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This is a tough question. I'm American but living in Germany, and it's quite confusing to me when I look at local jobs and see how much lower the pay is, when c

This is a tough question. I'm American but living in Germany, and it's quite confusing to me when I look at local jobs and see how much lower the pay is, when compared to the US. I don't really get it. But, I think most professional jobs are like that. Lawyers and Doctors also make far less in Europe than in the US. I think that overall in Europe, there is a much less steep income curve as you advance your career, skills, or education. This is good for the majority of people, but bad for your typical HN'er. The US really has no equal if all you care about is making a shitload of money.

deathanatos 11y ago
> I think that overall in Europe, there is a much less steep income curve as you advance your career, skills, or education. This is good for the majority of people, but bad for your typical HN'er. I don't understand; how is this good for the majority of people?
- coldtea 11y ago
  Because the median is kept higher than in the US, where some people earn shitloads, but a large percentage of the population takes the short end of the stick. This has several benefits outside of money: more integrated and coherent society (no "white trash" next to yuppies), less homeless people, less incarcerations and violent crimes due to being poor/uneducated/without future/etc. And more people thinking as part of the whole of their country/society, as opposed to "screw others, I just need to get to the top myself". That said, some advanced countries, like Britain and (less so) France, do resemble the US more, compared to say Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, etc.