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> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gi

> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes, but I sure as hell don’t want my taxes any higher. A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near the wealth, nor earning potential I do, and they never will. It’s an exceedingly large, compounding edge. American policy makers can’t even use our existing tax revenues in fiscally responsible ways as it is. Why would I vote for more taxation? Everyone knows our healthcare system is asinine. It doesn’t require more money to fix.

bitcharmer 6y ago
> A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near the wealth, nor earning potential I do, and they never will. It’s an exceedingly large, compounding edge. That's because most of us are not obsessed with wealth. We tend to be satisfied with some level of comfort and security and focus on other things in life. I guess that's a cultural thing. > Everyone knows our healthcare system is asinine. It doesn’t require more money to fix. It's not only about health care, but other aspects such as how the society is structured, poverty, incarceration rates, access to education, homelessness, etc. Again, probably a cultural thing but Europeans seem to care more about these matters than Americans and so we structure and drive our politics and legislature towards addressing these issues.
- josephg 6y ago
  During the covid crisis I’ve stopped telling my American friends about the situation here in Australia. There’s been some political mud throwing about which state managed it best - but we brought the numbers to zero, and have done it as a nation several times now. Since covid, talking to my friends in the USA about Australia feels like punching down. You might have more earning potential in the US, but I’d much rather make a bit less money and live in a country with a functioning healthcare system, a welfare system, a (mostly) functioning legislative branch, much less police violence and racial tension and less political polarisation. I just don’t feel anxious living here. No matter what happens I’ll be ok. In Australia you don’t need to be super rich in order to feel safe.
  - shuckles 6y ago
    I think there is a lot of fundamental attribution error going around when trying to explain relative success at controlling COVID. There are states with little of the infrastructure for public health management you've touted in Australia that have also controlled the disease. There are states with the same infrastructure (e.g. UK) which haven't. Australia is also incomparable to the United States with 1/10th the population, comparably little cross border travel, etc. My guess is it will be years before we correctly understand exactly what worked or didn't and why.
    - josephg 6y ago
      A lot of the science is already in on this. The most effective interventions are hygiene (washing hands), masks, social distancing and contact tracing (and quarantining close contacts). This is low tech stuff, which is one of the reasons many poor countries have been able to do very well at controlling the pandemic. Apparently the #1 predictive factor for a country to have good health outcomes is trust between the citizens and their government. Small countries have done better than big countries, but that may be a side effect of public trust generally being better in smaller countries. Source: this podcast (based on a study) https://overcast.fm/+YQ31Gx6tw https://overcast.fm/+YQ31Gx6tw
  - 1996 6y ago
    > Since covid, talking to my friends in the USA about Australia feels like punching down. Funny, talking to my friends in Asia (to which I consider Australia/NZ to be a part of) it feels the exact same way! I can tell them how I go anywhere without wearing a mask, some people make snide remarks but that's it - while they have to declare their address in restaurants, and face all kind of restrictions like not being able to return to their country without a quarantine. > I’d much rather make a bit less money and live in a country with a functioning healthcare system With money, in the US you'll get the best healthcare money can buy (or you can travel to Asia to get it cheaper) For the rest (welfare etc), I really prefer the US way - it feels better to me to have people strongly incentivized to behave, yet free. I guess we are different.
    - 6y ago
AnotherGoodName 6y ago
>I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... I don't mean to be rude but please look at that above link and understand how poor you as a citizen of USA are. It's frustrating to come from a country thats ~3X as wealthy as the USA in terms of median wealth (i'm Australian) and see the idea that higher taxes are an issue. The higher taxes are on the very wealthy. Median wealth captures this. The USA fucked up somewhere along the way and taxed the poor (those <1million a year) and this is why you are posting what you are posting. More taxes are ok if they are on the rich.
- bitcharmer 6y ago
  Not only that: > what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us... There's this strong sentiment among Americans that I see on social media so often these days that the Internet is somehow an American thing and we need to watch our mouths or get off their lawn.
- refurb 6y ago
  These figures are influenced by real estate prices, equity market prices, exchange rates, liabilities, debts, adult percentage of the population, human resources, *natural resources* and capital and technological advancements, which may create new assets or render others worthless in the future. Sorry dude, but my country’s vast stores of natural resources don’t exactly help me afford my mortgage payment next month. That list certainly doesn’t reflect the average person’s disposable wealth. I’ve lived in two of the countries that rank “higher” than the US and in no way is the average person more wealthy. Not even close. In fact I’d say the average person in one of those countries has about half the disposable wealth of the average American.
  - AnotherGoodName 6y ago
    You can argue about prices in Sydney all you want but i moved from Sydney to the USA and the situation isn't any better. In fact it's a lot worse. House prices in California are just as crazy. The wealth discrepency is also more obvious. Shanty towns under bridges worse. Like the 10 or so tents you see in Sydney's hyde park don't compare to the 3 miles in San Francisco of tents. Obviously there's benefits if you're in tech to being in the USA as that's where the market is but other than that it's far worse. The insane taxation system in the USA is not helping here either. There's an obvious need for the USA to look to countries like Australia and adopt our methods of governance but the assumption that the USA is best is unfortunately preventing this change.
feanaro 6y ago
> I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites What American websites?

