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- cross-posted to:
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It all really depends on how much money you have and how you measure “quality of life”. My gut feeling is that lower class have it a lot better in EU thanks to social programs, healthcare and livable minimum wage. Middle class has it “better” in US because of higher purchasing power. The wealthy have it better in US because they pretty much run everything, don’t pay taxes and are above the law.
30 years ago the middle class in US was really big so people in US had higher quality of life on average. Since then the middle class shrunk and more people fell to the lower class while in EU a lot of people (especially in the East) were uplifted to middle class so now EU has higher quality of line on average.
“almost on par”?
I’ve seen US living conditions, we’re ahead…
[Laughing superiorly in Danish]
Like, sure a lot could be even better, but as a whole, we’re doing quite great!
You danes and your proportional representation living pretty good compared to us peasants in Canada being enslaved by 2 big corporate parties.
I was under the impression Canada was actually doing pretty all right? Might have assumed wrong!
Can you really be all right when you border the US?
laughs from across the Öresund
Shakes fist, pretending to be angry
My GDP could whip your GDP!
Because people are actually treated like people here…
Western EU has a higher quality of life then the US for a long time and the east is catching up. Also yes GDP growth is slowing, but I would not be surprised if that starts to change soon. As in the EU does better then the US. For the EU an end of the war in Ukraine would be amazing and Trump is destroying the US economy for short term profit.
US has high GDP and GDP per capita only because of over inflated tech & finance valuations and PE firms dumping more and more money into these industries. It’s not sustainable.
Outside of the US, West and North Europe has pretty high GDP per capita and I don’t see the point in chasing high growth numbers.
One day we might have enough GDP too, right? I mean how much does every person need.
We have enough GDP, but the simple truth is that without GDP growth we get a system change and if it is not done deliberately it is towards fascism.
We don’t need low GDP growth to have fascist tendencies (esp. with the help from the Kremlin), but if people perceive their country as being injust against them, sure, so I get what you are meaning, or so I think.
NO! Infinite growth is the only way!
Bit like Japan I suppose. Both regions have relatively low wealth inequality in contrast to other countries. Both have publicly accessible welfare systems. Both look for steady economic growth than getting high on raging steroidal economic growth that the US is obsessed with. Both have pretty good rule of law and human rights. Depending on where you are in the EU, some member states have a comparable toxic work culture as Japan. Both also whine about immigration despite the declining population.
I semi-joke about the latter but countries less obsessed with steroidal capitalist growth have a better quality of life. We may not have tech giants like Amazon and Facebook, but at least we don’t have tech bros buying out politicians to dictate policies.
but at least we don’t have tech bros buying out politicians to dictate policies.
We have tech bros buying out US politicians who can dictate us what to do, as the EU is totally reliant, economically and militarily, on the US.
The eu is continually trying to find ways around encryption.
Not arguing with your main points but that is a huge L
Tech firms that sell AI tools for content scanning (e.g., Thorn) are deeply involved in lobbying for these chat control policies.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s driven largely by big tech.
Yeah we gotta stop those fuckers. It’s not the EU per se IMO but a group pushing that crap again and again. Hopefully it’ll end with some personal souverain data law or something blocking things like that for good.
Yeah we’ve gotta stay vigilant with encryption and other infringements on our rights and freedom.
Fortunately for now people seem to show again and again that they don’t want this crap.
USA: Ha ha you don’t have a facebook!
EU: Oh no. Anyways…
As I asked in the other thread, also: who pays the price for this quality of life?
Depending where you shop, no one really.
A lot of manufacturing is still actually done in the EU, unlike the USA. I can buy all basics for example (clothes, food, kitchenware, cleaning supplies, shoes, etc) in Finland also made in Finland.
You could definitely buy a lot European, though I know from my line of work (sustainability consultant for (mostly retail) companies), that a lot of supply chains run to China.
The raw materials? The damage to the body from working those jobs? I’m sorry it’s just not realistic.
Our own Trump, Musk etc.
We don’t have them (yet).
Our global South and Asian neighbors? Migrant workers? Our impoverished working class?
Jealous 😛😊? You shouldn’t be, copy us instead.
My state already engages in brutal necessary resource extraction from our neighbors, while selling their own resources back to them for much more than we pay or “invest,” domestically and abroad, like the rest of the global West. Just because some residents get more where they reside doesn’t mean those states aren’t directly and indirectly engaged in the same practices.
As a European, I find a comparison to Japan a bit offensive. Have we fallen that low?
Yes, Japan, economy that almost surpassed US, has fallen that low to be compared to western Europe. 🙄
I thought the topic here was quality of life, not economic output. And there’s simply no comparison to be made. Westerners like to fantasize about Japan being very cultured and civilized, unlike us barbarians. However, reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
No hate towards Japanese people, but the country itself is pretty much a dystopia, close to South Korea. Japanese society is filled to the brim with erotic and pornographic content, to the point where reading/watching hentai is sometimes considered a regular hobby.
They study more, work more and have less free time. “* Full-time workers in Japan typically work 44.9 hours each week.” (Source: https://electroiq.com/stats/japans-workforce-statistics/). This is considerably more than all of Europe.
This, and more, contributes to extremely high suicide rates among young people, breaking records every year (Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251027/p2a/00m/0na/005000c).
Recommend watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUJaRHQhec8. I wouldn’t call it amazing, but does a good enough job of highlighting some of Japan’s pressing issues, most of which are unheard of in the EU.
Yes, go on, tell me how much of an expert you are, even though you neither speak the language and nor experienced life in Japan.
I lived in both western Europe and Japan, multiple cities. Life is great in both places. You highlighted few metrics that Japan is worse in. Can you do the same with western Europe? Otherwise, you sound ridiculously biased and delusional as the Internet expert.
44.9 hours each week
That’s an absolute dream for a lot of workers, inside and outside the global West.
The data is only up to 2023. I’m sure the EU has surpassed the nazi USA by now which was ruined by the orange turd, even if narrowly in a few countries.
Are you for real? The US was a dumpster fire way before Trump. Infant mortality, litteracy, poverty, violent crime rates way worse than OECD averages.
The US doesn’t even belong in the OECD. Here’s a test: you are leader of your people and have a critical policy decision to make. Your advisors have kidnapped two people to help you make the decision. One is President Trump, the other is a Somali Pirate Captain. Which do you choose?
I didn’t even know that kidnapping was a OECD requirement.
Yeah recently a lot of risk management policies which is a surveillance lifestyle.
Not overspending on armed forces (planting bases all over the world like a self-appointed world police) to instead invest in social services will get you that.
Europe is what the Anglosphere could have been without Murdoch
or putin’s troll farms.
They’re responsible for so much in the EU too, like right wing populism, anti nuclear and way more. I mean sometimes there are problems but hate and fear is not the right answer.
Probably has to do with tackling hard hitting issues like… Checks notes… Ensuring that vegetarian meat alternatives can’t be called “steak”, “burger”, or “bacon”. Ah yes.
Couldn’t have to do with multiple countries going full right wing + corporatization being in a race to the bottom lol.
So funny when someone has to dig out some small annoyance and try to blow it up out of proportion.
We got other problems like lots of roundabouts, 5 weeks of mandatory paid holidays and healthcare!
Korrupter Überwachungsstaat trifft es wohl besser
