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.
If you're middle class or higher in the U.S., then the above doesn't really affect you. I don't understand why the U.S. would have a bad quality of life when it seems to me that things are more expensive relative to salaries in most other first world countries. For example, the prices of lot of things are probably 2 to 3 times higher in western European countries compared to the U.S. But are the salaries that much higher?
You forgot to mention that there are thousands if not millions of midle class people who now find themsellf in real economic troublle and living bellow the middle cklass standard. Loss of employment, forecllosure and.... medical bills can pull you down real fast...
Singapore. Draconian laws... Like mandatory death penalty for drug-trafficking...really!?!? And they have the highest execution rate per capita from what I remember. Or somewhere close.
Singapore. Draconian laws... Like mandatory death penalty for drug-trafficking...really!?!? And they have the highest execution rate per capita from what I remember. Or somewhere close.
Not only that. Freedom of speech and press is heavily censored, chewing gums are banned, and homosexuality is considered taboo here.
Singaporeans also work one of the longest hours in the world, almost comparable to the Japanese.
The only problem with attempting to implement European style public transport systems is that the majority of US cities are laid out and designed very differently, namely around the motor car. For example, a city such as Phoenix is full of urban sprawl, not just residential, but commercial, meaning that people aren't necessarily commuting just from the suburbs to downtown, but from suburbs to commercial/business parks that are located in a different suburb.
Dragon
I think that the design of American cities never has been "human-centric". I think that in the past, the design was "cart-centric", "horse centric" so the cities always had a big sprawl. Take the City of Miami, not much more than 100 years old. The old pics right after foundation show a city conceived for carts, horses.
The have no medieval centre, and most of their downtowns are more administrative or commercial than anything else except in some cities.
I think that the only solution for an energy efficient and crime ridden city in the US is to build cities from scratch using European models. Most of the downtowns of many cities are wasted, and they will never "gentrify them" again. Downtowns became wasted with the "doughnut shape" effect when moddle class abandoned them for the suburban sprawl.
Conservative propaganda is very effective at getting people to vote against their own interests. It's very puzzling, and alarming. I don't understand how people can fall for that.
the notion that someone earning under 30 k per year would vote GOP is staggering to me
Italys standard of living is not on the lower end at all, and none of the countries listed should even be questioned about how "first world" they are, because they all classically fit that category. From personal experience, having grown up in both The US and Italy, Italys standard of living is high...very high compared to the rest of the world...it is like any other "first world" nation in that some areas and some situations are better/worse than others, and also in some ways Italy is better at something and in some ways worse, but all these countries are in the lucky position of being in the top precentage of the world in regards to standard of living. I am not defending Italy because of my heritage or my close ties, believe me I have thousands of critiques and negative things to say about it, but I was just shocked to see that subjecty was even being questioned and argued.
no one could ever accuse the italians of not knowing how to live , not enjoying life is seen as a sin in italy , of course that is a very different thing than being wealthy
The US has a higher standard of living, but the quality of living is far higher in Italy thumbs down. In other words, people live better in a little old apartment in a city and a motorino that with a very large new house out in the boondocks and five cars.
The US has a higher standard of living, but the quality of living is far higher in Italy thumbs down. In other words, people live better in a little old apartment in a city and a motorino that with a very large new house out in the boondocks and five cars.
You don't know what you're talking about
Ok, I am italian and in the USA I have unfortunately heard too many bulls**ts about my country
The VAST majority of italian people DON'T live in old apartments and DON'T own a motorino.
Do you really think that cheesy Hollywood movies such as "Under the Tuscan Sun", "To Rome with Love" and "Eat, Pray, Love" represent the real way of life in Italy?
Well, if you think so, I think you should take off your pink glasses...
Also, as far as quality of life is concerned, in Italy it depends on WHERE YOU LIVE: honestly, Italy is not only the beautiful Sienna and Venice, there are unfortunately several unpleasant cities such as Rome, Milan, Naples, Genoa, Palermo etc etc and, as I have already written, the South looks like a developing country, with the difference that it is not developing... it seems to be that it is on a point of no return.
Last edited by italianuser; 06-10-2012 at 05:46 AM..
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.
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.
