REACTION: "Europeans Become Poorer As Americans Get Wealthier" by the Wall Street Journal

...uhhh, WHAT?! How can the @wsj claim that Europeans are getting poorer while Americans are getting wealthier? Is the American economy really that strong? Is life in Europe really that bad? Or is there more lurking beyond the surface of this article by the Wall Street Journal? Let's take a look at the data.
Episode 116 | #germany #usa #economics #debt #lifestyle #cash #euro #americaneconomy #economy #economia #economiccrisis #inflation #europe #expatlife #movingabroad #americaningermany #america #livingabroad #americansreact #eurozone | Filmed August 8th, 2023
Jump to Your Favorite Topic 🙌 :
0:00 Intro
01:30 The Evidence
18:14 The Smoking Gun
🎥 More Videos to Check Out:
From @EconomicsExplained "Why Is Europe Always Lagging Behind The US?" • Why Is Europe Always L...
By @ExplainedwithDom "Why Europe is Becoming Economically Irrelevant" • Why Europe's Economy I...
By @Faultlinevideos "How Europe can be insanely rich, but still poor…" • How Europe can be insa...
📝 Sources Cited in the Video:
New York Times, "Where $5 Trillion in Pandemic Stimulus Money Went" (2022) www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...
Herzog-Stein, Nüß, Peede & Stein (2022), "Germany and the United States in coronavirus distress: internal versus external labour market flexibility" www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator www.epi.org/resources/budget/
Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America Wages 2022, "Low-wage workers have seen historically fast real wage growth in the pandemic business cycle", www.epi.org/publication/swa-w...
Debt in America (2023) www.debt.org/faqs/americans-i...
The Scientific American (2020) GDP Is the Wrong Tool for Measuring What Matters www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
Columbia University and Huw Pill Podcast "Beyond Unprecedented S3 Ep4: Inflation: Not Dead Yet" scholarship.law.columbia.edu/...
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[@Micahangelina_]

Texan living in Switzerland and previously Italy for the past 10 years… I always feel the biggest difference when going grocery shopping. You know a society is doing something right when the rich and the poor all buy their groceries at the same supermarket. 🎉

[@jens5906]

Working for a company in Switzerland its funny because the lowest position coworker of mine who worked there for 37 years drives a Mercedes AMG, while our global director comes to work with a renault clio or sometimes a bike. Hierarchy doesnt seem to exist. Same when working for a company in germany, there were only 3 different positions with one of them being the head of the facility. He often rode with a beat down Skoda and 4 lab techs (lowest position) to an outside facility and just did lab tech stuff with them there, getting all dirty and sweaty.

[@abdiellawrence397]

A Texan? In Switzerland? Interlaken Ost > Houston. I've thought about using my GI Bill in Switzerland. I really like it there.

[@christophresmerowski1824]

That makes no sense. The grocer might do something right. Switzerland get's quickly boring. I spent a year there. It's very enclosed too, made me claustrophobic.

[@thegame7557]

Read somewhere that there a 1 million people who are millionaires in Switzerland in a country with 9million people. That means 1 in 9 people is a millionaire. It's like almost everyone is rich so there is no hierarchy in society.

[@carlosr192]

The increased unemployment on US vs euro zone can be answered by the bigger imported buyer the US is. That could affect internal consumption too. The increased salaries on US is a crazy fact...that could answer the inflation. BUT to understand the if a country could make other poorer ... we need that the all countries have the same currency and the same poor, middle and upper class porcentajes...and then the same quality products. In this scenario, the in and out trade could be seen. Who's buys more will be poor with less currency value. That's the soul of capitalism. Sad or not.

[@Immudzen]

I am from the USA and came to Germany for a PhD and decided to stay here. If i moved back to the USA I would be paid more and my consumption would be higher just to do daily tasks. Instead of walking or riding a bike to just about every store I would have to use something like uber or buy a car. That would increase GDP while making my life worse. My apartment would cost a lot more and that would increase GDP while before a worse apartment than most of those I can get here. I could also be fired at any point and that would also make my life a lot more about money than it is now. Even just hanging out with my friends in a bakery for a few hours and just talking is much cheaper in Germany than it is in the USA. It is also something I have seen a lot more people do in Germany than I ever experienced in the USA. In pretty much every way that matters I am better off here than in the USA and that is as someone in the top 5% of incomes.

[@dabo23]

Amen

[@arnodobler1096]

Thank you for sharing

[@jahonain]

Not just work but also quality of life is important to most Europeans.

[@metapolitikgedanken612]

Interesting assessment. GDP as a measure of wealth, welfare or value got indeed its problems. Most people don't realize this, though.

[@schuhschrank947]

Even at the low end of wages due to a part time job I feel so much richer than I would in the US. I love my free time and I feel save here because I can't get into financial troubles when I get ill. That is only one point amongst a lot...

[@ErikVananrooij]

it should be a lot more accurate if the tagline stated "Europeans Become A Bit Poorer As 95% Of Americans Get A Lot Poorer While 5% Of Americans Go from Wealthier To Oligarch Status "

[@RinnzuRosendale]

Yeah, this channel isn't really known for its accuracy.

[@TheJubess]

​@@RinnzuRosendalehe means WSJ, not this channel

[@jadenpark7943]

germany homeless per capita=37 per 10000. america homeless percapia 18 per 10000. almost twice lower than germany

[@57thorns]

@@Matthias_Fischer And sometimes that higher number includes people that are 20+ with a job still living with their parent, because they can't find or afford somewhere to live on their own. Best case, they have a small apartment in the garage, worst case they still live in the room they had growing up. While this is a huge problem, especially when it comes to learning to budget for living expenses, and mental health as being independent, it does not mean people living on the street.

[@npanic628]

Exactly, the American higher uppers forcing Russia into a war with Ukraine then forcing Europe to put sanctions on Russia cutting it off from Europe (with all it's resources and infrastructure already built in place), then blowing the Nordstream into pieces in order to sell their own gas and oil to Europe cross the Atlantic, then forcing Europe to give out loans to Ukraine for a neverending war with Russia which Ukraine will never be able to pay back all the while selling weapons to the same Ukraine who are forced to buy it with European money. Seriously, this is the single biggest imperialist master stroke in the history of the human race, very well done America.

[@BenGreggSweden]

I moved to Sweden a year-and-a-half ago, and even though I’m now making less than 1/3rd what I was making in the US and do pay more in taxes, I would never go back there to live! Our quality of life is so much higher here. And the weirdest part? Even though my wife and I both earn a lot less now, we find that we have more money left over at the end of each month! It’s hard to get my head around, but then you realize that in the US there are so many extra costs, beyond the cost of housing, you have to pay for healthcare, education and then everything else just costs more. Like our cellphone plan with unlimited data is just $30 for the two of us. Our cable bill is just $45. We did have a higher electricity bill this past winter, but then the Swedish government subsidized is by sending everyone in the country money to cover those higher bills. But the best part is the work / life balance. The shorter work weeks, the extra holidays and then 5-6 weeks of paid vacation! And it’s REAL vacation, because everyone else is off as well. So unlike in the US where people would be calling and texting me on my vacation, here is 100% relaxation. You get to travel places and actually hang out and enjoy them! This past spring we went back to the US to visit family, and really noticed how much more stressed out people were! It was giving me PTSD just to watch people getting phone calls and the stressed out look as they had to excuse themselves saying “I have to take this call”-that would just never happen here! And I agree, you may pay more for some things here, such as clothing, but it’s much higher quality, and it’s not unusual to see people wearing the same outfits over and over again here. Everyone looks classy and well put together. In fact, the whole country is better put together! Like, the roads and infrastructure are all in amazing condition. There are no telephone poles with those ugly wires they have all over the place in the US. They actually bury all of those wires! It looks so much better and cleaner. They love using cobble stones and planting flowers everywhere. For an American it feels like you’re in a scene from a movie, yet for Europeans it’s just normal everyday life. I could go on. All of the government agencies work here. People are friendly, educated and professional. There’s a great saying I once heard: “Americans don’t know what good service is because they’ve never had it”. Perhaps I’ll leave it at that. Unless you’ve lived here, you have no idea what it’s like. Sure, you can earn more money and as an investor can more easily exploit people and make a profit. But if you want to live a normal middle class life and have time to enjoy your life, feeling safe and secure in knowing you’re not going to get have to work 60 hours weeks or risk getting fired from your job, or that you’re going to get hit with some crazy medical bill or that your kid risks getting shot at school or being run over by some stressed out road-rager in an enormous pick-up truck…. Then moving to Europe is definitely the answer!

[@WolfF2022]

I want the opposite, away from Germany and Europe to the US, already that they allow their citizens to have weapons shows me that it is not as communist as Europe. If you have no work in Germany, they give you money for one year, after that time you need to spend your own money until you come to the class of people who are complete dependend on the money from the state. Companies don`t give you a job here after they found out that you are not an able slave, if you had a disease and lost a job because of it no new company hires you because they fear the laws, they have problems to fire sick workers so they do not hire people who had already in the past lost a job after a disease. The government in Germany open spoke about fines of about 20000 € for not taking the Covid vaccines, that means they take away all your money if you refuse to take this poison. In the US you at least have your weapons, and if 20 % of the population say they want not take this vaccine the government knows that 20 % with weapons are a own force. In Europe you are defenseless delivered to the government. Where I live they can imprison you for saying criticism on special ethnic groups whereas this ethnic groups can openly say they hate you, that is not the case in the US. That Sweden gives you money for high electricity bills doesn`t make you think from who Sweden the money has? From Swedish people of course, they take you away 100 € on another place and give you back 20 €, and then you celebrate Sweden, that`s communism, and I hate it. I would prefer to live under a bridge in the US from money people spend me instead of living in a german slab construction from the money the government takes away from other people by force. Sweden and Germany are lost states in Europe, the mass immigration of muslims will lead to a coming civil war.

[@doncarlin9081]

Sadly, your experience will be lost on most Americans.

[@heidisaglund3443]

"As an investor can more easily exploit people"...that hit hard, and explains capitalism to a T, capitalism without regulations that is. Workers without a safetynet are also easier to exploit. I'm really happy to hear that you appreciate Sweden so much. We're in Norway, but have a place in Töcksfors as well. I also lived in the US for 15 years, with the constant terror of getting ill due to the healthcaresystem. In the end, I decided it was time to move back home, and I'm so so glad I did.

[@hansjanko7966]

@BenGreggSweden Very well written. And the greatest thing is - that counts also for Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Italy, Norway(@heidi) etc. and more and more also for Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia

[@WolfF2022]

@@hansjanko7966 seems youtube censors me again and again, my comment is not visible here.

