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"Most of Europe Is a Lot Poorer than Most of the United States"
GrundleStiltzkin
Member Posts: 61,499 
in Tug Tavern
Two years old, but still, just what I'm hearing out here.
https://fee.org/articles/most-of-europe-is-a-lot-poorer-than-most-of-the-united-states/
None of this suggests that policy in America is ideal (it isn’t) or that European nations are failures (they still rank among the wealthiest places on the planet).
I’m simply making the modest — yet important — argument that Europeans would be more prosperous if the fiscal burden of government wasn’t so onerous. And I’m debunking the argument that we should copy nations such as Denmark by allowing a larger government in the United States (though I do want to copy Danish policies in other areas, which generally are more pro-economic liberty than what we have in America).
https://fee.org/articles/most-of-europe-is-a-lot-poorer-than-most-of-the-united-states/
None of this suggests that policy in America is ideal (it isn’t) or that European nations are failures (they still rank among the wealthiest places on the planet).
I’m simply making the modest — yet important — argument that Europeans would be more prosperous if the fiscal burden of government wasn’t so onerous. And I’m debunking the argument that we should copy nations such as Denmark by allowing a larger government in the United States (though I do want to copy Danish policies in other areas, which generally are more pro-economic liberty than what we have in America).
Comments
But they are so enlightened and shit. We should copy them.
As Damone said, for anyone that has traveled this is 100% a no shit no brainer.
Even in my time in Japan which was relatively short I was struck by how much I felt that we were only a generation or so removed from poverty/development.
Most lefties like to assume that ex-pats and well traveled people learn how enlightened the rest of the world is. That's pretty much only if you are a tourist. Spend some time living and working in other countries and you quickly realize how fucking tits we have it in the good old U-S of A.
I base that on watching numerous episodes of House Hunters International and their shitty $3000 per month studio apartments.
It’s the same for razors, soap, snacks, etc.
Look, I think this is topic- i.e., in which 1st world country do the pours have it best - requires a bit of nuance. Yes, pours in the US have mor purchasing power and this is a big component of standard of living. But we could also say that some countries, Germany for instance, do a better job that us? of sorting out HS aged kids into who is college material and who needs to learn a trade.
You are definitely a lot more free to suffer the consequences of your own decisions in the good old US. Upward mobility is a lot easier though. It's a two edged sword.
Overall though, freer markets = more access at lower cost but hey, I guess you can get shitty health care in the UK for "free" if you aren't paying taxes.
I'd agree that we don't do a good job of setting people up for what "good enough" as a lifestyle looks like though. We also fail pretty hard at taking care of mentally ill and/or disabled people here. There's no compulsion about a baby sitter for people when the whole government baby sits every citizen.
I'm for socialized education costs don't twist. I just would rather it was closer to single payer model and not a universal model.
In the US GDP distribution is concentrated at the top and our social programs are severely lacking. Most Euros have much more equal distribution of wealth and comprehensive safety nets. This in addition to much stronger workers rights which balance the power of capital and labor.
People in Venezuela finally have an equal distribution of wealth. They don't even have toilet paper but the Chavez daughter has billions of dollars
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