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Americans consume more goods and services, live in larger homes, and have a higher material standard of living than Europeans, on the median. The US does spend

Americans consume more goods and services, live in larger homes, and have a higher material standard of living than Europeans, on the median. The US does spend much more on healthcare, but the outcomes are largely comparable to Europe’s (meaning universal healthcare has not actually given Europeans a clear advantage in lived results). Source: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer-than https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer...

danudey 1y ago
Europeans also get mandated parental leave and vacation time, far better labour laws, better health-related regulatory conditions (e.g. food, drugs, agriculture, environment, gun control, etc.), and so on, and don't go bankrupt and lose everything because of a heart attack or pregnancy complications. Having a big house and more money doesn't mean you have a better life; this seems to be the main point of the article you linked, but your comment seems to imply that you missed that point (though I could be misreading). Case in point, this quote from the blog: > I could go on, but the pattern is pretty clear. The U.S. in general is less healthy and less safe than Europe.
- nozzlegear 1y ago
  > Having a big house and more money doesn't mean you have a better life; this seems to be the main point of the article you linked, but your comment seems to imply that you missed that point (though I could be misreading). Case in point, this quote from the blog: [...] No, I didn't miss the point; there's excellent data in that article for people who think the US is a great place to live, and people who think Europe is a great place to live. That's the beauty of the article, and the crux of my point: both of those groups can be correct – there's no single "this is the greatest place to live for all human beings, periodt" out there. The article concludes: > But as one final thought, I’d like to offer the hypothesis that life is just about equally as good in all developed countries. There’s personal preference, of course — if you want a big house and a lawn, you might prefer America or Canada, whereas if you want national health insurance and lower crime rates, you might prefer Japan or France. But in terms of where the average person would want to live given the choice, I think all these rich countries are in the same ballpark.
StopDisinfo910 1y ago
[flagged]
- nozzlegear 1y ago
  Frankly I think we need to establish a definition for comparable if you're going to nitpick the numbers of infant mortality rates and life expectancy between two modern Western democracies. The average infant mortality rate in Canada is 4.4 deaths per thousand, is that comparable to the EU? The UAE is sitting pretty at 4 per thousand so that's obviously more comparable than Canada. Russia's at 6.42 so they're out. Anyway, my point is those numbers are comparable when there are countries like Mexico, Brazil and India out there with an infant mortality rate of 11, 12.5 and 25 deaths per thousand, respectively. (For the record I don't think the US is a better place to live than the EU, I just don't think it's worse either.)
  - ioasuncvinvaer 1y ago
    The numbers seem perfectly comparable though?
  - StopDisinfo910 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - nozzlegear 1y ago
      >You really think the USA having nearly twice as big an infant mortality rate is nitpicking? Come on, are you going to make my argument so easy? Twice of two drops of nothing is four drops of nothing. You're nitpicking numbers that frankly don't make a difference because they're too close to matter. But don't argue with me, argue with the author of the article where you can see all of the data and comparisons for yourself.
      - StopDisinfo910 1y ago
        The difference between the US and the EU is the same that between the US and Kazakhstan. I’m sorry but that’s not a small difference at all. The US infant mortality rate is shameful. Not as shameful as its poverty and homelessness rates but still shameful anyway.

danudey 1y ago

Europeans also get mandated parental leave and vacation time, far better labour laws, better health-related regulatory conditions (e.g. food, drugs, agriculture, environment, gun control, etc.), and so on, and don't go bankrupt and lose everything because of a heart attack or pregnancy complications. Having a big house and more money doesn't mean you have a better life; this seems to be the main point of the article you linked, but your comment seems to imply that you missed that point (though I could be misreading). Case in point, this quote from the blog: > I could go on, but the pattern is pretty clear. The U.S. in general is less healthy and less safe than Europe.

nozzlegear 1y ago
> Having a big house and more money doesn't mean you have a better life; this seems to be the main point of the article you linked, but your comment seems to imply that you missed that point (though I could be misreading). Case in point, this quote from the blog: [...] No, I didn't miss the point; there's excellent data in that article for people who think the US is a great place to live, and people who think Europe is a great place to live. That's the beauty of the article, and the crux of my point: both of those groups can be correct – there's no single "this is the greatest place to live for all human beings, periodt" out there. The article concludes: > But as one final thought, I’d like to offer the hypothesis that life is just about equally as good in all developed countries. There’s personal preference, of course — if you want a big house and a lawn, you might prefer America or Canada, whereas if you want national health insurance and lower crime rates, you might prefer Japan or France. But in terms of where the average person would want to live given the choice, I think all these rich countries are in the same ballpark.

StopDisinfo910 1y ago

[flagged]

nozzlegear 1y ago
Frankly I think we need to establish a definition for comparable if you're going to nitpick the numbers of infant mortality rates and life expectancy between two modern Western democracies. The average infant mortality rate in Canada is 4.4 deaths per thousand, is that comparable to the EU? The UAE is sitting pretty at 4 per thousand so that's obviously more comparable than Canada. Russia's at 6.42 so they're out. Anyway, my point is those numbers are comparable when there are countries like Mexico, Brazil and India out there with an infant mortality rate of 11, 12.5 and 25 deaths per thousand, respectively. (For the record I don't think the US is a better place to live than the EU, I just don't think it's worse either.)
- ioasuncvinvaer 1y ago
  The numbers seem perfectly comparable though?
- StopDisinfo910 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - nozzlegear 1y ago
    >You really think the USA having nearly twice as big an infant mortality rate is nitpicking? Come on, are you going to make my argument so easy? Twice of two drops of nothing is four drops of nothing. You're nitpicking numbers that frankly don't make a difference because they're too close to matter. But don't argue with me, argue with the author of the article where you can see all of the data and comparisons for yourself.
    - StopDisinfo910 1y ago
      The difference between the US and the EU is the same that between the US and Kazakhstan. I’m sorry but that’s not a small difference at all. The US infant mortality rate is shameful. Not as shameful as its poverty and homelessness rates but still shameful anyway.