[@petergeyer7584]

My social media was pushing that article hard on me when it came out. Of course, knowing that it is the WSJ, I knew that it would likely be a dubiously sourced - or at least reasoned - screed against unionization and social services. In Germany, my family “takes home” a fraction of the income that we did in the US, but our quality of life here is exponentially better. I don’t need a house full of shiny new toys every year, and my house doesn’t have to be bigger than my neighbor’s. I do need an employer that treats its employees with dignity, a health care system that treats my chronic medical condition, and time with my family.

[@RoonMian]

The article is completely GDP-brained, typical for the WSJ in particular and US economists in general. "Oh, domestic consumption needs to stay up, otherwise recession, waaaah!!!" GDP is one of the worst ways to measure the health of an economy because it bases the health of an economy entirely on profits that can be privatised while completely blending out costs that are being socialised. Want a topical example? The recent fire catastrophe on Maui. That's great for GDP!! All that destroyed infrastructure, the burned homes, consumer goods that need to be bought anew, that creates new REVENUE!!! And JOBS!!! PROFIT!!! The costs, the death, the human tragedy? Who cares about that? Earthquakes, oil spills, wildfires, all drive up GDP! You know why Germany's response to the CoViD pandemic was almost twice as as good as the US' was? Because only half as many people died from CoViD! (ca 175k in Germany, 0,2% of the population versus over 1.17 million in the US, 0.35% of the population.) The framing of this entire WSJ article, nay the entire WSJ philophy, reveals terminal America brain. Edit: Hah, I made this comment before I watched the video because I had read the WSJ article and it had pissed me off. So of course Black Forest Family brought exactly that point. That always happens to me. >_>

[@gilliantracy7991]

“Terminal American Brain!! Lol! And I’m an American!

[@middleagebrotips3454]

How many people live paycheck to paycheck America vs Europe (minus UK they left)

[@RoonMian]

@@middleagebrotips3454 That comparison wouldn't even work because suddenly not having a paycheck anymore from one month to the next has vastly different consequences in most of Europe vs the USA.

[@metapolitikgedanken612]

@@RoonMian There's problems with GDP, indeed. But I think the policies over the past 3 years did indeed have economic effects detrimental to the mass of people. And the US has its own issues. That can not be solved with 'more GDP', so does Europe. That there are fleecing operations should not be ignored.

[@CarlosGarcia-gs1wd]

As a Spaniard and knowing that Spain is a country with a per capita income below the European Union average and having known the USA as a tourist, I believe that the Spanish working class has a better quality of life than the American working class. I can't imagine living in a country where you have to go into debt in case of illness or to send your children to university or where you don't enjoy paid vacations. Not being able to walk, there are almost no sidewalks or pedestrian crossings and it is almost impossible to find real bread

[@l4kr]

Bro now imagine your car breaks down and you don't have the money to repair it in 24 hours. It's instant homelessness.

[@kain0m]

​@@l4kryep. You'll not find too many Europeans that are in serious trouble because the battery on their car died and they can't afford to change it. Yet in the US, this is a reality for so many people - and "just don't use the car" isn't an option there. In Europe? Not a big deal in most places. We (a family of three in the suburbs of a 300.000 people city) have one car, as do most of our neighbors. It gets used three days a week or so, and even that is mostly laziness, not necessity. Try that in the US. Far fewer people around here live paycheck to paycheck, or with maxed out credit card limits.

[@carlaagullosoler7372]

as a fellow Spaniard could not agree more. I read a lot of news and work related stuff on the Internet and working on the USA vs working in Spain sounds terrible. No PTO? Restricted sick leave? No maternity leave? Its not all about how much money you make in life, but what that money can be used for in a specific place, and even if poorer, with less you can get so much more here

[@whodarboilebamnames3990]

What are you talking about, virtually everyone is covered by insurance, plus free insurance if you're poor. Also universities provide free tuition to students from poor families and community colleges are dirt cheap. Also, you make money and go on vacation or not on your own terms, if you want to save that money and keep working that's a choice you can make, and it's not forced on you. Plus, you're more then free to walk in most towns and cities in the USA? Are you discussing rural USA, then yes, no sidewalks. Suburban areas can be hit or miss, but generally they do have sidewalks in residential and businesses areas. You have no understanding of how the US works tbh.

[@aimxdy8680]

@@carlaagullosoler7372Thé news aren’t accurate sources lmao

[@aaronbono4688]

Here is just how horrific our health care is here in the US... My wife went into the ER because she was feeling weird (tingly, dizzy, etc.) and with about a 2 hour stay, and EEG, some blood tests and a talk with a Physician's Assistant (she didn't even get to SEE the doctor), they billed us $18,500. Luckily we have health insurance but we still owed almost $3k out of pocket. Turns out she has really high blood pressure which she now has to take medication for, that's it. This is insane.

[@arnodobler1096]

😢

[@joannabusinessaccount7293]

Take at a look at the videos by Dr. Glaucomafleckrn - 30 days of United Healthcare, a for profit, exchange listed, company.

[@royk7712]

man, 3k for standard blood test? i can get them for a buck in my country. thats administration fee, not doctors

[@sarahrosen4985]

If I go to the ER, it is free. If I am discharged after a few hours or admitted for a month, it is free. The US "health care" is not just a scam, it is an ongoing crime against humanity. For comparison, a friend had another friend visiting from the US. Both were poor university students at the time. The visiting student got really sick but was afraid to go to the ER because of the unknown cost. Finally, things got bad enough that they had to go. They were figuring out how much cash they had and how much they could max out their credit cards. Got to the ER; oh, you aren't a citizen so you aren't covered by national insurance? Well then that will be $75. All the blood tests, xrays, exams, everything.

[@sarahrosen4985]

Just remembering, I recently had a referral for a specialist. You need to file a request for an "agreement to pay" (can't think of a proper way to say it in English) with the health fund. I have been going to the top hospital in the nation's capital and for decades they had an arrangement with the health fund that you didn't need to do the extra step of asking for the payment approval. So, this time I also didn't put in the request. When I got to the private clinic in the top hospital for the appointment I waited a month for, they asked for the payment form from the health fund. I didn't have one. They said I couldn't continue without the form or paying. As I'm taking out my phone to call the health fund to see if I can get something for the same day, given the circumstances, I asked how much the appointment would be if I paid myself. Private clinic, top specialist. It was $30 dollars. $30.

[@JohnSmall314]

The Financial Times did a review of wealth in developed countries and came to the conclusion that neither America nor the United Kingdom were rich countries. They are in fact poor countries with a small number of very rich people. Once you go down the scale from the very rich, then ordinary people in European countries have a much better living standard than ordinary people in America and the UK. Ordinary people in Spain don't risk going bankrupt with medical bills, nor do they have to worry about their kids becoming a report on the evening news, with thoughts and prayers. Both of those things are worth a few million dollars in the bank.

[@paul1979uk2000]

I'm a Brit and from what I've seen over the last 15 years, the UK is falling behind in a lot of areas, mainly because of lack of funding in so many public services, and it wouldn't surprise me if that had an impact on Brexit, people usually lash out when things are getting worse. Trump is another example in the US, he didn't get voted in by chance, he got into power because a lot of Americans feel like they are being left behind, and it's ironic, because in both the US and UK, they like to brag about how well the economy and unemployment numbers are doing, but to the average person, that means nothing if they don't feel any of those benefits, I think that's what many European countries are doing much better on, wealth distribution, and that matters a lot more than many of the other stats.

[@righteousmammon9011]

This is absolutely ridiculous. My dad is a firefighter in the US and makes 170k a year. My wife is German and we live in Florida. Her brother and his wife are both engineers - top 5% income in Germany, and cannot afford to buy a house.

[@rey6708]

@@righteousmammon9011 i can live from under 1k euro a month, thats my apartment, food and insurances. i have 2 rooms, everythign is clean and i am in 20-30 minutes in the center of berlin. try that in new york my friend.

[@righteousmammon9011]

@@rey6708 Berlin is not New York. New York is the financial capital of the world. My friends in New York make 400k plus a year. It’s all relative. You may live on 1k a month but your salary is probably only 2k a month Netto. You can’t compare American expenses with low European wages. The US has the highest median disposable income in the world. My wife and I make 240k a year in Florida. And your apartment is probably the size of my bedroom. I’m not trying to compare or say one is better than the other. It’s all a matter of what you prefer and what’s important to you. But from a material / consumption standpoint, America is far ahead.

[@rey6708]

@@righteousmammon9011 so far ahead that most people in new york are poor xD so far ahead that americans have expenses eating away everything they earn and make them think about going to a doctor or not cause they dont want to be indebted and cant take a leave from work. so far ahead that american products have terrible quality and american food is terrible xD yes americans make more money, the difference is that your costs of living are higher in everything you can imagine. and no, i doubt that your bedroom is 80qm big and if yes, your life must be pretty sad if you need that much just to sleep xD its fine for you to make 240k a year in florida but it doesnt come similar to my quality of life of simply not having to give a shit about money at all. i can work 16 hours a week and still have a bit more then i need to pay for my expenses. everything over that is income that i can use to do what ever i want. i can put it in stocks, burn it in a furnace, spend it on games, save for a house, gift it to someone, what ever i want i can do it without even thinking twice. thats luxus that most americans dont have.

[@Xzibitfreek]

As a German, I do get the impression that almost everything in the US evolves around money. Its a plain and simple culture difference. Less solidarity, less securities but more potential to "make it big". A six figure salary is far more obtainable in the US than in Germany but when I see videos about American healthcare, I just get a headache because its so complicated which makes it counter productive because on top of being ill or injured, youre also thinking of how to recover without paying way too much money. Thats additional stress that usually has a negative effect on your recovery, especially if you dont even visit the doctor/hospital. Here you have the peace of mind, you have your health insurance card and whenever there is an emergency, you just show that card and thats it. Dont even get me started on the anti-union stance from the author.

[@peterf1]

All correct. As an American it is staggering to witness the success the Right Wing has had in demonizing Unions, in opposing a national healthcare insurance solution, and 'selling' it to the public. All while the middle class falls further and further behind.

[@metapolitikgedanken612]

The difference is that in the US solidarity is more voluntary (there is coercion as well and it's basically a welfare state), while in Germany it is almost fully by coercion. People don't have an idea who actually the taxes, hint: It isn't the wealthy.

[@Metal0sopher]

American culture is all about showing of your wealth and vilifying those who don't have it as subhuman thus deserving no respect. If you understand this thought than all the bigotry, racism, climate denial, religiosity, it all begins to make sense, especially when you remember that the basis of American Christianity is the "prosperity gospel". Wealth is a reward from God, and those who aren't wealthy are being punished by God for "whatever" sins they've committed. Trump, who has never sinned is wealthy but "witch hunted" by evil "witches" like socialists, blacks, Latinos, gays, who are being punished for obviously being sinful.

