Lets not forget that many of these countries have had more pro-worker legislation in place for 50 years or hell even 100 years. Its absolutely laughable when people say America can't afford it in 2016 or because there are too many poor minorities in America! Minorities in America are richer than these countries 50 years ago and 100 years ago! When it can be done 50 or 100 years ago in countries like Australia, Switzerland, Germany etc etc it sure as hell can be done in America in 2016! And the fact of the matter is; if we look at what the American people believe, there is overwhelming support for this!
Quote:
"In the poll conducted just before Labor Day, 78 percent of respondents say large employers should be required to provide workers at least some paid vacation time, a result virtually unchanged from the three-quarters who said the same thing last year."
This is the gap between public opinion and public policy. That gap is packed full of donor class big money. Even with massive corporate propaganda, if we look at opinion polls, Americans are still to a very large extent social democrats and not really much different than Europeans. It is no coincidence that FDR is the most popular president in America in the last 100 years! Now that was a real social democrat fighting for workers!
The main reason for that is you have to work really hard in America starting in your school years and continuing all throughout your working career to achieve the kind of economic success that you dream of. It doesn't come easily.
In Europe, there's more of a safety net for people who can't or don't work hard. In America, not so much.
Even those that DO work hard, often struggle. It's tough to work hard at a job that either doesn't exist, or that 500 people apply to. If hard work was enough, very few Americans would struggle. Contrary to what those born into privilege tell you, bad things do happen to good smart, hard working people that "do everything that you're supposed to do" America sucks
That's the price of freedom to choose. You roll the dice.
I'd still rather have the choice than be told what I can and cannot do.
And for all the people who say that Americans eat crappy food, celebrate violence and stupidity, have lots of debt for no reason, etc...that is true.
For some people.
If you're so stupid that you just believe mainstream media represents all of the United States of America, your European education wasn't really very good.
I enjoy tons of freedom even though I no longer live in the 3rd world dump known as america. I live a great life, my hard work actually pays off-I get no freebies. No one tells me what I cant do. You don't have to live in america to be truly free. I'm not a slave to my employer or anyone. We have guns here, eat what we choose, live where we choose, etc. I'll take my real freedom over american "freedom" at least I don't live in fear of some bogeyman everywhere I go-
Switzerland is one of the unfriendliest countries I've ever been to. They are like the Ferengi - they worship money and nothing else. And yes, the xenophobia. But in fairness, it's not purely racist xenophobia. Non-white Swiss are also xenophobic against non-Swiss. It's rather complicated.
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