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Are you trying to spread fud? Because everything you said is either plain wrong or made to sound worse than it is. 1. All prices in europe include tax, unlike
by scrollaway 10y ago
Are you trying to spread fud? Because everything you said is either plain wrong or made to sound worse than it is.
1. All prices in europe include tax, unlike in the US where it's customary to not include tax in the price and pay it at checkout. Stuff tends to be more expensive not just because of VAT but also because of shipping prices and extra consumer protections such as mandatory 2 year warranties.
2. Just like in the US, rent varies wildly. In Athens you can pay 100€/month for a studio. In London, you'll find that same studio for 10-15 times that depending where you look. "Compared to income" IME it's about equal if not better - please cite your sources.
3. Healthcare is unquestionably of excellent quality across the board. I've lived in France, the UK, Greece, Sweden, there's no exceptions.
4. Petrol prices are kinda irrelevant when you don't need a car. European cities are far, far more tightly packed than the west coast. In all capitals you can get all your stuff done by foot, metro or cycling.
What you're somehow forgetting however while complaining about earnings is that as a US citizen, you need to watch out for double taxation when moving to a different country. So I don't know, your post here is actually super counterproductive.
- loxs 10y agoWhat you say is correct. All things have variations. The Athens flat for 100 euro (though I highly doubt the price you cite) has it's equivalence somewhere in cheap cities of the US I never said that healthcare was "bad", only that it has its problems. Please note that I didn't say that Europe is worse, just that you'll be worse financially, which I didn't see you disproving.
- scrollaway 10y agoI can cite that price from personal experience :) You said healthcare is of "questionable quality". Everything has its problems but as far as I'm concerned, healthcare in europe is top notch. You certainly don't hear about "healthcare horror stories" in europe, unlike in the US... I'm not sure what "worse off financially" even means. It depends. For a long time I was working from home for an international company and earning far more a month than I'd need in a year. Like you said, there are equivalents in the US.
- ColanR 10y agoAnd yet you still don't disprove his point. "More than needed in a year" doesn't deny a relatively inferior financial position.
- scrollaway 10y agoIs "working 1 month to be well off for the entire year" an inferior financial position to you? I have news for you: for nearly the entire rest of the world, it's not. Leave your bubble for the new year, will ya?
- loxs 10y agoI also am happy with my financial situation. That doesn't mean that what I said is not true. Salaries which a re "standard" in the US, like 100-150k USD are very hard to attain in Europe, working for European employers. They are certainly not "standard".
- scrollaway 10y agoNot only is that untrue in several places (Zurich, Stockholm, Paris and until recently London) but you simply can't look at it using just the raw numbers; you have to take perks, quality of life and how much you're actually saving up into account. Six figures is barely enough to keep up with living costs in some parts of SF, whereas in Greece it's 1-2 orders of magnitude lower depending on which part you live in.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- oscardelben 10y agoDepends where you are. You'll probably make way more in Switzerland than in the US for equivalent positions.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]