[@oxybenzol9254]

@@metapolitikgedanken612 In America dignity isnt a virtue. Its a weakness.

[@the_expidition427]

@@oxybenzol9254 This just isnt so dignity does not receive as much credit and respect as it holds. It is not a virtue or a weakness. It's a principal the same as honor, leadership, and duty

[@beathiltbrunner7070]

I know the US well, not from the point of view of Excel tables but from having worked and lived there as a physician. You made some very good points about the comparability of cost and wealth. One important aspect that you left out is the effect of good public transportation on well-being, quality of life, safety and opportunities. They enter indirectly into cost and spending calculations because they are a given in Europe, but not much in people’s mind in the US because public transportation is so rudimentary for the most part. In this regard, the US is not a competitive country to Europe, at all and reducing wellbeing to the size of the paycheck a reductionism in short sight. Thank you for your analysis.

[@mvdp3784]

Amen

[@Londronable]

From what I've heard people living near public transport basically have a MUCH larger change of getting themselves out of poverrty in the US. Americans living near a bus stop do much better than those without one.

[@AUniqueHandleName444]

Public transport is anything but safe in the US. We simply do not have the quality of human being required to make public transit work.

[@aimxdy8680]

Yet the EU has 22% poverty compared to USA 11% poverty.

[@Londronable]

@@aimxdy8680 Kind of a pointless stat without telling us what poverty means in the first place for both. There is a lot more rape in Sweden than in most places. Why? Because of a person got raped every day for an entire year it's counted as 365. Other countries count it as one because there is one "case". Cops in the UK are assaulted constantly. Because being insulted counts as assault. I don't really doubt the EU has more poverty with some Eastern Block countries in there to be clear. I would find it sad if that wasn't the case. But quoting some stats alone tells one nothing. Also, let's be real, most of the basics are covered by the state. Many Europeans have less themselves but still more access to certain services(healthcare) or better work environments(mandatory PTO, parental leave, etc. etc.)

[@philipberthiaume2314]

In 2017, I had an American family member get legit upset when he realized that we Canadians did not pay health premiums. He could not understand how our medical system could work only on taxes. Medical premiums for his family was almost as much as what I paid in income taxes for the year and my family has full access to all the healthcare we would need. He actually accused me of lying. To make matters worse, that was the year that his mother was turned down for some pretty important treatment by her insurance company. I have not seen him since...

[@marlan5470]

I've had multiple surgeries in Europe since I moved here. Also had an emergency that put me in the hospital for a whole 2 weeks, from which I'm still recovering. No way I'd be as relaxed about the whole thing if I had to use medical services in the US. Biden is a criminal: Democrat campaign were heavy on public health care but nothing really changed in the US. Smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors.

[@MichelleHell]

Goes to show how abusive our system in the US is that you can't live with the cognitive dissonance so you plug your ears and choose not to believe it.

[@nirfz]

It is always baffling when people don't understand that 1 million people paying 1$ is more money than 1 person paying 40 000$ and thus if the whole population pays a little, many more medical treatment can be paid for. Also i think there is a huge problem that in the US the pharma companies can "ask" any price they want for medication, while in europe for example this is somewhat different and prices get negotiated between officials and the pharma companies (the state has an interest that they don't just skyrocket prices for their benefit) Last week i have seen a picture of a receipt of medical treatment from the US where they wanted 200$ for _refused medical treatment_ and 60$ for medication...

[@jsteer]

In the US, nominal insurance payments are inflated to make people believe that health costs so much. In reality, the sums exchanged are way lower but only accessible when you have an insurance plan. The system is made to keep people trapped in it. So sure, US citizens rightly can’t understand how other countries finance it.

[@captainchaos3667]

Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

[@xlr84XC]

American here. Lived in a lot of places outside and within the US. America is a funny place. Through convoluted reasoning the average person is led to believe a lot of things that are detrimental to their own well being. It is how we have loopholes in laws that get exploited, budget cuts that sound good, terrible healthcare, and we look down on public transportation. What can you do? Not much because the idea that things could be different or better is made to be so appalling to the average American, and people are so busy trying to get by, that change cannot happen. It is inception at its finest.

[@SurpriseMeJT]

Well said. Everytime I go back to the US to visit family, I feel like everything is just a scam. Life is scam. Political life is a scam. People turn against one another for very little. It's such a terrible way of life.

[@andrewreynolds912]

As an American this is why I'm planning to move to countries like denmark 🇩🇰, netherlands 🇳🇱, and finland 🇫🇮 are some of the best countries in the world but have their pros and cons.

[@jhawksmoore9773]

The american working class tragedy has inspired the Droid Tragedy in Star wars, which is hidden by the fact that every main characters doesn't give a sh*t about workers.

[@user-cr1iz8fw6h]

@@andrewreynolds912Good. We’ll bring in some useful immigrants to replace you😂 You’ll find out soon enough that a continent full of lazy people isn’t a good idea.

[@chrisb508]

I am a retired Army veteran and I often think about the effect of two of my benefits. 1) Guaranteed minimum income: I was in the active duty ranks for 22 1/2 years and getting about $3600 per month guaranteed is amazing. 2) Guaranteed health care coverage: We pay about $40 per month for really good health care. Now, put aside whether I earned those benefits or not. (Similar arguments are made about Social Security and Medicare and calling them entitlements.) Just focus on what those two benefits do for my family's wellbeing. I can say from a personal point of view that it keeps us afloat regardless of how well employed I am. The suggestion that we have a system with guaranteed minimum income or universal health care makes people really crazy for some reason. Is it really impossible to provide these two things to every household in America? Why do we as Americans always have to fear other people having what we have?

[@NetraAmorosi]

Propaganda, and general misinformation.

[@maxbarko8717]

So true and not to forget: it is funded by taxes. If only a portion of the enormous military budget would go to social services the USA would be far better off.

[@manfredconnor3194]

You had to pay a price for that. Lucky for you it worked out. For some it didn't. What maxbarko8717 says below is also true, but you earned that, so I would not have an issue with it. Did you have to stay active duty for 25 years? Or did you get that based on your veteran status. I never served, but I got shot at enough and have nothing to show for it.

[@charliebecker9391]

I'm also a Retired Veteran. I receive a very nice financial benefit each month AND "ALL" my medical expenses are FREE OF CHARGE. (Which at 75 years of age with some medical problems is a HUGH benefit). It's a benefit I earned. The Social Security I now collect is not a "Benefit'. It was made possible by my monthly payment to Social Security as well as the portion paid by my employer as a result of me WORKING and PAYING IN. My Pension Check and my Investment income is as a result of a job I held for many years. After retirement from the Military, I was still young enough to hold down a good job, where I "Earned" 30 days paid vacation each year" and enjoyed many other benefits supplied by my employer. You receive these benefits by working for them, not looking for a handout. Those who are looking for a Handout, here in the States; are the ones complaining that they have no insurance, no income, no place to live, etc. There are always exceptions, however; if you are willing to work, you will receive. The biblical quote, "You reap what you sew" holds true. Also, having 50 States with such varied Political Policies goes a long way in creating some good; some bad policies and a way of life; in that particular State. Comparing Germany to the US is like comparing Apples to Oranges. The mere size and political differences make it impossible to make any type of comparison. If Germany is a better place for you to live, that's great. You have the freedom to do that and that is a very good thing. I definitely like many of the policies and customs of Germany and if I decide that I want to take advantage of those policies and customers, I have the freedom to do that. I would never pit Germany vs the United States; professing that one is better than the other. God Bless American and Germany.

[@maxbarko8717]

@@charliebecker9391 People who had „success“ in their life believe that it was because of their own efforts. They don’t realize how much luck they had. If only a little thing went wrong your life today would lok. completely different. Edit: I think the reason for some of those comparisons is that many US citizens believe that they live in the greatest country of the world.

[@rogerterry5013]

I live in Austria and have something that Elon Musk will never have, enough!

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

Good for you. Remember even enough will soon become scarce.

[@fabianstiefel1586]

@@zuzanazuscinova5209 only if someones greed/fear-of-losing-out will reduce that what's considered enough for you, leading to it becoming scarce... In a (not so far ?) future, on the Tombstone of (Hyper)Capitalism, it will be written in Stone: "Too much was never enough..." "more" only for the sake of "more" is not sustainable indefinitely. That's something which is clear for everyone with common sense and understanding of basic maths.

[@Tulkash01]

Just for your information in July Musk was spotted in Alto Adige (South Tyrol for you I guess) where he’s going to build a home. You’d basically giungo to become neighbors! 😂

[@OzPozzy278]

Elon Musk already has the world, let alone Austria

[@jal051]

I don't know if it applies to every country in Europe, but here in Spain having personal debt (other than for paying the car and the house) is seen as a sign of being in trouble. The American culture of debt is crazy to me. Also, I don't know how they can get in such debt. The banks here won't loan you the money if you don't have a way to cover for it.

[@jugatsumikka]

To get a loan (for a diploma, a house or a car), sometimes even to just buy the house cash, you need to get a good credit score otherwise you are not even considered. You can't get a good credit score if you never borrowed money from the bank (through a credit card), and the more money you borrowed (and nearly reimbursed, but never entirely, otherwise you are not a good creditor as you don't produce anymore money for the bank), the better your credit score is. Basically, this is one more money making scheme by the richer 10% to get money from the sweat and blood of the rest of the population. The idea is that you need to prove you can reimburse the initial loan and produce more money, you don't need to be able to reimburse fully. Fully reimbursing a loan is even a bad thing as, if you reimburse everything, you don't produce money anymore.

[@k.v.7681]

Same in France and Belgium, except for the very upper part of society. We buy things cash, except for a new car or house. Furniture? Vacation? Craftsmen to repair/take care of a house? School? We save for it, and buy when we can affoprd it out of pocket. It's not always easy, especially for lower income families. But I've noticed it's even a point of pride for people to say "I managed to buy that". Not as a "look what I have" thing, but more a "look what I managed to do without begging" thing. People despise credit companies and banks, and would rather finance themselves on their own rather than participate in wild speculation markets that exploit them, and harass them if they ever dip a toe in it.

[@AUniqueHandleName444]

@@jugatsumikka That's not really how this works at all. If you have a credit card and you buy a candy bar once per year, that's just as good for your credit as spending more every month.

[@case6189]

Banks are happy to loan to anyone here. The good news is our bankers are corrupt with the politicians losing money is not a thing, being bad at your job with finances is not a thing just have the taxpayers catch your splooge with a bailout

[@jal051]

@@case6189 The credit score system has its advantages, tho. I've always been self employed and getting a loan used to be pretty much impossible to me. I had no properties nor salary to offer as colateral, so they wouldn't give me any credit even when I have never missed a payment in my life.

