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> The US can be "Winning" the monetary accumulation race while still being a terrible place in most other aspects The US is definitely not "a terrible place in

> The US can be "Winning" the monetary accumulation race while still being a terrible place in most other aspects The US is definitely not "a terrible place in most other aspects". The US is at the top (or near the top excluding small countries like Switzerland) in: - Consumer spending; - Disposable income; - Size of housing afforded; - Top university rankings; - Research and development; Europe suffers from many things that would be hard to imagine in the US. Only 20% of European homes have air conditioning vs 88% of American homes. This causes real problems. In 2024, there were 62,700 Europeans who died from extreme heat, compared to ~3,000 Americans.

hollerith 1y ago
>Only 20% of European homes have air conditioning vs 88% of American homes. Also, screens on windows (to keep out mosquitoes and such) are almost ubiquitous in the US (even in government-funded housing for poor people, the disabled and the elderly) whereas many homes in Europe do not have them (even though Europe has mosquitoes that spread illnesses).
- gspr 1y ago
  I do not believe for a single second that the lack of those in southern Europe is a matter of cost or availability. To me, as a European (albeit a northerner, where mosquitoes are very annoying, but not a source of disease), those screens are just incredibly tacky and disgusting. They scream American. If it were a matter of cost/availability, then surely they'd be everywhere on wealthy homes in affected areas in Europe?
  - m4rtink 1y ago
    I don't find screens on windows tacky & they are nice in summer to avoid all kinds of flying insects getting in when the windows are open in the evening. But they do make it harder to exchange inside and outside air, as they increase air resistance, especially in hot summer evenings when there is little temperature difference and no wind.
  - danaris 1y ago
    Right??? It's sooooo tacky and disgusting not to get West Nile virus! Everyone who's anyone just invites the mosquitoes in and plays the good host to them!
    - gspr 1y ago
      I didn't say that their function is tacky. I'm saying that not having them is likely a choice, not an indicator of a lack of resources.
  - hollerith 1y ago
    >those screens are just incredibly tacky and disgusting. They scream American. Do you refer to screens that are held in place with magnetic or adhesive strips? Those are tacky. I mean screens in metal frames that are held in place by metal that was installed by the builder when the home was built. (The builder probably bought pre-made windows, and the screens, frames and hardware to hold the frame in place were an integral part of the window when it was bought.)
s1artibartfast 1y ago
It may be the case that those are not the things people actually care about.
- yes_really 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - watwut 1y ago
    Better housing is not the same as larger house. US tends to build large houses far away from everything where you have to drive just to get the groceries. For many people, having smaller house/apartment somewhere you can walk to shop, school, visit friends, whatever and take car out only for longer trips is massively preferable. Likewise, smaller house with better insulation is better. At some point, bigger house translates to "more chores" and that is it.
tfourb 1y ago
For consumer spending and disposable income, as for gdp per capita, averages are irrelevant as they can (and are) skewed by high earners/spenders and tell us little about the experience of the other 70% of the population. Air conditioning is simply not necessary in many places in Europe. Either because of climate or building standards (ie proper insulation and/or traditional building styles with a lot of thermal mass). The size of housing is more due to limitations on development permits designed to limit urban sprawl, as well as differing traditions and preferences. Having top universities is nice, but won’t help you if the rest of your education system sucks, because 99% of people do not visit the top universities. Same with wealth and quality of life: the strength of a society is probably measured best by asking where you’d rather be poor, than where you’d rather be rich.
- yes_really 1y ago
  > Air conditioning is simply not necessary in many places in Europe. 67 thousand people are dying each year in Europe from extreme heat, compared to 3k in the US. I'm sure AC "is not necessary in some places in Europe", but this lack of AC is a real material difference and has real, obviously negative consequences.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - flohofwoe 1y ago
    Maybe climate change just doesn't affect most parts of the US as hard as parts of Europe? E.g. see: https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/09/23/more-than-62000-died-in-europes-2024-heatwave-which-country-was-hit-the-hardest https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/09/23/more-than-62000-di... "Europe is the continent that is warming most quickly, at twice the global average,” says Tomáš Janoš, ISGlobal and Recetox researcher and first author of the study. Historically you didn't need air conditioning in Europe to survive the summer, but that seems to change very quickly.
gspr 1y ago
> - Consumer spending; > - Disposable income; While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matter. As in: if you and your 100 closest neighbors live in poverty, it matters very little if you have a multi-billionaire on the block who brings up the average disposable income. > - Size of housing afforded; Europe is a lot more densely populated than the US. You really should be comparing urban areas in both, or rural areas in both. > - Top university rankings; > - Research and development; I'll grant you these. > Europe suffers from many things that would be hard to imagine in the US. Only 20% of European homes have air conditioning vs 88% of American homes. This causes real problems. In 2024, there were 62,700 Europeans who died from extreme heat, compared to ~3,000 Americans. As others have pointed out: European homes tend to be much better insulated, and have much greater thermal mass, than American ones. Moreover, a far bigger percentage of the American population lives in warmer climates than in Europe. That being said, the deaths from extreme heat do show that something needs to change here in order to meet the warming climate. And things are. The push for heat pumps in Europe also opens the door to running them as coolers when needed (when they're the air-to-air type).
- yes_really 1y ago
  > While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matter. Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. > Europe is a lot more densely populated than the US. You really should be comparing urban areas in both, or rural areas in both. OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs.
  - gspr 1y ago
    > Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. Absoutely. But the differences are no longer insane when considering medians: US at 43 kUSD, and the rest of top 5 at 42, 41, 39, 37. While for the means, the US is 50% ahead of number 5 (top 5 goes 62, 47, 47, 42, 41). That's yaw-dropping, while the lead in medians is not. Randomly sourced from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposable-income-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposabl... , which I assume is at least in the ballpark. > OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs. Sure. But it's still important to compare apples to apples. And when doing so, the difference, like for disposable income, is far less stark.
thrance 1y ago
You forgot the stuff that actually matters: - Universal healthcare: I have never needed to pay for my medicine, and I can rest assured that my family won't go bankrupt if I ever get cancer or something. - Extensive paid leave: I have 1.5 month of it every year. - Retirement age: 62 years here (for now, at least). - Public education: I have two masters from public schools, that I got essentially for free. Americans suffers from many things that would be hard to imagine in the EU.

