6 ms·

Americans are also wealthier in general though, their houses are larger, they can afford better vacations and so on... I think a lot of Americans don't realise

Americans are also wealthier in general though, their houses are larger, they can afford better vacations and so on... I think a lot of Americans don't realise just how much higher salaries are in the USA. I guess the grass is always greener.

forgotmysn 5y ago
I'm not sure that perception is completely accurate though
Barrin92 5y ago
a lot of things in the US are larger (including unfortunately the people itself), however that's not necessarily an indicator of a better quality of life. The large houses and cars in particular have quite adverse social impacts. Low density living increases commute times, infrastructure cost, cost of housing, energy usage, and so forth. It's quite astonishing that the co2 emissions per capita in the US are almost three times as high as in the United Kingdom.
- simfree 5y ago
  Our lives here in the US certainly aren't 3x better than the UK, and for a large chunk of our country they would have a better life in the UK due to the NHS.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  TBH British homes do not need as much heating/cooling due to the local climate, plus the density of population in Southeast England is crazy and commute times high as well. I wouldn't like to live in such an anthill.
  - liberalbias998 5y ago
    Our houses usually being tiny and connected to two other ones helps on the heating bills; its a shared effort. Cooling is opening the window; turning on a fan and sweating your nads off. But only for a few weeks a year. The rest of the year the incessant drizzle and grey sky helps cool the building.
KorematsuFred 5y ago
I am from India and I have lived in UK and USA. Personally I think it is pretty stupid to compare USA and UK. I would rather be a janitor in USA than an engineer in UK. This is not a criticism of UK or its people in any way but USA is far far better country than UK. It is not just that salaries are higher but overall quality of life is significantly better. In USA I can drive in any random direction for 400 miles and crash at a Motel 6 without having to worry about reservations. I can eat at Denny's at any time of the day and fill up gas in towns like Austin, NV with population 29. There are giant theme parks within 100 miles of driving distance in any city. USA is dotted with national parks and various state parks, fishing spots, hiking trails, hunting grounds. Every American school is basically a mini Olympic stadium with some space for classrooms. Most people including people below poverty line own cars, which means their quality of life is way better. You can explore different and remote places, spend more time with family and friends over the weekends and show your kids lot more stuff each weekend that what a London resident can not do for similar amount of money. Also, I can totally see why people in UK may not want to make those extra bucks putting in more hours because often, it is not allowed because of tighter regulations. Tough labor laws discourage businesses from hiring new people so if you quit your job it is harder for you to find a new job. So people would rather stick to a dead end job working uninspired. that quit for better opportunities. It is also incredibly common for Americans to simply quit their jobs and take a long break to explore whatever hell they want to explore. I arely saw that in UK.
- paulpauper 5y ago
  You're assuming you can keep what you already earned and then become a janitor, which is different from starting as a janitor
  - KorematsuFred 5y ago
    I made no such assumption. When I moved to USA from India I would have happily moved in as Janiter. Life in USA as a janiter is way way better than a middle class person in India.
- ska 5y ago
  Your commentary convinces me completely that the US is a better fit for you than the UK was.
ska 5y ago
> Americans are also wealthier in general though Americans are higher variance (wrt wealth) in general, which makes some of these comparisons quite difficult.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  but median measurements exist
  - ska 5y ago
    > but median measurements exist Sure, but that's hardly a panacea. There are better and worse analysis, but this stuff is genuinely not easy to do well. No simple statistic alone will do it if you are comparing quite different distributions. The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth, and well above the same ones by mean wealth; That doesn't paint a clear picture either.
    - Aunche 5y ago
      >The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth The US ranks 6 in median household income and median per capital income. The ones above us are much smaller nations, and it's easier to for them be statistical outliers compared to a large nation like the US. California, which has a larger population than any nation that scores better than the US in median income, blows any of them outside the water no matter what wealth metric you use.
      - ska 5y ago
        Income and wealth are not the same thing. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... That would put US at 3 by mean and 22 by median. Countries above it by median would include UK, Japan, etc. Of course most countries are smaller by population, but that's not like comparing to Luxembourg. I think we are agreeing, each one of this sort of comparison give you different information, which makes it difficult. Especially considering that, to your point, looking at Cali or Miss. gives a lot of variance by itself.
JMTQp8lwXL 5y ago
Houses are larger because we don't have a choice or the public policy to promote building modest, affordable housing anymore.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  In fact, it’s illegal in a lot of places. Often the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in modern cities would be illegal to construct now due to setback requirements, size, density zoning, and parking minimums. So instead of building more of the houses that people clearly want, we just bid them up in price until only the wealthiest can afford them.
  - andrekandre 5y ago
    how do those kind of non-optimal zoning laws get on the books?
    - Fricken 5y ago
      They've been on the books since the early postwar era, when we didn't know any better. The question is: how do we get them off the books?
    - ashtonkem 5y ago
      It’s hard to paint a coherent picture, because each of these regulations are put in place at different times for different reasons. The result is cumulative, but the motivations were fractured and complicated.
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      Humans have changed little over time. Zoning was the trendy new area of law in its day and was supposed to make cities and suburbs great. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
- bluGill 5y ago
  There is still plenty of affordable housing. You won't find it near SF, but move out to middle of nowhere and you will discover cheap houses and jobs. They won't pay as much, but when you can get a house for less than $100k how much do you need?
hawski 5y ago
Better vacations in my mind are either longer or often. Destination and amenities are not that important, I would gladly have more vacation even if I would stay in my city.