[@thatcarguy1UZ]

The whole point of that article was to try to disparage any system that puts any power whatsoever in the hands of the working class. A lot of Americans myself included point out how much better things are for Working Class People in Europe because of their pension guarantees and their health care coverage and their paid time off and with not being at-will employees. This article in the Wall Street Journal that you were discussing in your show is aimed squarely at the anxieties of the wealthy Elite in our country in particular. It's amazing to me that the people who own multiple mansions and Yachts and private islands and have way more money than they ever could possibly spend get so worked up over the fact that working-class people might actually have a little bit more to do in their life than just show up for work and make them even more money.

[@user-cr1iz8fw6h]

Working class gets bread crumbs in Europe with no room for upward mobility lol. You guys are so deluded it’s just funny.

[@thatcarguy1UZ]

@user-cr1iz8fw6h at least you get bread crumbs we don't even get that much over here. I have European relatives and I wish I had their working class problems compared to mine. I'm not saying that the working class in Europe doesn't deserve better than they are getting just that it seems that they do get things a lot better than we do in the United states. What we really need is a global working class uprising, but too many people are hung up on National borders for that to ever happen.

[@isana788]

I am constantly amazed at how scientific this channel is and yet entertaining at the same time. But I also love your VLOGS.

[@reneolthof6811]

Yes, a truly nice blend of private and public. Although the videos I like best by far are the ones on your genealogy.

[@TypeAshton]

Thank you so much. ❤️❤️

[@manfredconnor3194]

Me too! I even suspected them of being funded by somebody, but they say they aren't. I went to a top university in the US and I do not think I could have done as objective, as good or as thorough a job as she did. 😢

[@isana788]

@@manfredconnor3194 since you were a student at a university, you are naturally above average in intelligence. The fact that you say something like about yourself shows that you have a pleasant personality. what i ask myself is what are the differences between the elite universities and the normal ones?

[@theBear89451]

The only mistakes I found relate the bad inequality math. For example, the number of people skipping meat because of cost is far greater than the number skipping for environmental reasons.

[@katerynaishchenko2955]

Thank you for so comprehensive videos, which differ from regular bloggers. It's a real pleasure to hear adequate thoughts on the matter.

[@TypeAshton]

Ah thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@stianthomassen6693]

What provokes me about the USAs medical system is - okay, fair, you want the freedom to choose not to pay for health insurance and if something happens to you will pay the full price. The thing is folks, you ain’t paying the full price: you are paying 20 times the full price. I am serious, no joke. If you broke your leg in Norway and you had the full price for staying in the hospital and they fixing the leg you would have to pay the terrible price of $1000 (in actually you would only be charged $300, and keep that recipe for that is the max you will have to pay through your stay). You Americans should demand your freedom to pay a bloody fair price for your health care if you insist on not having a universal health care.

[@TypeAshton]

I heart not because its good, but because you hit the nail on the head with this.

[@ah000]

Texan here and full time social practice artist. As such, work independently and do non profit style work without the non profit benefits or pay. So, moved to Spain before COVID and feel safer, healthier, and mentally more stable. As an artist, I don’t worry about lack of health insurance because I have universal healthcare access. They have MANY social programs in Europe to help one get in the system. I look forward to permanent resident status to happily pay into the system once I can. It feels more human centered in Europe rather than corporate and even the urban layout of cities (with many gathering spaces like squares and parks) reflect that. Apples and watermelons

[@mariusfacktor3597]

American wages grew in comparison to Europe, but our cost-of-living grew by even more. Largely due to our insane suburban experiment development pattern which has outlawed low-cost housing in opportunistic urban areas.

[@jahonain]

I think it's quite obvious, ordinary ppl in Western countries are becoming poorer, regardless if you're in America or in Europe. The question is, is it worse to be economically disadvantaged America or in Europe?

[@Kacpa2]

@@jahonain In europe obviously, because its both lesser and you still benefit from everything else. While in US you just suffer and and most common scenario is going homeless if it gets bad enough.

[@Llortnerof]

@@Kacpa2 The question was "is it worse", not "is it better".

[@Kacpa2]

@@Llortnerof Which you got the answer for in this eitherway. Is it really that hard to infer that?

[@redwolfexr]

They didn't HAVE to outlaw low-cost housing, they just didn't bother to encourage it. That is why there is nothing but new high/mid rise APARTMENTS around my older Condo. Our building is safe, but all the plots around us are now rentals. Very expensive ones. Given a choice every developer wants to make high end properties because its the best return on expensive bits of land.

[@fuglbird]

I'm glad that intelligent people like you are joining us in Europe. I hope you and your family will stay and have a happy and prosperous live here.

[@daemonbyte]

The downside is that leaves a large, nuclear state in the hands of the less informed. Hence the rise of the likes of Trump and Biden. And even then it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep lashing out on the global stage to make domestic political points.

[@righteousmammon9011]

@@daemonbyteit’s also just not true at all. She’s been criticized multiple times and won’t respond to them. My wife is German and I’m American. Her brother and his wife are both engineers in Germany and cannot afford a house. They are in the top 5% of German incomes. In America, my wife and I make 240k a year. I’m 31 and she’s 28. Our 275sq m house was 450k. Our companies pay for our health insurance. On a net (Netto) basis, we make more money than the Chancellor of Germany.

[@daemonbyte]

​@@righteousmammon9011my wife and I both earn under 100k and yet we own our home and have little mortgage. My recovered alcoholic brother in law just bought a home. If they can't afford a home they need to figure out what they're doing wrong

[@axoloneidolon4702]

I'm not glad. What is so smart about reproducing a biased article? She's contributing knowingly or not to US propaganda in the EU. Europe's economy is in dire straits mainly due to the US government. They are not our friends for sure.

[@anoopkumarsharma]

@@righteousmammon9011I felt that the video was made to justify one’s own decisions in life. In every metric the article mentioned, US is better. She just talked about, what about this and what about that? More feeling and opinion than actual numbers.

[@toonlyrics]

Also a US expat in Germany (since 1972). I'm not a data nerd, so I appreciate it when someone can explain economic statistics in an understandable and even engaging way. I've felt these things to be true for a long time, just based on anecdotal evidence and experience of family members. In the US, you can be in a high-income group but terrified of losing your job because there goes your health insurance as well. One video can't cover everything. A contributor mentioned the benefits of a good public transportation system compared to the US. Another one is cultural life. I moved to a picturesque but economically struggling East German town 45 minutes away from Berlin by regional train. In a relatively poor "city" of 72,000 there are museums, churches with priceless organs, a theater/concert hall, courses of all kinds for every age group. The large state museums in Berlin charge 12 Euros entrance fee, which I think is too expensive and denies low-income groups access to culture., but I recently read that US museums like the Smithsonian are now charging $35. And so many Americans live far away from any notable cultural institution. When my German friends complain about political and quality of life issues, I use an unfair argument: Look at conditions in the USA.

[@wanderingtravellerAB99]

If you have been somewhere since 1972, you haven’t been an expat since about 1974. you’re an immigrant, be proud to own it.

[@toonlyrics]

@wanderingtravellerAB99 Every immigrant is also an emigrant. As long as I'm a US citizen, I'm also an expat. But if you ask me where is home, it's obviously the country I live in now.

[@wanderingtravellerAB99]

@@toonlyrics how are you possibly an expat by any common definition? Have you been planning to go home... For 40 years? Why even bother using the phrase?

[@toonlyrics]

@wanderingtravellerAB99 My dictionary doesn't mention intentions. I'm a zero in Latin, but "ex"=outside of, "patria"=fatherland. No matter how many years pass, I am away from the culture that formed me. I still get embarrassed and hide my American passport from view whenever the US does criminally insane things like invading Iraq or electing Donald Trump. As a teacher at a bilingual school, I experienced parents thanking me for showing them that not all Americans are total idiots (where's my medal for distinguished service to my land of birth?). When you live in another country, that's when you discover there is no escape from your origins. The way Germans celebrate grownups' birthdays (with coffee and cake provided by the birthday child) still makes me feel like an anthropologist on a field study. People don't always guess I'm a foreigner in a casual conversation, but sooner or later the word gets out. It will be at least mentioned at my funeral.

[@jerrymiller9039]

Any American city of 72 thousand has museums and churches and musical options. Also, most people that live in rural areas are there because that is where they want to be. There are many cities and towns if that is what they prefer. You should learn to respect diversity. Not everyone wants to live however you happen to want to live and choose accordingly.

[@albanthiery4296]

I was born and grew up in France and live in the US for 40 years. I could see France going down from the 70's to now because of the enormous cost and rigidity of labor laws and social services, which go into the cost of production mostly by labor cost and choke off economic growth, so gradually alter the possibility to pay for those services and it is not politically feasible to reverse the trend, so it is only one way downward economically. France had industry representing 22% of GDP, now it is 11%, true Germany did better, but some other countries worse. The net pay is average 50% bigger in the US than in France depending on the nature of the job, double for a nurse. A doctor gets 25 Euros for a visit total, is it a decent pay even if the 10 years of study were virtually free? The country was the 2nd creator for drugs in the 70's and is now the 9th and it is an industry with high salaries and lab of research. Pharmaceutical research is mostly done in US even with European firms, which creates GDP and high paying jobs. OCDE made a study of job creation between 1970 and 2000 in Europe and US. Europe created 5 million new net jobs while the US created 50 millions new net jobs and that difference was due to a 1% more average economic growth in US over those 30 years, Europe's average was 2% when US was 3%. For the long term GDP growth is important. Scandinavia could reform its wealth fare state in the 80's and doing relatively better, because they kept the most important and shed the unnecessary. In Sweden they don't tax wealth, but tax income and consumption heavily, at $50,000 annual income, they pay 50% income tax and about 25% VAT, everybody participates in the cost and everybody receives same services. Not bad, but also countries with good resources and small population. we grow standard of living over long term by having a dynamic economic growth.

[@leob4403]

Standard of living for a country isnt having a class of people that are really wealthy. There are so many other things that go into quality of life that US are often lacking

[@pheumann86]

As someone who focused on political economy during my M.A. studies I very much enjoyed your analysis and I fully agree with your criticism of that article. I just love that your videos are always so well researched, informative, to the point and still very much entertaining at the same time. Keep it up! 🙂

[@andrewgraeme8429]

UK-German economist here - What you have missed is that the superficially better GDP figures for the US are fuelled by debt, private debt and government debt. An economy cannot go beyond a certain level of debt without severe consequences. Gov. debt for Germany is 60% of GDP. The US is at 123%. The rule of thumb is 75% is the maximum without fuelling a depression in the long run. Private debt is c.a. 150% of nominal GDP in the US and 80% in Germany. (Other wobbly larger economies are China 55% & 192% gov & private. Japan 262% & 122%. UK 105% & 130%. France 112% & 113%.) More importantly - for the US and the UK, government interest payments are escalating thanks to fresh debt being index-linked to inflation - they're taking on new debt to cover the interest payments on old debt. For these two countries, the debts can NEVER be repaid mathematically. We Germans should know! I have an old 1923 banknote - 5 million Reichsmark on my desk, just to remind me! Print more currency and you get inflation - that clever backdoor tax on the poor and the middle classes.

