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I very much doubt 150k is what most Americans earn. But yeah be rich in America if you can, be poor in Europe if you can't. Although there is more in life than

I very much doubt 150k is what most Americans earn. But yeah be rich in America if you can, be poor in Europe if you can't. Although there is more in life than money, when you leave your Silicon Valley gated community you have to look at the rest of the country.

Annatar 8y ago
Nobody in Europe is truly poor like they are in America. Most places in the States, one is lucky if one earns $40 to $55 k per year, and that's barely enough to make ends meet (been there, done that, got the T-shirt), especially for young people starting out like I was decades prior. Had to watch every dollar on that kind of a salary with home and car mortgages (like most Americans). If I had $200 - $300 left at the end of the month after paying everything, I considered myself lucky and hoped no unforeseen expense incident would take place. And that's true for most people in IT in the States. My buddy who rubbed elbows with me sitting at lectures at the university and has the same exact degree as me is earning around $55 k after more than 25 years in the industry, and his salary is above average compared to what the rest of the people earn.
- dogma1138 8y ago
  Go out of the city in the UK, France, Germany not to mention Eastern Europe and you’ll see the same poverty.
  - Annatar 8y ago
    I don’t mean just the salary: in America the safety net is very poor, medical insurance is an issue, transportation and social services aren’t uniform like they are in Europe; everything is spotty at best.
    - dogma1138 8y ago
      The safety net in Europe isn’t that great either as far as poor people go, the best I can say is that it’s better for the middle / lower middle class but the poor are just as poor. Social services in Europe aren’t uniform either they vary greatly between states and between cities and regions within states, food, housing and transportation is much more expensive, the availability of benefits is often overblown with the only caveat being universal health care which isn’t that different for people who cannot afford it in the US if we are all honest at this point and for the middle classes private medical insurance is still the way to go for most member states. Whoever thinks that Europe is some socialist welfare dream state is quite wrong about it. Being poor in Europe is quite bad and I’m not sure it’s actually any better than being poor in the US. And the lack of social mobility for the middle classes as well as the suppression of personal agency as far as financial independence goes might blow back and blow back hard. Europe has a big problem with government income as more than 50% of it comes from taxes which means that any crisis and any issue with the tax base tends to ripple much harder over here and as far as retirement goes then it’s quite likely that most people like myself won’t be able to retire despite paying very high amounts into the retirement fund because the government keeps raising the retirement age and there is no guarantee of that our funds would even be available to us. This is the reason why I’m currently looking for a way to completely privatize my entire retirement savings plan, I work hard I earn very well and I deposit 24% into retirement with zero guarantee of seeing anything beyond the bare minimum when I finally will be allowed to retire which at this point is probjected to be at 75-77. So sorry fuck that I rather take more risk and be able to retire at say 50 than having to work my ass off until I can see my 80s around the corner with no guarantee of getting anything remotely close to what I put in because sharing is caring.

Annatar 8y ago

Nobody in Europe is truly poor like they are in America. Most places in the States, one is lucky if one earns $40 to $55 k per year, and that's barely enough to make ends meet (been there, done that, got the T-shirt), especially for young people starting out like I was decades prior. Had to watch every dollar on that kind of a salary with home and car mortgages (like most Americans). If I had $200 - $300 left at the end of the month after paying everything, I considered myself lucky and hoped no unforeseen expense incident would take place. And that's true for most people in IT in the States. My buddy who rubbed elbows with me sitting at lectures at the university and has the same exact degree as me is earning around $55 k after more than 25 years in the industry, and his salary is above average compared to what the rest of the people earn.

dogma1138 8y ago
Go out of the city in the UK, France, Germany not to mention Eastern Europe and you’ll see the same poverty.
- Annatar 8y ago
  I don’t mean just the salary: in America the safety net is very poor, medical insurance is an issue, transportation and social services aren’t uniform like they are in Europe; everything is spotty at best.
  - dogma1138 8y ago
    The safety net in Europe isn’t that great either as far as poor people go, the best I can say is that it’s better for the middle / lower middle class but the poor are just as poor. Social services in Europe aren’t uniform either they vary greatly between states and between cities and regions within states, food, housing and transportation is much more expensive, the availability of benefits is often overblown with the only caveat being universal health care which isn’t that different for people who cannot afford it in the US if we are all honest at this point and for the middle classes private medical insurance is still the way to go for most member states. Whoever thinks that Europe is some socialist welfare dream state is quite wrong about it. Being poor in Europe is quite bad and I’m not sure it’s actually any better than being poor in the US. And the lack of social mobility for the middle classes as well as the suppression of personal agency as far as financial independence goes might blow back and blow back hard. Europe has a big problem with government income as more than 50% of it comes from taxes which means that any crisis and any issue with the tax base tends to ripple much harder over here and as far as retirement goes then it’s quite likely that most people like myself won’t be able to retire despite paying very high amounts into the retirement fund because the government keeps raising the retirement age and there is no guarantee of that our funds would even be available to us. This is the reason why I’m currently looking for a way to completely privatize my entire retirement savings plan, I work hard I earn very well and I deposit 24% into retirement with zero guarantee of seeing anything beyond the bare minimum when I finally will be allowed to retire which at this point is probjected to be at 75-77. So sorry fuck that I rather take more risk and be able to retire at say 50 than having to work my ass off until I can see my 80s around the corner with no guarantee of getting anything remotely close to what I put in because sharing is caring.