Americans Outearn Europeans, Vol. 366

[jojoju1998]

/snip

Very interesting comparison. Of course, it is nothing new -- but it is yet another reminder of the staggering quality of life differences between here and there.

Naturally, this is also a piece of evidence for the superiority of the free market system.

This is a bad comparison to make. Really. For one thing, you can't compare a country that has a very low population density ( relatively speaking ) to countries, that have both very high population densities, and cities that have been built over thousands of years. Compare for instance Brussells Belgium to Houston Texas. Of course, Brussells is going to have smaller houses. They don't have anywhere else to build ! Meanwhile, Houston is going to keep on sprawling.


Come on man, try better !

A better comparison to make would be the Heritage Foundation's very own economic freedom index. https://www.heritage.org/index/pages/report#indexExecSummary

The US is at a paltry 25th place. In the top ten ? Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland, ( countries with smaller homes by the way ), and guess what ? They all have Universal Healthcare.

[jojoju1998]

I feel like this is more a reflection of population density and land use than anything. Naturally the UK is going to have smaller a smaller average home size than the US because there's limited land.

But then why does the Netherlands have a larger average home size (than the UK) with less land (than the UK)?

Government regulations. The Netherlands mandates a minium average square feet size.

The UK has no such mandate.

[jojoju1998]

Here’s my perspective on USA being richer than Europe, I think few Americans understand how much UHC, relative low medicine price, a mostly functioning school system, a social security net, low inequality, high food safety standard, and low crimes rates means, and it’s not really something most Europeans are willing to trade for bigger houses and bigger cars.

Honestly looking at American and European politics and culture today, while both have their dysfunctional moments, do Americans really come across as happier? Because Americans to me come across as a people deeply unhappy about the way USA is going and much more unhappy about their institutions and political system. Only the British really seem to compete with USA, and among them there’s this feeling that soon their long national nightmare will soon end and they can build back Britain better.

Reminder : the US doesn’t have a singular school system. It has 35,000 decentralized autonomous school districts.


Crime rates also vary and depend by state, city, county, even neighborhood.


It’s the same for healthcare. The US doesn’t have a national healthcare system. It has 50 states with varying laws, and rules. We have public and private hospitals. Great insurance and bad. Great doctors and crap doctors.

[jojoju1998]

Here’s my perspective on USA being richer than Europe, I think few Americans understand how much UHC, relative low medicine price, a mostly functioning school system, a social security net, low inequality, high food safety standard, and low crimes rates means, and it’s not really something most Europeans are willing to trade for bigger houses and bigger cars.

Honestly looking at American and European politics and culture today, while both have their dysfunctional moments, do Americans really come across as happier? Because Americans to me come across as a people deeply unhappy about the way USA is going and much more unhappy about their institutions and political system. Only the British really seem to compete with USA, and among them there’s this feeling that soon their long national nightmare will soon end and they can build back Britain better.

The US and Europe are still far happier than East Asia.

[jojoju1998]

Here’s my perspective on USA being richer than Europe, I think few Americans understand how much UHC, relative low medicine price, a mostly functioning school system, a social security net, low inequality, high food safety standard, and low crimes rates means, and it’s not really something most Europeans are willing to trade for bigger houses and bigger cars.

Honestly looking at American and European politics and culture today, while both have their dysfunctional moments, do Americans really come across as happier? Because Americans to me come across as a people deeply unhappy about the way USA is going and much more unhappy about their institutions and political system. Only the British really seem to compete with USA, and among them there’s this feeling that soon their long national nightmare will soon end and they can build back Britain better.

Reminder : the US doesn’t have a singular school system. It has 35,000 decentralized autonomous school districts.


Crime rates also vary and depend by state, city, county, even neighborhood.


It’s the same for healthcare. The US doesn’t have a national healthcare system. It has 50 states with varying laws, and rules. We have public and private hospitals. Great insurance and bad. Great doctors and crap doctors.

It's the same thing regarding social safety nets.

We have 50 state social safety nets. And colletively, spending on social welfare averages about 800 billion a year.

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/state-and-local-backgrounders/public-welfare-expenditures

Things like Medicaid, SNAP, are all handled and administered at the state and local levels.

[jojoju1998]

Here’s my perspective on USA being richer than Europe, I think few Americans understand how much UHC, relative low medicine price, a mostly functioning school system, a social security net, low inequality, high food safety standard, and low crimes rates means, and it’s not really something most Europeans are willing to trade for bigger houses and bigger cars.

Honestly looking at American and European politics and culture today, while both have their dysfunctional moments, do Americans really come across as happier? Because Americans to me come across as a people deeply unhappy about the way USA is going and much more unhappy about their institutions and political system. Only the British really seem to compete with USA, and among them there’s this feeling that soon their long national nightmare will soon end and they can build back Britain better.

Reminder : the US doesn’t have a singular school system. It has 35,000 decentralized autonomous school districts.


Crime rates also vary and depend by state, city, county, even neighborhood.


It’s the same for healthcare. The US doesn’t have a national healthcare system. It has 50 states with varying laws, and rules. We have public and private hospitals. Great insurance and bad. Great doctors and crap doctors.

It's the same thing regarding social safety nets.

We have 50 state social safety nets. And colletively, spending on social welfare averages about 800 billion a year.

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/state-and-local-backgrounders/public-welfare-expenditures

Things like Medicaid, SNAP, are all handled and administered at the state and local levels.

We look at Denmark for instance, and it has a population of 6 million. If we want to compare, the State of New York has almost 20 million.

Dnemark last year spent around 114 billion dollars on Social welfare Services. The State of New York by itself has spent 129 billion dollars or will spend projected in the coming year. https://openbudget.ny.gov/overview/overview-spendFunction.html

And it's spent on welfare, healthcare, education.

[jojoju1998]

Here’s my perspective on USA being richer than Europe, I think few Americans understand how much UHC, relative low medicine price, a mostly functioning school system, a social security net, low inequality, high food safety standard, and low crimes rates means, and it’s not really something most Europeans are willing to trade for bigger houses and bigger cars.

Honestly looking at American and European politics and culture today, while both have their dysfunctional moments, do Americans really come across as happier? Because Americans to me come across as a people deeply unhappy about the way USA is going and much more unhappy about their institutions and political system. Only the British really seem to compete with USA, and among them there’s this feeling that soon their long national nightmare will soon end and they can build back Britain better.

Reminder : the US doesn’t have a singular school system. It has 35,000 decentralized autonomous school districts.


Crime rates also vary and depend by state, city, county, even neighborhood.


It’s the same for healthcare. The US doesn’t have a national healthcare system. It has 50 states with varying laws, and rules. We have public and private hospitals. Great insurance and bad. Great doctors and crap doctors.

It's the same thing regarding social safety nets.

We have 50 state social safety nets. And colletively, spending on social welfare averages about 800 billion a year.

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/state-and-local-backgrounders/public-welfare-expenditures

Things like Medicaid, SNAP, are all handled and administered at the state and local levels.

We look at Denmark for instance, and it has a population of 6 million. If we want to compare, the State of New York has almost 20 million.

Dnemark last year spent around 114 billion dollars on Social welfare Services. The State of New York by itself has spent 129 billion dollars or will spend projected in the coming year. https://openbudget.ny.gov/overview/overview-spendFunction.html

And it's spent on welfare, healthcare, education.

I don’t get your point?

1: That New York outspend Denmark?

or

2: Denmark spend three times more per capita than New York*?

So what’s the point?

*which doesn’t include whatever federal money New Yorkers gets.

No. That you underestimate how much the US spends on social services from my viewpoint.