[@vinchino]

Still doesn’t mean Germany is doing a good job, 75% gdp debt is still very high!!! And in 5-10 years we might see Germany reaching 125% gdp debt, and US reaching 300% gdp debt. We are all screwed, so better grab some bitcoin before this bubble of low interest money debt blows up the whole world.

[@Noootch]

As an economist you should know that "more money = inflation" is a wrong equation that misses a lot of variables.

[@andrewgraeme8429]

@@Noootch Tell that Professor Steve Hanke or Prof. Laffer! How about overturning the teachings of Milton Friedman? MV=PQ=GDPn - that dates back to Copernicus in 1517. But you know better!

[@Noootch]

@@andrewgraeme8429 Argumentum ad verecundiam, you said enough.

[@Anonymos321]

​@@vinchinoIf you want lose your money buy Bitcoin....☝️

[@swegrl]

That's true, but only from consumption perspective. Average Americans have a bigger car, a bigger home, a higher pay, while clothes, cars, gas and electronics are cheaper. But if we go deeper and compare, for instance, life expectancy, social security, inrastructure, distribution of wealth etc, then it turns out the the US are behind.

[@rafaelrocha7951]

As a Brazilian (with portuguese passaport) I think each society (europe and US) has its pros and cons. The one that is better depend on your values (which are not universal). The US has more freedom, including free speach, while Europe has more stability. For ambitions and very driven people, europe (in general) is not your place. I believe young latin american or asian people would in general pick US if they could choose.

[@freekvarossieau9666]

Unfortunately the USA ranks low on the Human Freedom Index 2023. Almost all EU countries score higher with Switzerland on #1 of course

[@Nygaard2]

I think economists are confused why helping people is actually good for the economy in the long run. It’s against their monopoly-based theories.

[@thirstwithoutborders995]

I took a bunch of economy classes as a sociologist, and that is exactly how I felt.

[@LeafHuntress]

I might be mistaken, but i thought the WSJ is a murdoch owned paper, so no wonder they're pushing this line.

[@fionafiona1146]

They fail to comprehend themselves as philosophers of economics and be as humble as their weak data and models would demand I don't read Smith or Marx differently than Kant (very flawed people having insight and influence at pivotal points of recent history)

[@Nygaard2]

@@fionafiona1146 That is actually a very good way to look at it, thanks. I sometimes feel the same sort of humility would be nice in my own field of History.

[@WannabeShady90]

​@@fionafiona1146Kind of funny to say that because for example sociology is purely based on wishful thinking. 😅

[@peterf1]

Basic safety or freedom from crime that could cause physical harm. Road safety. Healthcare. Education. Air quality. Water quality. Food quality. Animal rights / protection. Protection from governmental corruption. Women's rights. Job security. Retirement security. The USA leads in none of these categories. I think about all these issues. I don't think about GDP.

[@manfredconnor3194]

For many in the US it is all about "freedumb".

[@OneAdam12Adam]

Me too

[@Eric-Marsh]

From an American now living in Spain - Americans seem to be living in denial about the real world consequences of the so-called American financial system. I've spoken to so many Americans and they just don't seem to get it. I appreciate how well researched your videos are.

[@coopsnz1]

spain better to live than high tax shithole germany with less home ownership 47%

[@Glorious_Kim_Jong_Un]

Germans cant afford their own homes. Americans, most can afford to buy their own home. Germans, most have to rent, the vast majority have to rent. I've spoken to so many Europeans and they just don't seem to get it.

[@andrius307]

If everyone in US is so rich, why do they ask for a tip every 5 minutes😂

[@maximkretsch7134]

Because they don't understand statistics: If one American becomes 100 million $ richer and 99 others get no rise, everybody will be 1 million $ wealthier on average.

[@sveinerikjohnsen129]

Great work. I‘m Norwegian living in Austria, but I have also lived many years in the US. The issue with solidarity with people and willingness to pay taxes for the common good is higher than in the US. In Europe happiness is more important quality of life factor than a new car and a big house with high level security systems to guard it. I think one would have to make an average of all net incomes after all expenses paid of all citizens to get a meaningful comparison.

[@Scaleyback317]

We have decided never to use the word happy - it's fleeting, here today and maybe gone tomorrow. We use contement and the contentment with our lot is way higher than anything we experienced in the US. My wife is US born and raised. She's lived here in the UK for over 30 years now and would not even consider moving back. She's now a UK citizenship and is ....... well content (her word not mine)

[@Vittrich]

its hard to believe that people live in a country where the chance to win the lottery jackpot is higher than getting shot. an american business partner thought im crazy when i told him that my employees have 40 days of paid vacation, with 4 weeks "Betriebsurlaub" and 4 weeks to allocate themselves while we also pay 0,15% of the net profit as an end of the year bonus to everyone, which keeps the satisfaction high and the sick days low. greetings from tirol.

[@Hyrodeniamandibulata]

You may need some Security now in Sweden. Agree with your post.

[@Timekeeper20239]

The problem with solidarity in the USA is that the usa spent a massive portion of its existence building division into the very fabric of its society. The idea of paying higher taxes to benefit everyone is that X, and Y people would also benefit from “my tax dollars” when really me as person Z only think it is well spent if it’s spent on Z people and OUR interests.

[@TheBadassTonberry]

@@c.w.8200 Losing weight may be an option.

[@Enevan1968]

I just read a story about a European woman that went on a holiday in the US. She experienced renal colic, was hospitalised en ended up with a $46000 bill. Give me universal healthcare anytime! I won't end up poor.

[@Simonb1977]

@@Anonymoose66G national goverment?? It seems you don't know how European healthcare works. Healthcare insurances compagnies provide financial care if the patiënt is in their country (there is a treaty with other EU-countries). But not if you are outside the EU. You need a travel health care insurance. The money isn't paid through taxes. Everyone is obliged to pay a "monthly fee" to the healthcare insurance companies. the money doesn't go to the government.

[@cinnamoon1455]

I think most countries actually ask you to bring proof of a travel health insurance or that their normal insurance would cover the costs when you enter the country. Same as they often ask you to either have a ticket back or show proof of sufficient funds to buy one. Dunno about the US specifically, but that practice is pretty common. In Switzerland, many people are members of REGA on top of travel health insurance, which covers costs for medical transports, like when you fall ill abroad you they would (if medically possible) transport you back.

[@svensulzmann4282]

46k isn’t that much. Also, that individuals can pay off health bills over time. There isn’t any minimum payment you just have to pay something and there isn’t any interest.

[@ankem4329]

​@@svensulzmann4282 Wow! You are serious that that us a good deal? I rather pay my monthly healthcare anyway and don't have to worry about any debts of that magnitude.

[@sascharambeaud1609]

@@svensulzmann4282 That's badly marked sarcasm, right? Right?

[@james1327]

Moved from California to Spain. I went to the doctor a few times in the last 2 months since i hadnt been to a doctor in the USA for about 5 years. I got 3 MRI´s, comprehensive blood tests, cardiologist and a neurologist. They only thing i paid for was the first MRI for €250. Thats not possible in the USA.

[@borikero1]

Ive been to many "3rd world" cities that make the average USA city look like a undeveloped rural mess. The citizens theoretically make "less" money but they mostly do the same thing we do here in the states with their lower cost of living and are in general happier because of a more laid back attitude towards life and work in general.

[@christianbraun5004]

Well, seems like the WSJ stays true to their reputation as a mouthpiece for American conservatism...

[@TypeAshton]

Interestingly, All Sides places the WSJ as "center". www.allsides.com/news-source/wall-street-journal-media-bias

[@RustyDust101]

​@@TypeAshtonDoes Ground News also place the WSJ as "center"? Or is that "center" as per "US center"? Because what is considered "center" or "left" differs quite a lot between the USA and Europe.

[@piccalillipit9211]

This was my comment: *A LOT OF AMERICAN HEADLINES* are designed to make Americans FEEL better. There are entire youtube channels with millions of viewers entirely dedicated to mostly made-up or exaggerated stories about why China is sh!t and all the positive stories are lies - its all "COPIUM" for reasons I wont go into here, Americans are really fragile and have a zero-sum view of the world, they have to be the richest, the best, the biggest and it not, its TOTAL COLLAPSE

[@piccalillipit9211]

@@TypeAshton Genuine question. How can ther WSJ be "centre" when American politics runs from centre right to far right...? There is no communist party, there is no socialist party, there is no progressive party, there isn't even a labor / workers party. 55% of the ENTIRE political spectrum is missing from American politics. Lets be real - America is a one-party state where you get to choose the party figurehead. Its the American Neoliberal Capitalist Party in charge, and YOU DONT get any other choice.

[@johnclements6614]

@@TypeAshton But where is the center. All Sides is a US site so does it see things from a US view point? I assume it would be quite difficult to rank news sources across borders because we all have different experiences and few consume news sources from outside their own country..

[@MADHIKER777]

I love you factual videos as an American who enjoys traveling to Europe. America's economic emphasis on profits for companies while disregarding individuals makes country wide statistics, like GDP, look good, but at the expense of of workers. GDP is essentially a measure of how much America's workforce is bolstering the wealthy.

[@peterpain6625]

What i don't get Americans are supposed to be all about "freedom" but seem to be unable to free themselves from having no workers rights like sick days, a decent amount of vaccation days and no affordable healthcare "for the masses".

[@alyson42]

@@peterpain6625 It seems like a lot of Americans see "freedom" as how much stuff they have. People in the US frequently live beyond their means in order to appear as though they're doing well because if they aren't "keeping up with the Joneses", then it means that they're failing at life. There's a lot of focus on what stuff a person has - and how they appear to others, rather than the quality of life a person is able to live. It's all about keeping up with others and appearing to be "self-sufficient". I think a lot of people view the kinds of rights that people in other countries enjoy as a type of cheating, in a way - that it gives people something that they don't "deserve".

[@peterpain6625]

@@alyson42 You're right. Maybe because the USA is very focused on one's self (as in archievements, wealth, security) rather than focused on the community. In the developed world people seem to understand that everybody benefits from a healthy society. Except for those on the far right at least ;)

[@rudy7631]

Very nice video. Congratulations! I have worked 37 years and many of them in Europe as well as the USA. There are more wealthy people in US than in Europe but a far bigger portion In US is poor and totally unprotected. You must know who owns the WSJ and for whom this article was written. Keep up your good job !

