4 ms·

Ok, substitute Europe for France. The median for France is almost certainly above the median for all of Europe.

• ivankirigin 18y ago
  Median wage in Portugal is below the US poverty line.
  • deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
• timr 18y ago
  I'm not sure that I understand what you're saying. Are you suggesting that France is richer than the rest of the European nations (after cost-adjustment), but that it's still pretty grubby? If so, then all I can say is that I've been outside the tourist areas of a few different European nations, and they never looked that awful to me -- certainly no worse than rural America. The people didn't seem unhappy. That said, I think this discussion is a distraction from my primary argument, which is that it's possible to guarantee a higher standard of living for people, without sliding down the slippery slope from corporat-ism to communism. There's a middle ground -- if our internet companies are 5% less successful, but we have universal health care, I think that's a reasonable trade-off.
• trevelyan 18y ago
  The Big Mac index shows the Euro as significantly overvalued when purchasing price parity is brought into effect, which means that in addition to earning less in USD, the French can buy less with the same money as well. That being said, they have much better and much cheaper health care. That saves each person the equivalent of thousands of USD per year. And coupled with other social insurance programs makes the gap not as high as it appears otherwise.
  • anamax 18y ago
    > That being said, they have much better and much cheaper health care. That saves each person the equivalent of thousands of USD per year. I seriously doubt that the French plan is significantly better and cheaper than the boring Kaiser+dental+eyes plan that costs around $350/month for folks in their 50s.