hollerith 1y ago

>Only 20% of European homes have air conditioning vs 88% of American homes. Also, screens on windows (to keep out mosquitoes and such) are almost ubiquitous in the US (even in government-funded housing for poor people, the disabled and the elderly) whereas many homes in Europe do not have them (even though Europe has mosquitoes that spread illnesses).

gspr 1y ago
I do not believe for a single second that the lack of those in southern Europe is a matter of cost or availability. To me, as a European (albeit a northerner, where mosquitoes are very annoying, but not a source of disease), those screens are just incredibly tacky and disgusting. They scream American. If it were a matter of cost/availability, then surely they'd be everywhere on wealthy homes in affected areas in Europe?
- m4rtink 1y ago
  I don't find screens on windows tacky & they are nice in summer to avoid all kinds of flying insects getting in when the windows are open in the evening. But they do make it harder to exchange inside and outside air, as they increase air resistance, especially in hot summer evenings when there is little temperature difference and no wind.
- danaris 1y ago
  Right??? It's sooooo tacky and disgusting not to get West Nile virus! Everyone who's anyone just invites the mosquitoes in and plays the good host to them!
  - gspr 1y ago
    I didn't say that their function is tacky. I'm saying that not having them is likely a choice, not an indicator of a lack of resources.
- hollerith 1y ago
  >those screens are just incredibly tacky and disgusting. They scream American. Do you refer to screens that are held in place with magnetic or adhesive strips? Those are tacky. I mean screens in metal frames that are held in place by metal that was installed by the builder when the home was built. (The builder probably bought pre-made windows, and the screens, frames and hardware to hold the frame in place were an integral part of the window when it was bought.)