[@julianbrelsford]

I didn't read the article but math and stats can deceive people. Say a big country has a really high GDP per capita? And another country has extensive services that are available to everyone, like healthcare, education etc and a living wage for virtually every worker... but has hardly any people whose income is above $5 million per year. The lack of ultra-wealthy people can make the country look poor in GDP per capita terms without any individuals feeling poor.

[@aimxdy8680]

22% of the EU earns below the poverty line while only 11% of the US is in poverty, Lmao

[@geroldfirl]

The American and German/European systems each have their strengths and weaknesses. It's strange and a bit sad how difficult it seems to be to take the best aspects of each and adapt them. Obama was able to move the needle a little when it comes to health care, but we still have a long way to go. The whole idea of having a for-profit health care system is absurd; it's literally "your money or your life." At the same time we see the power and vitality of innovation pushing the US economy forward. Living in California and working in tech makes this very clear. Europe does not seem to be as nimble, and the next few years will show whether the required adaptations can be made. The energy transition, climate change, and what appear to be massive changes coming to Chinese society and economy will present enormous challenges. Russia has made everything more difficult with their criminal war, but they've also made things a lot simpler. Hopefully in a couple years you can talk about the Ukrainian Renaissance and Wirtschaftwunder.

[@jayhuiting5748]

Your money or your life...incredible leverage to give a for profit company. It has always felt a bit like the mafia to me.

[@G33RTJEH]

@@jayhuiting5748 Maybe because it is: Politicians being influenced to keep that leverage, private insurers making deals with private healthcare providers, both pushing the scale to earn more from their clients... Sure, some healthcare providers will be top notch, since they don't know how to burn all the money anyway, but only the very wealthy are welcome to survive...

[@quatschgans]

There are some things that are hardly measurable. Job security for example. After 8 years of temporary contracts with different employers mostly part-time I got my first fulltime permanent contract. I was still young, adventurous, flexible with not too many commitments, good workers-rights and safety nets in the german labor-market. I have no scale to measure the relief and relaxation i felt! It surprised me myself the most. I felt a real heavy weight lifted from my shoulders, heart and mind that i didn't know was there! The freedom to not think about "what will come after this 6 or 12 month contract ends" or "will they prolong the contract" is priceless. Everytime I hear about "at-will" contracts I feel this weight coming back, but at least threefold. When the whole system is built on "feeling insecure" as the default - that can never be healty for any people or society... Money can not compensate for having no secure and stable environment.

[@theBear89451]

Americans trade job security for salary. So, yes this can be measure in the dollars Americans are willing to exchange.

[@Tulkash01]

@@theBear89451are you sure Americans have a choice? Americans used to have a better safety net than they have now, it basically went away with Regan and the Americans I know surely regret supporting his policies, as changing them today seems impossible to them.

[@SwissPGO]

Spot on analysis. WSJ should hire you! And then you should probably refuse the offer to keep your independence.

[@manfredconnor3194]

I have heard that the WSJ are basically nazis?

[@leob4403]

Dont take a job for mainstream media period, youll have to sell your soul in the process

[@fauvillel.654]

Hello from Belgium. I have been following your channel with interest for some time now. And this episode struck me as particularly interesting. So let me add my two cents. Have we (we Belgians) become poorer in recent years? Yes and no. The changeover to the euro and the current inflation have hit us hard. Finding a financial balance is complicated and each expense is calculated according to its usefulness. On the other hand, we benefit from health care, numerous social safety nets and an automatic indexation of our salaries (valid for all) which prevents us from becoming too poor overall. Personally, it seems to me that there is a parameter whose importance is unknown in such a report (that of the WSJ). The peace of mind that our system offers us. The absence of fear that one can feel in a peaceful, empathetic, unarmed society that polices itself through the daily practice of “living together”. Still personally, I live in a small village. My family has owned the same house for over a hundred years and we never close the door to our home. It is, indeed, always open. And that doesn't scare me at all...

[@paul1979uk2000]

The problem with the US is that too much revolves around money and not quality of life. I've been hearing for 2 decades from the US that Europeans are falling behind, but when you look at many of the index in a lot of areas, European countries dominant them in so many areas like quality of life, in fact, the US seems to be falling further behind going on many of the measures that matter. What even more ironic is how many times I've heard of Americans that have moved to Europe, getting less money and are a lot happier for it, whereas I've heard many say it the other way around when moving to the US, you know something is messed up when you can be in a job that pays more and the quality of life ends up being worse.

[@righteousmammon9011]

As a counterpoint, my wife is German and much prefers living in Florida. The US has a higher HDI than the EU.

[@udomann9271]

Your video was of good quality as always, dear Dr. Ashton. The reason, why the average American does not want an universal health care system like we have in Europe, is, that those people doesn't want to pay a contribution to a system, where other people take the profit from, they think, they are unbreakable.

[@tonybalinski2398]

A good point. If you can’t trust the government to spend wisely, you resent paying taxes. American government always feel obliged to involve the private sector or even to demure to it. This is why you still can’t get your tax declarations pre-filled when the IRS typically already has all the information it needs and just requires your sign-off. Instead, to protect the tax declaration preparer industry, it forces you to jump through hoops, pay for expensive software or hire someone. That is bad policy. With healthcare, the “public option” doesn’t exist for a similar reason: it would be “unfair competition” to the insurance market. Government making poor choices. Trouble is, now, too many are convinced that only the private sector can come up with working solutions, when they forget that those solutions are aimed primarily at “working” for investors and upper management.

[@DisinterestedObserver]

Yet another great analysis by Dr. Ashton. It really is not people thinking they’re unbreakable but they think they can handle it on their own. The real crux of why the US is different from Europe is its history. While many European countries are built around a cohesive ethnic demographic, the US is a hodge-podge of ethnics groups with many people looking at their ancestors’ struggles to succeed without government help and saying “They made it on their own, why do I have to help others?” There is no core grouping and this prevents adoption of the “welfare state” panoply of social programs common in Europe as it perceived as unfair if I’m paying for some social program and I that get a relatively smaller benefit for my taxes compared to someone else. As to government inefficiency, any large bureaucracy including the private sector has it. The difference is in the private sector, the shareholders take the hit on lower earnings while the government continues to spend while either raising taxes or borrowing money. There are lots of examples in the public sector, where common sense reforms are just not possible. For instance, the two large US teacher unions fight to maintain their monopoly on public education to the detriment of inner city kids. They oppose charter schools, longer hours, less vacation time, etc. Oh, did I mention the average salary for a Boston school teacher is $104,813 as reported by the Commonwealth’s summary of state wide teacher salaries. The Boston Globe reported back a few months ago that the city of Boston spends more money than similar cities in the country ($31k+ per student per year) but many of these students still can’t pass the Commonwealth’s required high school graduation exams. What do the teacher unions propose? They proposed removing the exam requirement as it is biased and doesn’t reflect the efforts made. Unfortunately, the real world pays workers for results not efforts. There are places where it makes sense for the public sector to do things. Your example of the IRS pre-populating tax forms is a good one. There is no need to have the private sector duplicate that as there is no value added by the private sector just rent seeking.

[@tonybalinski2398]

@@DisinterestedObserver your point about history is a good one. I also get the feeling that distrust of authority is something people in the US learn very early. I also think such distrust is largely understandable. The problem as I see it is that government leadership has become too disconnected from the needs of the people. I think this is largely due to a surprisingly lax level of tolerance for political influence, which generally boils down to moneyed interests. Calcified unions are definitely a problem too, and not just in the US. I know there are many government workers, even some politicians, who do have the people’s interest at heart. They need to be given their chance. What gives me hope is that, particularly at the local level, there are lots of people who are generous and volunteer their time for their community, probably more so than in Europe.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@tonybalinski2398 It did not used to be like that. American mistrust of the government grew over time. Very often the mistrust is completely paranoid, but on the other hand it seems like, the government is are always ripping us off. There needs to be better independed non-politically biased oversight, but how?

[@manfredconnor3194]

Actually, your statement is incorrect. 75-77% of Americans want a universal health care system. According to polls over the past few years by Gallup and Pew.

[@ChiefsFanInSC]

I am a highly skilled tech worker who earns a high salary in the USA. However, I can be fired at any time for any reason and lose my health insurance. Also, I MUST own a car because without a car in the USA you are essentially stranded. My friends from Europe live in smaller houses but enjoy a much higher quality of life.

[@josephj6521]

Imagine if the USA had a truly universal health system? It’ll be amazing! It’s a great country no doubt. As for Europeans living in smaller houses. Not necessarily. I’ve been to homes in the USA and Europe. Yes, some homes in the USA are massive, but I know some in Europe that live in massive homes too. Some apartments in the USA are smaller than ones on Europe, and visa-versa. It’s all a perception I think. Yes, most homes in most cities of the USA are larger due to more apartments in European cities. I agree to that. I’ve also noticed these days some new home development sites in the USA are tiny with small homes. Overall, I wouldn’t say “no” to living in Europe or the USA. Both wonderful locations with so much to offer. Best of luck with your fantastic job. I’m sure you’ll be fine. :)

[@andresgarciacastro1783]

@@josephj6521 I don't want a bigger house, it means more problems, also less dense cities mean longer travel times. I can get anywhere in 10 mins walking or biking.... The list goes on.

[@josephj6521]

@@andresgarciacastro1783 so can I in a less dense city. I’m a walk from shops, train, bus, schools and more. I live in a house (not apartment).

[@andresgarciacastro1783]

@@josephj6521 Not really you can't. I've tried it all man, the quality of life of a dense city is unmatcheable. Also, cities aren't loud, cars are.

[@josephj6521]

@@andresgarciacastro1783 I’ve lived in apartments and free standing homes. I prefer free standing homes. Convenient, more space and my feet are firmly grounded in my gardens as nature intended.

[@Africanknight88]

Correction should be, EVERYONE Is getting Poorer. The bad policies, wars and wasteful self-sabotage stimulus . The bill is due. 💰💰

[@brunopadovani7347]

I believe that the study is generally correct, although we are VERY early into a 25+ year global reordering and trasformation. Most people, Europeans and Americans alike, do not realize that the post WW2 global trading order that helped make Europe rich is an historical anomaly that has reached its end point. At the end of WW2 the US bribed an international anti Soviet coalition, with its willingness to run massive and persistent trade deficits (basically a national wealth transfer). Plus the US subsidized its allies' defense at great cost to itself. The degredation of the US middle class, coincidentally with Europe's enrichment strongly correlates with that US policy. This policy of subordinating America's economic interests to geopolitical ones should have ended in 1990, but persisted for an additional 3 decades due to inertia and corruption. This is changing now.

