Post

Still ass, because it's capitalism.

I have a friend that lives in Europe and she recently had a two week stay for a surgery. She paid more on vending machine snacks than her bill. Meanwhile even with insurance I have to pay more than her stay and snack bill combined out of pocket for a yearly physical.

@ziibiing.com I'm afraid to ask what this looks like in 15 years when a kid goes to college and a parent gets dementia.

What's crazy to me: You point out the raw numbers of people in other places doing better then average Americans, and the first instinct is to come up with some pretzel logic on why the US ist still better, actually. From the same people going "Them Euros are far too soft on them pickpockets!".

I did not say it wasn't possible. I just said it was more common than most people realize.

I am still searching the oil and gas in Europe (excerpt norway) that fuels our welfare. The US otherwise, is one of the biggest oil producers with no welfare...wondering who is profiting from the devastating drilling operations.

I’ve got a 7 and 4 year old in NYC, where we have universal Pk and 3k, and I still pay about $25k/yr for after school…

My annual eye exams alone chew through $668 😂

Imo it's part of the American exceptionalism thing. God forbid we admit we're fucking up on stuff. (I spend a lot of time getting screamed at by a family member who is deeply into exceptionalism.)

Germany is ridiculously cheaper, and I live in Texas where our groceries are purported to be cheap.

They pulled out when the workers unionized, IIRC.

That seems more like a language issue or something. Norway isn't some magical place. www.matsentralen.no/english

Imagine him learning about the church food banks 😩 bsky.app/profile/dere...

They also get like an entire year for parental leave

Norway has food banks too, you’ve encountered an idiot or someone pulling your hair.

The population of Norway is 5.6 million with a GDP of $530 billion, and extreme poverty is virtually non-existent... The population of USA is 342.6 million with a GDP of $32 Trillion, and a deep poverty level around 16.8 million people.. And wealth is concentrated at the top in both countries...

Do tell us how “we can’t afford it”.

We also pay way more for private healthcare than they pay for public. But God forbid someone get something they didn't pay for. Nose, face, spite.

Raises hand from Denmark 🇩🇰

It doesn't "ignore" state income tax, if you actually read the chart. It makes clear that it's comparing two distinct locations: Seattle and Oslo. WA has no state income tax. It is not being "ignored," it simply isn't relevant to this specific example.

Including Oregon state income tax just makes Norway look cheaper.

quality of life in oslo is so much higher than the us it is absurd

I can't speak for Oslo, but this chart *drastically* underestimates the cost of housing in Seattle.

Agree wholeheartedly. Read Viking Economics to understand how they got there, it is a fascinating study

Thanks for doing the maths!

Remarkably, a ton of US tax dollars actually do go towards healthcare, it just gets soaked up by unregulated "free market" interests and the private insurance industry. Great for executives! Awful for everyone else. The rest mostly goes to the military (and locally, to militarized police forces).

I suspect part of our problem is (misplaced) distrust. If I tell the average American they can pay less for more healthcare, they seem to think it's an attempt to trick them. Unsurprisingly, the state sure doesn't see any value in teaching economics in schools.

Has the Seattle couple had any medical events where they have had to use their health insurance?

The plot to enslave Americans into thinking they have more prosperity so they never revolt @mtsw.bsky.social

and right now, every single European gov't is embarking on massive increases in military spending, as they can no longer count on the US shield against say Russia