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Your lack of understanding probably comes from the fact that you're misinformed about the facts on the ground. - While not as robust as some Western European c
by harryh 8y ago
Your lack of understanding probably comes from the fact that you're misinformed about the facts on the ground.
- While not as robust as some Western European countries, the social safety net in the US is pretty strong.
- The majority of US workers get paid sick days and even for those that don't you will almost never get fired for taking off when sick.
- Maybe about half of US workers get paid maternity leave.
- Only around 10% of Americans do not have health insurance and many of those people are young people unlikely to get sick.
To be clear, I'm not trying to say that everything is perfect and that there is no room for improvement, but the US isn't the dystopia that you make it out to be. It also helps that incomes in the US are among the highest in the world due to the very robust economy.
- alkonaut 8y ago> Maybe about half of US workers get paid maternity leave. I think there is some confusion of terminology here: a European probably means paid leave for the first 12-18 months of the baby’s life, until it’s old enough to go to daycare so the parents can return to work. One or a few months leave doesn’t really help much if you still either have to quit or take a long unpaid leave until the kid can be in daycare during the day
- harryh 8y agoDaycare in the US routinely starts at 3 months. You don't have to take a long unpaid leave before daycare starts.
- alkonaut 8y agoWow. Did not know that. Here you aren’t recommended to leave kids until 12months, and the norm is 18. I suppose that will also happen in the US - that is, if you can afford it you stay home until 12-18 months (or longer). This of course leads to kids to more well off people getting more time with their parents than poorer kids. That would be an almost impossible situation to support politically here, so the solution is to ensure even the poorest kids get the minimum 12 month full time parenting, through tax funded parental leave
- harryh 8y agoWhile some parents (much more often mothers) choose to exit the workforce semi permanently when they have kids, it's actually very very rare for Americans to take off for 12-18 months. It's generally either ~3 months or "forever." I know my wife was quite eager to go back to work after 3 months. Staying at home all day with a newborn gets boring fast.