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Since when do you need a license and a background check to buy a doughnut in the US?
And you can't just omit the Breivik massacre, it happened and Europe does get massacres.
I just want to respond to your proclamation about freedom. Buying a gun like a doughnut has nothing to do with freedom. We all live in 21st century and you do not live in the Wild West. With exception of Breivik´s massacre 2 years ago, there are no massacres in Europe like you have in the USA. If your country is full of criminals and you need a gun to protect your family, I guess there is something wrong and maybe you should consider moving out or try to change the US policy about that. And if you compare the USA for example to Ukraine, you are right about freedom to express what you think, but I´m not sure about that if you compare your country for example to Germany, the UK or France.
Um...there's no waiting period to buy a doughnut. If that were the case, we would never see police on the streets, ever!
2. Transportation - I think the Eurpean decision to develope subways and trains systems is superior to the US reliance on cars for practically all travel. The US is spread out and less dense which makes it more difficult but there are plenty of cites in the US that cold have more developed subway/public transportation systems imho.
You are right! I have never been to the USA. However I think you are not denying that it is easier to get a gun in most states of the USA than in Europe or to be fair in most European countries...
You are right! I have never been to the USA. However I think you are not denying that it is easier to get a gun in most states of the USA than in Europe or to be fair in most European countries...
It is easier to get a gun here and that doesn't everyone with a gun is out killing eachother.
Since when do you need a license and a background check to buy a doughnut in the US?
And you can't just omit the Breivik massacre, it happened and Europe does get massacres.
It's minimal relative to the US, even per population. However, most homicides for either the US or the EU are not committed as part of a massacre. It's these non-massacre homicides that are especially alarming about the US because they are so much higher than that of the EU. The good thing is that they've been dropping--while still very bad compared to any other developed country, it's quite a bit better than the 80s and early 90s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3
They act like USA experts but they obviously don't know much about us.
In my experience, Europeans as a whole have been a lot more familiar with the US than Americans as a whole are familiar with Europe (either as specific nations or as a whole). Both groups do have their obnoxious loudmouths who claim more familiarity than is warranted though, but I find that Europeans generally know a lot of individual facts about the US but string them in a way that makes it more insidious than what's really there while Americans generally know a lot less about modern Europe and either start talking a lot more about the US which they're comfortable with or they start talking about stereotypes that no longer make sense.
"Europe" isn't making any decisions. Each European country has different laws and standards when it comes to health care, transportation, economics, freedom and foreign relations. Some countries are doing better than the US, some worse.
Without sounding like an obnoxious nationalist, I think my own country (The Netherlands) is better than the US in each of these aspects. I will explain why:
Health care: The Netherlands has universal health insurance. It is illegal for insurers to relate their premiums to health status or age, or to refuse applicants on this basis. The WHO ranks the Dutch healthcare system as #17 in the world, compared to #38 for the US. In terms of expenditure per capita, The Netherlands is #9 while the US is #1. A more recent report from the Commonwealth Fund compared the healthcare systems of The Netherlands, Britain, Canada, Germany, the US, Australia and New Zealand. It ranks The Netherlands first and the US last.
Transportation: The Netherlands has a much better developed public transport system. The rail network is one of the busiest in the world (I think it is second behind Japan). The Netherlands has the most dense motorway network in the EU. The cycling infrastructure is the most comprehensive in the world and many people use their bike as their main means of transportation. Public transport is free to students.
Economics: The Netherlands and the US have a similar GDP per capita (adjusted for PPP) and a similar unemployment rate. Both countries have an AAA credit rating. However, The Netherlands has lower income inequality, higher minimum wage, better protection of workers' rights, greater social mobility, lower public debt and a better current account balance. The US has slightly more economic freedom (#10 vs. #17) but to me, that doesn't offset the negatives that I mentioned before. Besides, I don't believe more economic freedom is necessarily a good thing. Capitalism should not be unrestrained, imo.
Freedom: The Netherlands has more personal freedom than the US. It was the first country to legalise gay marriage and one of the few countries in the world where euthanasia, prostitution and soft drugs are also legal. Gun possession is not entirely outlawed either, it is just more strictly regulated. I've never understood why Americans boast about their freedom when the US has by far the highest incarceration rate in the world. Also, the Press Freedom Index ranks The Netherlands at #2 while the US is #32.
Foreign Relations: For the most part, the US has been horrendous in terms of foreign relations this past decade and things haven't improved much under Obama. Illegally invading other countries, drone strikes, recorded war crimes, torture, the NSA spying scandal, etc. It's hard to top that
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo
I think it's an ok comparison considering our country spans a continent. It takes all of those countries to make the comparison remotely fair.
That makes no sense. The difference between the different states in the US are nowhere near as great as between the countries of Europe. When we're talking about economics, are we talking about Norway or Moldova? Germany or Greece? When it comes to health care, are we talking about Great Britain or Romania? What about freedom, is it fair to generalise countries like Russia and The Netherlands as one and the same?
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