[@mi.olofsson]

You are quite right! (Although that "subordination" wasn't disadvantageous for the United States.) It will be interesting years and decades. Particularly in countries that were gifted by Roosevelt to Stalin as Russia's sphere of influence, people are totally unprepared for the United States now returning to isolationism.

[@brunopadovani7347]

@@mi.olofsson I agree that that subordination was not particularly disadvantageous to the US for the 1st 30 years, but it certainly was after that.

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

I usually skip over articles with these kind of titles, as they seldom give a balanced comparison. If it's from the Wall Street Journal, I won't even see the article. I've never cared what someone else has as income, as long as the large majority (and preferably everyone) has enough to lead an enjoyable life. As you mentioned Europe isn't perfect, but I prefer the system we have in the Netherlands (on many aspects similar to the system in Germany) over the one in the USA. More people have access to the basics for leading a happy life. I find this more important than the number of billionaires we have. Thank you again for your insights in this subject.

[@TypeAshton]

The curious bit to me is that "All Sides" weights the WSJ as "center" - not necessarily conservative or liberal in their publications. And although that probably varies from article to article, I would have thought that this would have been a much more balanced comparison (but sadly, not so much). www.allsides.com/news-source/wall-street-journal-media-bias

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

@@TypeAshton It's not the conservative or liberal part that worries me, it's the fact that 99% of the articles will be from an extreme capitalist view. In my opinion both parties are extreme capitalist parties and only cater to the richest part of the US society, but using different ways to fool the voters.

[@apveening]

@@TypeAshton As others already noted: American center so pretty far right by European standards. American politics is divided into far right and extreme right.

[@theBear89451]

@@TypeAshton US center is right of German center.

[@realulli]

I recently read a discussion on Reddit about whether moving to the US for much higher pay would result in a lower standard of living. The consensus seemed to be, it depends on where in Germany you start from. The user asking the question stated he was making around 80k Euros per year and the job he got offered was offering $120.000 to $160.000 per year, in the LA area. If you start from Munich, those $160k might be just about the same standard of living. If you start from Nuremberg, to keep your standard of living, you'd need around $240k. So by numbers, the people in the US are richer. However, the cost of living in the US (especially in California!) is so much more expensive that you'd need to triple the income, unless you already come from one of the most expensive areas in Germany. All the stuff that is free or nearly free here costs tons of money in the US. I don't have numbers to prove it, but healthcare, retirement funds, a reliable public infrastructure, etc. is worth so much that I think it's actually the other way around.

[@Demopans5990]

Especially once you remember that parts of the US straight up don't have things such as any public transportation

[@theBear89451]

A big factor is where you are in your career. If you can pull in $1M a year, it is worth moving.

[@txdmsk]

@@Demopans5990 Or rule of law. It's one big basketball court.

[@jal051]

@@theBear89451 Except the LA area is expensive AF

[@BryanErskine]

Great analysis! I remember seeing this article's headline when it first came out and I just rolled my eyes.

[@sterling2510]

Software engineer in the US here. I’m making more than 10 times what I would be anywhere in Europe.

[@vilena5308]

That's a pretty bold claim. What do you think salary range in Europe is? You are saying that if you earn 100 000 a year, they earn 10 000.

[@peterdonecker6924]

The higher paycheck isn't a measure for quality of life. There a thousand things beside it that enrich your life, as you stated them in the outtakes of your video. Again great research and professionally presented. Thank you Ashton. Am already curious for next Sunday.😊

[@Demopans5990]

GDP/PPP is probably a better metric over pure GDP anyhow. Hence why Americans retire over to places such as Vietnam despite the GDP of Vietnam being rather low. Their retirement savings go much further over there

[@penguingobrrbrr353]

I believe that your net worth is more important. That way you can always be sure ur wealth is increasing or at lesst match inflation yet earn cash from it.

[@karstenbursak8083]

To counter that WSJ article, people just need to watch your 4 part series comparing the Wages in both the US and Germany vs the costs of living

[@apveening]

This one piece destruction of it is (or should be) more than enough.

[@peterpain6625]

@@apveening True. She made that article look like the train-wreck it is.

[@manfredconnor3194]

They'll never see it. I think we shoul spread it around, but some will just never believe it anyway.

[@truemore75]

Look this lady is correct we are not measuring apples to apples. I am an American in America working for a German company with my boss is in Germany. I have done this over 1 decade so I believe I have some knowledge on this topic. 1. Americans factually make more per hour. But they lose the difference in the benefits. a. US benefits are tied to employment not the government. The issue is if for any reason you get unemployed you lose healthcare, retirement, etc. b. So unemployed Americans usually don't have any key benefits whereas in Germany they do. c. This is bad because it distorts the comparison. To show the difference the new UPS contract says they can make up to 170k per year. In reality, the worker makes about 95k with OT the rest is benefits. 2. On the flip side people in Europe work like hell when the clock is on. Because Work is work and when there you don't f around. Whereas in the US people spend a lot more time at work. 3. The key issue is in the US the government works for corporations and in the US the government works for the people with some help for business.

[@yhfsywfit]

Excellent video, very well put together. As an American who has lived in France for 20 years I've stopped comparing my tax burden in France to a theoretical tax burden in any US state. The simple bottom line is that providing health insurance for my family would destroy our finances (I wouldn't be able to get health insurance through my employer in the US). Aside from that taxes would be more-or-less the same, depending on if we moved to a low tax, low services state or a high tax, high services state. If you add in very low cost secondary education for my kids, there is no comparison whatsoever.

[@micheltibon6552]

I became a union member in the Netherlands when my US company decided to ax 150 jobs and decided to move those jobs to another EU country. The union negotiated a very good severance package. I am very grateful for their support. I decided to continue paying my monthly union contribution. Ater fifteen years, the last seven years living and working outside of the Netherlands, I decided to stop paying the union contribution due to the rising cost of living.

[@Pidalin]

Here in former communist countries, worker unions have reputation of bunch of lazy commies, so it's completely different situation here. For example my father was a tram driver in 90s, they had pretty good money for that time and very good money for working in holidays and christmas, so he wanted to work to earn extra money and union members were really angry and blocked his way, so he had a lot of conflicts with them. They had really good money as tram drivers and still, unions wanted to do some strikes because that's just what they do. Here in smaller private company where I work now, they would probably fire people if they wanted to create some union. We work mostly for Germans and they are the worst hypocrites, they pretend how they are developed and they have good work conditions, while they are using Czechs and Poles almost as slaves, but they can because their factories are not in Germany, so it's ok to do that and nobody cares. But we do the same to Ukrainians or Romanians, so this is vicious circle.

[@kasper2970]

@@Pidalinthat’s not how it works in the Netherlands. Unions are the representation of the workers, they negotiate agreements with the companies or branch union. You don’t have to be a member of a union to work a particular job. Organising a Strike is not done very often in the Netherlands and only happens with big conflicts between employees and employers, in the Dutch mind it is better to talk than to fight. There are always several unions at the table on both sides even the employers in a branch are not always member of the same branch organisation. There by you have to imagine the most people work for companies or organisations with les than 500 employees.

[@femsff7090]

In the Netherlands your union contribution is tax deductable, you just have to request your employer to pay it from your gross salary.

[@txdmsk]

I work for a HUGE German IT company. We had a yearly union gathering where the union leaders negotiated with the leadership of the company. They sent a very long summary of dozens of pages. I read all of it out of curiosity, as I've read it in the past 10 years or so. They included around 60 points. Out of those around 20 were really stupid stuff. But there were a few very important ones, such as better pay of night and weekend shift work. Here is how all 60 points went, sometimes literally just copy pasted: Union lead: We would like X. Company lead: No. Union lead: Ah, ok then. I've never seen unions do anything good. But some years ago another German tech giant I worked for did something with my salary for years which was against their own company policy. After getting nowhere with the company I turned to the union, and they said they can't do anything about it. At the same company I had a LOT of overtime hours, and I petitioned the union to allow me to extend my yearly overtime limit. They refused. Well, I had a choice of A.) Not working, and letting tens of millions of EUR per year contracts fall apart, or B.) Working for free for a few hundred hours per year for a few years to save my job, a lot of other jobs, and earn the company a boatload of money. Unions almost always hurt more than help.

[@OneAdam12Adam]

​@@txdmskYour words make no sense. You failed to prove your argument. Unions in my experience and in my profession are forces of good. I won't make a blanket generalization like you attempt to do in a KZbin comment section, no less. 😂

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

If I remember, there was a very similar argument (about wages) in Sicko (by Michael Moore), where he showed how much Europeans paid out of a paycheck vs what Americans had to pay beyond their paycheck. Quite enlightening.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

Yes, but European paychecks are limited to a point. In the US there's no limit to the potential.

[@fbabarbe430]

​@@zuzanazuscinova5209for some yes, some no!

[@JariJuslin]

​@@zuzanazuscinova5209: That sentence does not make any sense.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@zuzanazuscinova5209 Oh there is. You just think there isn't. There are limits in the US based on education, race, socioeconomic class, religion, how hard you can work and just plain luck too. For that matter, there is no fixed limit on European wages and salaries either. It is not like there is a cap. It is always the invisible hand of the market, supply and demand that steers the labor markets. It is just that in the US that invisible hand can sometimes be up your ass! In Europe, that happens less often. Some would argue that this artificial manipulation of the market is "inefficient" and it is, but THAT is better than the social Darwinism of saying, "Oh, those people, who are now homeless? Well, that is just their fault. We cannot mess with the market. That would be inefficient." No. In Europe, you don't get to buy your 5th Porsche, your luxury yacht, your 3rd vacation home. You may not get to buy those, so that others can eat and have a roof over their heads. If you deny this, then you are just a reprehensible human like Elon Musk. There is a graduation, a matter of degrees, between a goldfish bowl and a shark tank!

[@madma11]

@@manfredconnor3194 most certainly is a cap in european countries.... im a european i can testify

[@austriandude]

Well researched and so well summarized: “That's what it means to live a rich life”. Well said! Thoroughly enjoyed!

[@pifferaio55]

Just found your channel. Fantastic content, this video is superb. Greetings from an Italian who lived 28 years in USA, and finally back home !

[@jutswheezie]

Your videos and the work you put into providing so much information are really a treat. Thank you!!

[@TypeAshton]

Thank you so much. I'm really glad you enjoy them. ❤️

[@woodywoodverchecker]

The good thing about the wall street journal is, that the name of that newspaper already tells me who it is written for.

[@Carewolf]

Not even that is accurate. It used to be that, until it was bought up by Rupert Murdoch, and is now serving as the mouth piece of anti-democratic pro-fascist forces.

