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Those first two arenas have been going in the opposite direction since the Reagan administration. Undermining public education by giving people vouchers so they can use their theoretical tax money to pay for private schools, charter schools, etc. Supporting industry in cutting or eliminating benefits for workers by supporting union-busting, looking the other way on illegal immigration, and voting on amnesty for illegal aliens every 10-15 years, providing tax benefits to industry that engages factories overseas, thereby enabling industry in avoiding providing benefits. There's no end to these trends in sight, either.
Charter schools have been touted as saviors here in Oakland... even Governor Brown started one and said we need more...
Governor Brown has little in common with Reagan except they were both California Governors.
I've worked both Union and Non-Union and found good work environments in both situations... in some ways the Union job was better in that as an employee, you always know the expectations of the job... it was all spelled out in the bargaining agreement... sadly, the shop where I work and those like it no longer exist... much of manufacturing has left the SF Bay Area... at one time, Oakland was called the Detroit of the west because there was so much industry here and the rest of the East Bay...
My father taught High School years ago... as a bright and eager teacher he became disenchanted because so much of the politics put the kids second... eventually he left.
My friends in Europe do live very different lifestyles than their American counter parts... few really save... no one tells them they need million dollar retirement accounts and their property taxes are dirt cheap... some homes have been in the same family for many generations... totally the opposite of here where we tend to be a nation on the move... just imagine 3 generations under one big roof in America... not going to happen by choice in the typical situation.
The quality of life in Vienna is better than the quality of life in NYC if you're the type of person who wants to live in Vienna..I'd be bored in a few days and wish I could afford to live in London or Paris.
Madison, Wi. is less expensive than Paris...Omaha, Ne. is less expensive than London. Therefore the U.S. is cheaper than Europe. (Makes perfect sense in these kind of threads.)
I've never lived in or even visited America so can't judge but keep in mind that Europe is made up of about 50 countries and the UE is made up of 27 countries, so cost of living vary massively throughout Europe, even here in Italy i was shocked at the difference of prices between Apulia and big cities like Milan and Turin the first time i went there.
Yeah, people love to compare USA to Europe all the time. The US is only one country and like you said here, Europe is made up of many countries. It would be better to compare all of North America to Europe since North America is made up of more than just the USA. But, it's always USA vs Europe, almost like us against the world seems like.
The quality of life in Vienna is better than the quality of life in NYC if you're the type of person who wants to live in Vienna..I'd be bored in a few days and wish I could afford to live in London or Paris.
Madison, Wi. is less expensive than Paris...Omaha, Ne. is less expensive than London. Therefore the U.S. is cheaper than Europe. (Makes perfect sense in these kind of threads.)
Just out of curiosity: Have you actually been to Austria? To Vienna? More than 2-3 days? Have you actually left the 1st district? Have you done anything besides going to museums and the opera?
The quality of life in Vienna is better than the quality of life in NYC if you're the type of person who wants to live in Vienna..I'd be bored in a few days and wish I could afford to live in London or Paris.
Madison, Wi. is less expensive than Paris...Omaha, Ne. is less expensive than London. Therefore the U.S. is cheaper than Europe. (Makes perfect sense in these kind of threads.)
Having lived in Austria I find the quality of life different... not better or worse.
Also, Vienna is very different than the rest of Austria and the people that live in Austria will say the same.
The quality of life in Vienna is better than the quality of life in NYC if you're the type of person who wants to live in Vienna..I'd be bored in a few days and wish I could afford to live in London or Paris.
Madison, Wi. is less expensive than Paris...Omaha, Ne. is less expensive than London. Therefore the U.S. is cheaper than Europe. (Makes perfect sense in these kind of threads.)
Exactly. You need to compare apples to apples.
I have lived in both places, and, generally speaking, the U.S. is cheaper. The U.S. is probably the cheapest "rich" place to live in the world. Even compared to Canada or Australia, almost everything (real estate, dining out, clothing) is cheaper in the U.S.
The quality of life is higher in the US, no comparison.
High middle class Americans would find hard to adapt to Europe, housing is ridiculous compared to US, cars are more expensive, gas, no space.
The US spends more on social policies per capita, but the money goes down the drain somewhere.
Taxes are way lower.
But, the US is flawed with RACKETS.
Insurance rackets, legal rackets, lobbies, gun lobbies, AMA rackets....and then a corollary of idiotic laws that meddle into civil society as EPA, ERA, etc.....plus MEDIA that turns people crazy.
Plus, the US is the land of signs, "don't spit", "don't sit here"..."don't look", "don't feed owls"..hundreds of thousands of caveat that scare people not used to such idiotic warnings.
Plus, cars and distances, wasted space, etc.
Plus, police inspire fear, some minorities inspire fear, customs inspire fear, media inspire fear....a lot of artificial FEAR and terror.
The US is far cheaper, but real good things are more expensive.
Europe is far cheaper indeed, basically the only things that are cheaper in the US are fuel, fast food, some electronics like Apple, and some clothes brands like Levi's. Things that are much cheaper in Europe are groceries, health-care/insurance, rents, properties, all kinds of insurance most notably car insurance, education, cell phone plans, mobile internet, cable tv, broadband internet, utilities, property taxes, household appliances, used cars, etc.
You need approximately 2x the euro amount in $ to have the same standard of living. So, if you make 40.000 euros you need about 80.000$ in the US for the same life style. If you have kids to put through college, are seriously sick or need to live along the major cities on the east or west coast you need more like 3x to 5x your euro salary.
Most Americans earn less than $27k so most of them all really struggling with their terribly high costs of living and are far worse off than most Europeans. In addition, quality of most things like infrastructure, food, housing, internet speeds, cars are better in Europe too.
I have lived in both places, and, generally speaking, the U.S. is cheaper. The U.S. is probably the cheapest "rich" place to live in the world. Even compared to Canada or Australia, almost everything (real estate, dining out, clothing) is cheaper in the U.S.
The US is way cheaper, standard of living is far higher...
BUT....there are rackets that spoil things.
Insurance, Health Insurance, Universities, property and HOA fees are excessive in some places.
Most of those rackets are the products of lobbies, American should fix those things.
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