bitcharmer 6y ago

> A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near the wealth, nor earning potential I do, and they never will. It’s an exceedingly large, compounding edge. That's because most of us are not obsessed with wealth. We tend to be satisfied with some level of comfort and security and focus on other things in life. I guess that's a cultural thing. > Everyone knows our healthcare system is asinine. It doesn’t require more money to fix. It's not only about health care, but other aspects such as how the society is structured, poverty, incarceration rates, access to education, homelessness, etc. Again, probably a cultural thing but Europeans seem to care more about these matters than Americans and so we structure and drive our politics and legislature towards addressing these issues.

josephg 6y ago
During the covid crisis I’ve stopped telling my American friends about the situation here in Australia. There’s been some political mud throwing about which state managed it best - but we brought the numbers to zero, and have done it as a nation several times now. Since covid, talking to my friends in the USA about Australia feels like punching down. You might have more earning potential in the US, but I’d much rather make a bit less money and live in a country with a functioning healthcare system, a welfare system, a (mostly) functioning legislative branch, much less police violence and racial tension and less political polarisation. I just don’t feel anxious living here. No matter what happens I’ll be ok. In Australia you don’t need to be super rich in order to feel safe.
- shuckles 6y ago
  I think there is a lot of fundamental attribution error going around when trying to explain relative success at controlling COVID. There are states with little of the infrastructure for public health management you've touted in Australia that have also controlled the disease. There are states with the same infrastructure (e.g. UK) which haven't. Australia is also incomparable to the United States with 1/10th the population, comparably little cross border travel, etc. My guess is it will be years before we correctly understand exactly what worked or didn't and why.
  - josephg 6y ago
    A lot of the science is already in on this. The most effective interventions are hygiene (washing hands), masks, social distancing and contact tracing (and quarantining close contacts). This is low tech stuff, which is one of the reasons many poor countries have been able to do very well at controlling the pandemic. Apparently the #1 predictive factor for a country to have good health outcomes is trust between the citizens and their government. Small countries have done better than big countries, but that may be a side effect of public trust generally being better in smaller countries. Source: this podcast (based on a study) https://overcast.fm/+YQ31Gx6tw https://overcast.fm/+YQ31Gx6tw
- 1996 6y ago
  > Since covid, talking to my friends in the USA about Australia feels like punching down. Funny, talking to my friends in Asia (to which I consider Australia/NZ to be a part of) it feels the exact same way! I can tell them how I go anywhere without wearing a mask, some people make snide remarks but that's it - while they have to declare their address in restaurants, and face all kind of restrictions like not being able to return to their country without a quarantine. > I’d much rather make a bit less money and live in a country with a functioning healthcare system With money, in the US you'll get the best healthcare money can buy (or you can travel to Asia to get it cheaper) For the rest (welfare etc), I really prefer the US way - it feels better to me to have people strongly incentivized to behave, yet free. I guess we are different.
  - 6y ago

AnotherGoodName 6y ago

>I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... I don't mean to be rude but please look at that above link and understand how poor you as a citizen of USA are. It's frustrating to come from a country thats ~3X as wealthy as the USA in terms of median wealth (i'm Australian) and see the idea that higher taxes are an issue. The higher taxes are on the very wealthy. Median wealth captures this. The USA fucked up somewhere along the way and taxed the poor (those <1million a year) and this is why you are posting what you are posting. More taxes are ok if they are on the rich.

bitcharmer 6y ago
Not only that: > what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us... There's this strong sentiment among Americans that I see on social media so often these days that the Internet is somehow an American thing and we need to watch our mouths or get off their lawn.
refurb 6y ago
These figures are influenced by real estate prices, equity market prices, exchange rates, liabilities, debts, adult percentage of the population, human resources, *natural resources* and capital and technological advancements, which may create new assets or render others worthless in the future. Sorry dude, but my country’s vast stores of natural resources don’t exactly help me afford my mortgage payment next month. That list certainly doesn’t reflect the average person’s disposable wealth. I’ve lived in two of the countries that rank “higher” than the US and in no way is the average person more wealthy. Not even close. In fact I’d say the average person in one of those countries has about half the disposable wealth of the average American.
- AnotherGoodName 6y ago
  You can argue about prices in Sydney all you want but i moved from Sydney to the USA and the situation isn't any better. In fact it's a lot worse. House prices in California are just as crazy. The wealth discrepency is also more obvious. Shanty towns under bridges worse. Like the 10 or so tents you see in Sydney's hyde park don't compare to the 3 miles in San Francisco of tents. Obviously there's benefits if you're in tech to being in the USA as that's where the market is but other than that it's far worse. The insane taxation system in the USA is not helping here either. There's an obvious need for the USA to look to countries like Australia and adopt our methods of governance but the assumption that the USA is best is unfortunately preventing this change.

feanaro 6y ago

> I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites What American websites?