s1artibartfast 1y ago

It may be the case that those are not the things people actually care about.

yes_really 1y ago
[flagged]
- watwut 1y ago
  Better housing is not the same as larger house. US tends to build large houses far away from everything where you have to drive just to get the groceries. For many people, having smaller house/apartment somewhere you can walk to shop, school, visit friends, whatever and take car out only for longer trips is massively preferable. Likewise, smaller house with better insulation is better. At some point, bigger house translates to "more chores" and that is it.

tfourb 1y ago

For consumer spending and disposable income, as for gdp per capita, averages are irrelevant as they can (and are) skewed by high earners/spenders and tell us little about the experience of the other 70% of the population. Air conditioning is simply not necessary in many places in Europe. Either because of climate or building standards (ie proper insulation and/or traditional building styles with a lot of thermal mass). The size of housing is more due to limitations on development permits designed to limit urban sprawl, as well as differing traditions and preferences. Having top universities is nice, but won’t help you if the rest of your education system sucks, because 99% of people do not visit the top universities. Same with wealth and quality of life: the strength of a society is probably measured best by asking where you’d rather be poor, than where you’d rather be rich.

yes_really 1y ago
> Air conditioning is simply not necessary in many places in Europe. 67 thousand people are dying each year in Europe from extreme heat, compared to 3k in the US. I'm sure AC "is not necessary in some places in Europe", but this lack of AC is a real material difference and has real, obviously negative consequences.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- flohofwoe 1y ago
  Maybe climate change just doesn't affect most parts of the US as hard as parts of Europe? E.g. see: https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/09/23/more-than-62000-died-in-europes-2024-heatwave-which-country-was-hit-the-hardest https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/09/23/more-than-62000-di... "Europe is the continent that is warming most quickly, at twice the global average,” says Tomáš Janoš, ISGlobal and Recetox researcher and first author of the study. Historically you didn't need air conditioning in Europe to survive the summer, but that seems to change very quickly.

gspr 1y ago

> - Consumer spending; > - Disposable income; While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matter. As in: if you and your 100 closest neighbors live in poverty, it matters very little if you have a multi-billionaire on the block who brings up the average disposable income. > - Size of housing afforded; Europe is a lot more densely populated than the US. You really should be comparing urban areas in both, or rural areas in both. > - Top university rankings; > - Research and development; I'll grant you these. > Europe suffers from many things that would be hard to imagine in the US. Only 20% of European homes have air conditioning vs 88% of American homes. This causes real problems. In 2024, there were 62,700 Europeans who died from extreme heat, compared to ~3,000 Americans. As others have pointed out: European homes tend to be much better insulated, and have much greater thermal mass, than American ones. Moreover, a far bigger percentage of the American population lives in warmer climates than in Europe. That being said, the deaths from extreme heat do show that something needs to change here in order to meet the warming climate. And things are. The push for heat pumps in Europe also opens the door to running them as coolers when needed (when they're the air-to-air type).

yes_really 1y ago
> While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matter. Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. > Europe is a lot more densely populated than the US. You really should be comparing urban areas in both, or rural areas in both. OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs.
- gspr 1y ago
  > Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. Absoutely. But the differences are no longer insane when considering medians: US at 43 kUSD, and the rest of top 5 at 42, 41, 39, 37. While for the means, the US is 50% ahead of number 5 (top 5 goes 62, 47, 47, 42, 41). That's yaw-dropping, while the lead in medians is not. Randomly sourced from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposable-income-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposabl... , which I assume is at least in the ballpark. > OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs. Sure. But it's still important to compare apples to apples. And when doing so, the difference, like for disposable income, is far less stark.

thrance 1y ago

You forgot the stuff that actually matters: - Universal healthcare: I have never needed to pay for my medicine, and I can rest assured that my family won't go bankrupt if I ever get cancer or something. - Extensive paid leave: I have 1.5 month of it every year. - Retirement age: 62 years here (for now, at least). - Public education: I have two masters from public schools, that I got essentially for free. Americans suffers from many things that would be hard to imagine in the EU.