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If you add American's median household healthcare expenditure (~$8,200) to Australia's consumption, America's consumption is still 20% higher. > I mean Austral

If you add American's median household healthcare expenditure (~$8,200) to Australia's consumption, America's consumption is still 20% higher. > I mean Australia beats the USA by any quality of life index out there. I don't think it's worth it to get into an argument about which country is "better", except to say a lot of indexes are designed to advocate for the creator's goals rather than as a useful comparison. E.g. your linked ranking uses "the share of women holding seats in national Houses of Assembly". Is that really a useful comparison point for quality of life?

AnotherGoodName 6y ago
>If you add American's median household healthcare expenditure (~$8,200) to Australia's consumption, America's consumption is still 20% higher. Yes but the point is that's one example. I'm not going to got through the full list but i can't think of one USA government provided service that's better quality or requires less private intervention compared to social democracies like Australia and it shows up in so many intangible ways. eg. little things like the Australian government provided online tax filing. In the USA people need to pay to file taxes online (sure paper is free but ugh what a hassle). More private toll roads in the USA. Public housing is more common per capita in Australia. Australias national broadband network (i still can't get fibre here in the USA but i had it in regional Australia), etc. Again i'm not going to keep going except to say that i've lived in both nations and it's really obvious. In more socialist countries per capita spending can be seen as lower but the services are better despite no spending from consumers going to them. The spending comes from the government. You can't compare spending between the USA and Australia for this reason.
- modeless 6y ago
  Online tax filing is free for everyone under the median income. Private toll roads may or may not be "more" common but they are certainly rare. Average internet speeds are twice Australia's. https://www.fastmetrics.com/internet-connection-speed-by-country.php https://www.fastmetrics.com/internet-connection-speed-by-cou...
- qeternity 6y ago
  Very odd to hear from someone who lived in both. I’ve lived in both as well. > More private toll roads in the USA. And more public. More roads period. The interstate highway system is one of the modern wonders of the world. > Public housing is more common per capita in Australia. I’m not sure if this is true, but I’d argue it’s not a good thing. > Australias national broadband network (i still can't get fibre here in the USA but i had it in regional Australia), etc. Again i'm not going to keep going except to say that i've lived in both nations and it's really obvious. This is an extremely strange one. Internet in Australia is so bad it’s painful. The national network is a joke.

AnotherGoodName 6y ago

>If you add American's median household healthcare expenditure (~$8,200) to Australia's consumption, America's consumption is still 20% higher. Yes but the point is that's one example. I'm not going to got through the full list but i can't think of one USA government provided service that's better quality or requires less private intervention compared to social democracies like Australia and it shows up in so many intangible ways. eg. little things like the Australian government provided online tax filing. In the USA people need to pay to file taxes online (sure paper is free but ugh what a hassle). More private toll roads in the USA. Public housing is more common per capita in Australia. Australias national broadband network (i still can't get fibre here in the USA but i had it in regional Australia), etc. Again i'm not going to keep going except to say that i've lived in both nations and it's really obvious. In more socialist countries per capita spending can be seen as lower but the services are better despite no spending from consumers going to them. The spending comes from the government. You can't compare spending between the USA and Australia for this reason.

modeless 6y ago
Online tax filing is free for everyone under the median income. Private toll roads may or may not be "more" common but they are certainly rare. Average internet speeds are twice Australia's. https://www.fastmetrics.com/internet-connection-speed-by-country.php https://www.fastmetrics.com/internet-connection-speed-by-cou...
qeternity 6y ago
Very odd to hear from someone who lived in both. I’ve lived in both as well. > More private toll roads in the USA. And more public. More roads period. The interstate highway system is one of the modern wonders of the world. > Public housing is more common per capita in Australia. I’m not sure if this is true, but I’d argue it’s not a good thing. > Australias national broadband network (i still can't get fibre here in the USA but i had it in regional Australia), etc. Again i'm not going to keep going except to say that i've lived in both nations and it's really obvious. This is an extremely strange one. Internet in Australia is so bad it’s painful. The national network is a joke.