5 ms·
The best of both worlds is living in western europe on a US-level salary
by airza 3y ago
The best of both worlds is living in western europe on a US-level salary
- subarctic 3y agoWhy western europe and not, say, eastern europe or latin america where cost of living is cheaper?
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoBecause Western Europe is, generally, not as shitty as Eastern Europe or Latin America. There is some tongue and cheek to that comment, but not much. You generally don't hear about waves of people wanting to emigrate from France or Austria to Poland or Latvia.
- bdangubic 3y agoas opposed to all polish and latvian people lining up at Austrain and French border… :)
- Terr_ 3y agoGiven the Schengen area, I'm not sure those four countries make for a good example of anybody waiting at borders in either direction.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoNot sure if your comment was meant to be sarcastic, but basically, yes, ever since the EU instituted freedom of labor movement, and Eastern countries joined the EU, there have been overall huge amounts of labor migration from Eastern to Western bloc countries.
- KronisLV 3y ago> Because Western Europe is, generally, not as shitty as Eastern Europe or Latin America. > There is some tongue and cheek to that comment, but not much. You generally don't hear about waves of people wanting to emigrate from France or Austria to Poland or Latvia. Latvian here. Life is reasonably affordable, most of the services you'd expect are available in the capital or most cities. Internet is pretty good (I pay 15 EUR for 200 Mbps up and down, could get up to 1000 Mbps for twice that, though cheaper with some providers), food is okay, rent isn't too bad in most places, went through university (both Bachelor's and Master's degrees) with no debt, healthcare is pretty good (especially with insurance), salaries kind of suck though across the board. Public transportation is pretty good, both between cities and within the limits of a city, I really don't need a car. People can be a bit colder, not really that American small talk, but are nice when you get to know them. Except for some kind of harmful cultural stuff (alcoholism, machismo, LOTS of xenophobia but perhaps due to the country's past, some homophobia/transphobia/etc., people being selfish sometimes), also can't really read news site comments here, most are very toxic, like you wouldn't believe. The weather tends to be okay in the summer, but sucks pretty badly in the winter/autumn and sometimes spring. Cold, windy, lots of overcast clouds, overall a very depressing mood, sort of. Nature is pretty though, especially if you go on a boating trip down the rivers. I reckon that other parts of Europe are probably better in many respects, but as with most places, there are positives and negatives.
- groby_b 3y agoIf you'd gently direct your eyes to Ukraine, you'll realize why Eastern Europe isn't exactly prime location material for a lot of folks right now. Meso/South America has a stability problem as well. Unless you pick Urugay, I guess, but being surrounded by large countries with both problems and guns is never a fun exercise.
- _njyk 3y agoThe quality of life is Eastern Europe (and some countries) in North of Europe is great (and even greater than France and many places), but the risk of war spreading among these European countries is a real issue :/
- groby_b 3y agoOh yeah, QoL is pretty decent. The economy for most of Eastern Europe is great as well. It's a geopolitical question more than anything else right now. (Not that Western Europe is much better there, but the time scale for potential conflict is currently a bit longer)
- shrimp_emoji 3y agoYou get taxed ridiculously but can still afford private healthcare and air conditioning!
- stanleykm 3y agoThe tax really isnt all that different vs california. They just dont spend as much money on the military so go figure they can give their residents healthcare.
- zeroCalories 3y agoDamn bro, sounds like Europe has money to spare then. Guess the U.S should cut all spending in the area so Europeans can step up for themselves. I'd love to see the EU take the bill for policing their own back yard or trade routes.
- defrost 3y agoJust do it already: the U.S. has about 750 military bases across 80 countries in the world and has deployed 173,000 troops in 159 different countries https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-mili... there's no need to pretend the U.S. is doing it for the good of others.
- zeroCalories 3y agoI'd love to. The EU is free-riding on U.S's protection. At this point I don't care if Moscow is rolling tanks through Berlin. I would much rather be on good terms with Russia than prop up the rapidly declining EU while they act smug about their healthcare.
- ohthatsnotright 3y agoThis is a regrettably shortsighted and myopic view of Russia and the EU.
- IncreasePosts 3y agoAll of the problems people commonly complain about with regard to America vs Europe generally disappear when you're rich enough.
- disgruntledphd2 3y agoThe traffic doesn't.