forgotmysn 5y ago

I'm not sure that perception is completely accurate though

Barrin92 5y ago

a lot of things in the US are larger (including unfortunately the people itself), however that's not necessarily an indicator of a better quality of life. The large houses and cars in particular have quite adverse social impacts. Low density living increases commute times, infrastructure cost, cost of housing, energy usage, and so forth. It's quite astonishing that the co2 emissions per capita in the US are almost three times as high as in the United Kingdom.

simfree 5y ago
Our lives here in the US certainly aren't 3x better than the UK, and for a large chunk of our country they would have a better life in the UK due to the NHS.
inglor_cz 5y ago
TBH British homes do not need as much heating/cooling due to the local climate, plus the density of population in Southeast England is crazy and commute times high as well. I wouldn't like to live in such an anthill.
- liberalbias998 5y ago
  Our houses usually being tiny and connected to two other ones helps on the heating bills; its a shared effort. Cooling is opening the window; turning on a fan and sweating your nads off. But only for a few weeks a year. The rest of the year the incessant drizzle and grey sky helps cool the building.

KorematsuFred 5y ago

I am from India and I have lived in UK and USA. Personally I think it is pretty stupid to compare USA and UK. I would rather be a janitor in USA than an engineer in UK. This is not a criticism of UK or its people in any way but USA is far far better country than UK. It is not just that salaries are higher but overall quality of life is significantly better. In USA I can drive in any random direction for 400 miles and crash at a Motel 6 without having to worry about reservations. I can eat at Denny's at any time of the day and fill up gas in towns like Austin, NV with population 29. There are giant theme parks within 100 miles of driving distance in any city. USA is dotted with national parks and various state parks, fishing spots, hiking trails, hunting grounds. Every American school is basically a mini Olympic stadium with some space for classrooms. Most people including people below poverty line own cars, which means their quality of life is way better. You can explore different and remote places, spend more time with family and friends over the weekends and show your kids lot more stuff each weekend that what a London resident can not do for similar amount of money. Also, I can totally see why people in UK may not want to make those extra bucks putting in more hours because often, it is not allowed because of tighter regulations. Tough labor laws discourage businesses from hiring new people so if you quit your job it is harder for you to find a new job. So people would rather stick to a dead end job working uninspired. that quit for better opportunities. It is also incredibly common for Americans to simply quit their jobs and take a long break to explore whatever hell they want to explore. I arely saw that in UK.

paulpauper 5y ago
You're assuming you can keep what you already earned and then become a janitor, which is different from starting as a janitor
- KorematsuFred 5y ago
  I made no such assumption. When I moved to USA from India I would have happily moved in as Janiter. Life in USA as a janiter is way way better than a middle class person in India.
ska 5y ago
Your commentary convinces me completely that the US is a better fit for you than the UK was.

ska 5y ago

> Americans are also wealthier in general though Americans are higher variance (wrt wealth) in general, which makes some of these comparisons quite difficult.

missedthecue 5y ago
but median measurements exist
- ska 5y ago
  > but median measurements exist Sure, but that's hardly a panacea. There are better and worse analysis, but this stuff is genuinely not easy to do well. No simple statistic alone will do it if you are comparing quite different distributions. The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth, and well above the same ones by mean wealth; That doesn't paint a clear picture either.
  - Aunche 5y ago
    >The US is well below many European countries (and others) by median wealth The US ranks 6 in median household income and median per capital income. The ones above us are much smaller nations, and it's easier to for them be statistical outliers compared to a large nation like the US. California, which has a larger population than any nation that scores better than the US in median income, blows any of them outside the water no matter what wealth metric you use.
    - ska 5y ago
      Income and wealth are not the same thing. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... That would put US at 3 by mean and 22 by median. Countries above it by median would include UK, Japan, etc. Of course most countries are smaller by population, but that's not like comparing to Luxembourg. I think we are agreeing, each one of this sort of comparison give you different information, which makes it difficult. Especially considering that, to your point, looking at Cali or Miss. gives a lot of variance by itself.

JMTQp8lwXL 5y ago

Houses are larger because we don't have a choice or the public policy to promote building modest, affordable housing anymore.

ashtonkem 5y ago
In fact, it’s illegal in a lot of places. Often the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in modern cities would be illegal to construct now due to setback requirements, size, density zoning, and parking minimums. So instead of building more of the houses that people clearly want, we just bid them up in price until only the wealthiest can afford them.
- andrekandre 5y ago
  how do those kind of non-optimal zoning laws get on the books?
  - Fricken 5y ago
    They've been on the books since the early postwar era, when we didn't know any better. The question is: how do we get them off the books?
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    It’s hard to paint a coherent picture, because each of these regulations are put in place at different times for different reasons. The result is cumulative, but the motivations were fractured and complicated.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    Humans have changed little over time. Zoning was the trendy new area of law in its day and was supposed to make cities and suburbs great. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
bluGill 5y ago
There is still plenty of affordable housing. You won't find it near SF, but move out to middle of nowhere and you will discover cheap houses and jobs. They won't pay as much, but when you can get a house for less than $100k how much do you need?

hawski 5y ago

Better vacations in my mind are either longer or often. Destination and amenities are not that important, I would gladly have more vacation even if I would stay in my city.