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It´s funny, though, that most of EU has way higher living standards than the US. Why work your butt off if you can have a more relaxed lifestyle and still make more than in the US? I don´t see why anyone would work hard just to work hard. It doesn´t make any sense.
it may sound arrogant, but is not meant to be:
comparing infrastructures should not be left to economists and statisticians alone.
How reasonable is it for intelligent, hard-workers to make reasonably high amounts of money and be very well off in the EU?
Does the smartest 1% of the population, when working hard, generally make over $100,000 (72,200 euros) after taxes by the time they reach 30? Does a powerful graduate degree usually allow one to be well off, if it is followed by hard work?
(Please do not take this as a rhetorical question)
The nice thing about the US, to me, is that the very best, if they work hard, can seriously live a very nice life. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm not being compassionate, but in the year 2009, some people would like more than to just live and exist. People have dreams and ambitions beyond just staying alive, and up until the recent depression, the US gave the opportunity for this.
Becoming mega-wealthy is not likely even if you are very intelligent and work very hard. But if you are smart enough to go to a good school/grad school and become a doctor, accountant, consultant, i-banker, lawyer, engineer, computer scientist, or other hard-scientist, you can make $100,000 - $250,000 or so before you turn 30 without needing to be really "lucky." You will be taxed at roughly 28%-34% after factoring in deductions, social security/medicare, and state taxes. With that kind of money (well, the low end), by yourself, you could afford to buy a 3-bedroom luxury condo in a medium-large city (i.e. like Atlanta or Miami), drive a nice car, go out to nice restaurants, buy nice clothes, etc. You could similarly afford a nice 1-bedroom in NYC while still having all the other stuff. And, if you wanted to live in the suburbs of a medium-sized city, you could afford something like a 3000 square foot house, a nice yard, all the other stuff, and a boat. Again, that is for someone making about $100,000 or so.
I would be very interested to know how similar the EU is to this. Also, I think it is a given that for people making under $40k/y or so, the EU is much better.
Also, another big difference between the two is that in the EU, you get much more rich histories and diverse cultures country to country and probably even city to city. But, you also have many different languages. I guess a lot of the very-developed EU all speak English, but I would imagine it must be a lot harder for a Brit living in Italy than it would be for a native. Learning a new language is reasonable, but becoming fluent in 8 (of 34 total) languages is not really possible for most people. In the US, that is not an issue -- you can move from Chicago to Miami to New York to Los Angeles and not miss a beat.
(All this said, I would not necessarily say I think the US is better than the EU -- I don't know enough to compare)
Median household income: US is ranked 10th to 17th behind 9 to 12 EU countries. This is partly because the dollar dropped so much compared to the EU, although I'm not sure whether that is all that relevant to standard of living or not (need to think more about it I guess!). I don't think Standard of Living should be all that much of a factor, though. It is tough to say that living in a 5-bedroom house in the middle-of-nowhere South Dakota is probably not preferable to living in a luxury 1BR condo in NYC, for a lot of people. So, I think this data should be taken at face value. That said, most of the countries ahead of the US are smaller countries -- The 11 countries ahead of the US have a total population of only about 70 million (so, 14% of the EU is ahead of the US, and that is counting Switzerland and Norway). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
germany had to undergo such rigid structural changes after its reunification
(which according to then chancellor kohl would not cost anyone anything...), so their entire social security system has become a shambles .... still trying to hide the fact that it is brought down to a class system that may just not match customary u.s. upward mobility perspectives, although envisioned as such.
Hmm. The top three European countries on the list are not part of the EU. Wonder why...
haha. Norway, Iceland and Switzerland?
All i know is that Norway arent a part of EU cause we don't want to share our money. IMO, it's lame. we should help the less fortunate countries in europe i think its stupid that the EU included all those eastern european countries, though, they should have "westernized" one at a time, itd be much better!
All i know is that Norway arent a part of EU cause we don't want to share our money. IMO, it's lame. we should help the less fortunate countries in europe i think its stupid that the EU included all those eastern european countries, though, they should have "westernized" one at a time, itd be much better!
LOL. norway will attract more migratory workers such as medics from eu countries, the trend seems to indicate that.
i guess soon the word brain drain will find its way into eu vocabs.
All i know is that Norway arent a part of EU cause we don't want to share our money. IMO, it's lame. we should help the less fortunate countries in europe i think its stupid that the EU included all those eastern european countries, though, they should have "westernized" one at a time, itd be much better!
You're absolutely right...and now the EU wants to include Turkey (most of it is not even on the European Continent ), and they even talk of...Israel (in the Middle East), Morocco (in North Africa), Ukraine , Moldova, Georgia (I'm sure the Russians will be happy!), and why stop there ? it's ridiculous in my book, it's what the ancient Greeks were calling hubris (greed of power, unchecked pride)
United States of America vs European Union
Multiracial Nation vs White Continent
Per capita GDP of $47,000 vs Per capita GDP of $33,400
Lower taxes vs Higher taxes
Private healthcare system vs Universal healthcare system
Car dependency vs Car free society
Monolingual Citizens vs Bili/trilingual Citizens
Shopping malls vs Castles/art/museums
MTV/Hollywood vs Euro Culture
U.S. American Football vs European Football
Big Mac/Whopper/Hot Dogs vs Paella/Pasta/Croissants
Corvette/Hummer vs Ferrari/BMW
Nascar vs Formula 1
Dollar vs Euro
"it depends on what you like better"
Last edited by Eduardo983; 06-17-2009 at 10:40 PM..
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when last was a spin doctor needed? can't remember.
i think its stupid that the EU included all those eastern european countries, though, they should have "westernized" one at a time, itd be much better! 
"it depends on what you like better"