8 ms·
I wonder what's the correlation between this and people being underpaid. I'm fortunate enough to have my own house after graduation so I don't have to pay rent.
by presiozo 6y ago
I wonder what's the correlation between this and people being underpaid. I'm fortunate enough to have my own house after graduation so I don't have to pay rent. But I have friends that don't have this luxury and man, they are struggling. Besides eating and rent they can't afford anything else in a month. No question here what's giving them these feelings
- virvar 6y agoI live in Denmark, where we lift a lot of the burden of civilisation together, to give everyone access to education, health/elderly/child care as well as a solid security system for those who get unemployed. And here society is hard enough these days, pressing more and more people beyond their limits. I really wonder how you all do it in America.
- runawaybottle 6y agoWe’re particularly nuts if you want the short answer.
- mdszy 6y agoThat's what they don't tell you - a whole lot of people straight up DON'T do it. A whole lot of people are homeless. Many people never go to the doctor because they can't afford it.
- malandrew 6y ago> And here society is hard enough these days, pressing more and more people beyond their limits. I really wonder how you all do it in America. It's all relative. Someone in the US is looking at failed states in Central America and Africa and thinking the same thing. One day, people will look at Denmark and think the same. Objectively people may be having a better or worse time in different places at different times, but how you personally feel about your situation is all relative at the end of the day.
- paulddraper 6y agoExceptionalism.
- paulddraper 6y agoThe United States and Denmark are very different countries. The U.S. has nearly 4x as fast population growth, 2x as many immigrants, 10x the incarceration rate, much greater religious and racial diversity, 100x more billionaires, 17% less GDP per capita, and 3x as much debt/GDP. I'll refrain from opining as to what is cause and what is effect, but the differences are many.
- adventured 6y ago> 17% less GDP per capita US GDP per capita was 9% higher than Denmark for 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... > 3x as much debt/GDP Denmark has a dramatically greater household debt to income ratio than the US, and is one of the most indebted countries in the world. They're in horrible debt shape. Their household debt as a percentage of disposable income is 282%, the worst in the world; that contrasts with 105% for the US, which is only slightly worse than Germany at 95%. Denmark's quality of life is coming at the expense of the future, as they load up massively on debt today to fake their standard of living. Take a look: https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.htm https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.htm
- paulddraper 6y agoMy mistake on GDP number. And I should have clarified that was national (government) debt. Thanks for the perspective.
- mydongle 6y ago>Denmark's quality of life is coming at the expense of the future, as they load up massively on debt today to fake their standard of living. It's probably worth it in the end. How much longer do we have to endure low quality of life for the sake of some future? Let's say you endured and now your son becomes an adult. Is that now the time to start improving things and enjoying a better quality of life? Probably not, people will say it isn't time yet and we aren't ready, therefore your son will have to sacrifice his happiness and wellbeing too, for his children. The average person in Denmark will probably die of natural cause, after a relatively happy and fulfilling life. Doesn't seem like they're getting any worse either for it. What do we have to show for our sacrifices? Nothing it seems. The powers that be will cry about muh inflation all day and won't bail out people, but they're ready to bend over and print money if the corporations and ultra rich need it though.
- Ididntdothis 6y agoA lot of Americans think they can make it themselves without help from others. Smart people don’t believe that and make the government subsidize their stuff left and right. Often while deluding themselves into thinking that they are “self made”. And then you have the people who constantly vote against their own interests while enduring the hardships the system imposes.
- eli_gottlieb 6y ago>And here society is hard enough these days, pressing more and more people beyond their limits. I really wonder how you all do it in America. Oh, that's simple: those of us who survive the rat race are insane, and those who don't, you don't hear from.
- luckylion 6y agoI don't know whether there's a large correlation, but I believe it would mostly be in the severity of outcomes. Depression isn't "because life is hard", but life being hard makes dealing with depression harder than life being easy. I know people who are very wealthy who struggle with depression, I know people who are very wealthy who don't even really understand the term because they've never experienced anything remotely close. And I know both types who are not wealthy at all. From my personal experience, money doesn't matter in that regard. But it's definitely better to struggle with depression without the added stress of keeping up with the bills, and when you've gotten through it, you're having a good life if you've been rich before, and you're going to have to pick up the pieces and try to glue them back together if you haven't.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- JSavageOne 6y agoOn top of that, I wonder how much these statistics are influenced by the ridiculous student debt burdens the U.S. education system saddles their youth with. Getting a master's degree will easily have you graduating with six figures in student loan debt. In a sibling comment I see a mention of Denmark - a country where not only is higher education free, the government actually pays students a monthly stipend to help cover basic living expenses. The U.S. is an extremely backwards country when it comes to taking care of its people, with city streets literally lined up with tents of homeless people in some of its biggest cities. No universal healthcare, low social mobility, it's not the least bit surprising to me that a third of the country is depressed. It's just sad that our government does nothing about it while our president is busy tweeting conspiracy theories.
- refurb 6y agoYup, America is in shambles. That's why everyone gets so pissed when they try to stop the millions of people that want to come here.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]