[@Macxermillio]

This comment wins

[@M-und-M]

@woodywoodverchecker yep, the myth of the best life in the best country in the world must be upheld.

[@marcomobson]

Thanks for your honest, candid, scientific and humanistic approach for covering this! Greetz from Cologne

[@TypeAshton]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!

[@ronald3836]

A while ago I saw a twitter post by an American lady who was visiting Paris and argued it was shocking to see that Europeans were so poor could not afford to get their coffee and sandwich from a drive-in, they had to walk!

[@kille7543]

🤣🤣🤣

[@aimxdy8680]

I’m pretty sure in Paris, they are ordering fentanyl and not coffee, Paris is nothing but crackheads.

[@berndb3141]

The part about working hours resonated with me. People in general don't want to work that much anymore. My generation (40+) saw their parents bust their backs at work. The negative impacts on their physical and mental health are obvious. At least they usally could afford a house for their troubles. In many regions, that's no longer possible, even for double income households. I understand why many prioritize free time now. I'm a single guy with no kids and work "only" part time (90%) as well. I work as a home visit nurse practitioner and don't want even more days derailed by double shifts. On another note, services of public interest should never be driven by the profit motive. It's just not worth it

[@theBear89451]

Hours worked peak in the 1850s. This is not a new trend.

[@e.458]

Your last two sentences are resonating so much with me. This is a huge problem. My mother retired from nursing a few years ago and she told us the horror stories of a nursing home that needs to generate profits. There was calculated understaffing that led to stress related illness which had to be compensated by too few colleagues, resulting in a vicious cycle of staffing shortages, stress and illness. They also started to ration medical and hygiene products, like diapers for incontinent patients, so the staff started hording and hiding rations of patients who had passed away. They also started buying lower quality material, which meant that more changes were necessary, which increased the already unmanageable workload. My mom couldn't take it anymore and decided to retire early - with a heavy conscience, since she felt like she had left her colleagues hanging.

[@michaelkloters3454]

As i often said before, you`re my favourite Journalist !! Greetings to your men Michael/Hannover

[@TypeAshton]

Thank You Michael!!

[@wallerwolf6930]

Great analysis, which is not just an opinion, but quite well founded. There are just more aspects of everyday life in relation to income and they have been illustrated very nicely here! Thanks for that!

[@sunso1991]

couple weeks ago i had a discussion with my friends at a barbeque i said GDP calculation is outdated and actually harming people. i gave them the example of outsourcing housework and child care. One household with kids, 1 working spouse 1 stay at home handling household chore and childcare, the GDP only counts 1 income and 1 person is taxed One household with kids, 2 working spouse, sends kids to day care, use drycleaner, eats out more, the GDP counts 4+ incomes and 4+ people are taxed the two household would end up with similar living standards, besides having some stranger teach/taking care of the kids. and elevated divorce rates it sure is desirable in the eyes of the GDP economists/Tax men. but it does active harm to the family.

[@txdmsk]

Correct. And hey, all those nail salons and tanning booths and bars and tobacco shops and lotteries and luxury items, designer clothes, expensive shoes and cars and so on also count towards the GDP despite being either completely unproductive or outright destructive. GDP is stupid. If you want to measure wealth there needs to be a completely different scoring system that measures health, fitness, time spent with family and passions, and so on. Owning a Ferrari is not wealth. It's an exercise in pointlessness.

[@hugoguerreiro1078]

GDP is not outdated, it still serves a purpose. But that purpose is not calculating quality of life.

[@Be-Es---___]

Also: Less extremes in wealth results in less crime. Feeling safer. If there are less desperate people, there is less crime.

[@conniebruckner8190]

my very thoughts!

[@karstenbursak8083]

While you mention "desperation" as one common motive for crime ... you miss it's more dangerous counterpart: GREED !

[@jesperrasksuldrup1541]

One of the reasons why the Nordic countries have that trust 🤗

[@theBear89451]

Envy not desperation. This is why crime correlates to income inequality, not being poor.

[@kucnimajstor2901]

The most important thing is that a person has job security, healthcare, good quality of life etc. one can always make more money if they want.

[@Ultravenom1]

Innovative and productive people come to the us for a reason: You are actually rewarded for being highly skilled. Go to Europe if youre mediocre, though, as they'll make your life easy mode.

[@arnodobler1096]

Yes, the US needs new brains

[@pfallasro]

I'm so grateful for your videos, they always give me a new perspective and make me think not just about the money :) Thanks!

[@KevinBauman]

The defense of the most expensive healthcare system with worse outcomes, is incredible. It happens all the time. For many, American Exceptionalism is something to never question.

[@theBear89451]

Those worse outcome stats are misleading. Americans are sedentary, eat poorly, and bad drivers. Considering those things 'healthcare' is politically biased.

[@nadbri]

We just came back from a holiday in the US, and I found day-to-day groceries and leisure activities incredibly expensive. While you can (more or less) compare the Dollar and Euro with regard to its value, the spending capacity of 1 dollar is a lot less than that of 1 Euro. With regard to food, especially when it comes to healthier choices like vegetables, fruit and other unprocessed options, that was 2 or 3 times the price compared to what we pay in Germany! Interestingly, that does NOT apply to unhealthly options like sodas or chips. Not only does that explain a good portion of the much higher obesity rates in the US in my mind, but I am also happy that in Germany, I can still afford healthy options for my groceries. With leisure activities, it was even worse, that was around 3-4 times the price which you would pay in Germany. We went to a restaurant during our holiday (nothing especially fancy) and we paid 250 $ for a dinner for 4 people. In Germany, a similar quality would have been around 80-90 EUR. The higher paycheck in the US is very likely to be more than eaten up by the much higher prices for your daily living and activities with your familiy.

[@TypeAshton]

We found that as well the last time we were in the states. Our grocery bill was incredibly high.

[@Tradewind4755]

That’s why Americans are flooding Europe last and this summer for vacation. The value proposition of overseas vacation for Americans is just much higher than vacationing at home in the U.S. Everyone I talked to who traveled abroad this year almost always tell me how cheap everything is abroad. And they didn’t go to third world countries. They went to Japan, France, UK, etc. I think many US cities now very likely top the charts on being the most expensive cities in the world.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

The key is to make a high paycheck in the US and spend it abroad. Obviously.

[@Tradewind4755]

The problem is going to another country for lower cost of living used to be what people in Germany, UK, France, Netherlands go to do in countries like Portugal, Spain, maybe other third world countries. The fact now that Americans are going to Western Europe for lower cost of living shows that the economic comparison between the U.S. and Western Europe is like that between Western Europe and Southern and Eastern Europe. By this comparison, maybe there’s some truth to the WSJ article that Western Europe is getting poorer vis-a-vis the U.S.

[@danz1182]

Interesting. There is scads and scads of data on this easily accessible on the net. Food in the US is generally cheaper than it is in rich EU nations like Germany and more expense than in countries like Portugal. Grains & cereals and meat, in particular, tend to be substantially cheaper in the US. Your experience may have been colored by what you bought (wine and beer are much more expensive here because of taxes) and where you bought it. If you frequented convenience stores or smaller grocers you would pay a lot more than you would at a supermarket.

[@rebeccaschneewei6964]

Expat for 40 years. Austria and Germany. Sent this out to the family. Even the WSJ performs, let's call it "misleading, biased journalism". Thank you for your excellent analysis.

[@Cookdom]

Thank you for making this video.❤

[@TypeAshton]

You're welcome 😊

[@Cowboy-in-a-Pink-Stetson]

Thank you for a very interesting video, - again. The moral of the story is "don't trust media who profess to be commerce, financial and current affairs experts" but in reality are promoting a political agenda. Prime examples of these are The Wall Street Journal in the USA, The Economist in the United Kingdom and the Handelsblatt in German language regions.

[@manfredconnor3194]

I thought it was the FAZ in Germany. To be fair German reporting took a big hit under Gerhard Schröder. The Süddeutsche Zeitung is not what it used to be, but it is still way better than 99.9999% of what you get in the US.

[@barvdw]

To be fair, all news media have a bias, that in itself isn't such a problem. As long as you're aware of that bias, and allow for different media to exist, I don't have such a problem with it. We used to buy 3-4 newspapers, with a neoliberal approach, a centre-right approach, a centre-left newspaper and occasionally even the populist (tabloid) one. It's interesting to see what gets in, and how. Of course, that's not available to everyone, 3 subscriptions is quite expensive, but I don't hesitate to read almost everything I can get my hands on in cafés, bars and libraries. Yes, the WSJ is clearly biased, and doesn't even recognise it. While that is a problem, it's less so with an informed readership.

[@nirfz]

@@barvdw reading your comment i have to mention a story about comparing 3 different newspapers on one topic: a little over 10 years back (at my old place of work in the capitol of acentral european country) we had 3 different newspapers on the table. One of my collegues brought his "high quality journalism newspaper" he had a subscription of, another brought one of the common newspapers people read around here, and i brought the gratis "newspaper" that they offered in the subway entrance. (this "newspaper" was a big success as people preferred to look into a newspaper they didn't have to pay for instead of the persons face to their opposite while travelling in the subway). The article was about modernization of automatic speed cameras on the surrounding highway to the capitol city : The quality newspaper claimed with the change from old film to digital cameras and SD cards they could store up to 4000 pictures of cars speeding on one card. The "common" newspaper claimed 40 000 pictures and the gratis one "infinite". We had a good laugh about it at work as it showed the intention difference between "informing" vs "making shocking headlines".

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

I just got retired, 69 years old, in Norway. Obviously, I paid my taxes throughout my life. Now, I get like 95% of my former paycheck after tax! Without any big loans to pay back, I can spend my time with my kids and grandkids. It will be the same as long as I live. I think it is valuable! If I get sick, it is all paid for over my taxes while I was working. As a university professor, I even get to keep a desk at work so I can continue doing unpaid research whenever I want. Here in Norway, I could have retired at 62, although with a somewhat lower pension, but I chose to work to 69. Now I can stay almost half of the year in my beloved Tanzania, going on field trips and safaris with some of my small kids. It is really nice.

[@Armoure10]

Vi har det godt i norge ^^

[@BG-wm2tw]

That oil money is paying for your big retirement professor. Think of it this way - your nice big retirement is funded by sale of fossil fuels causing global warming. Enjoy your big retirement money. What a feeling it must be to live like that. 🤔🤔

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

@@BG-wm2tw Hahaha the tax from oil is almost exclusively invested abroad, only 1% or so can be spent in Norway, and none on pensions or the like. It is our 45% tax while working that funds the pensions, in addition to funding savings individually. Why are you hiding using a made-up name?

[@BG-wm2tw]

@@fredmidtgaard5487 HA HA what? What’s so funny? oil money has provided currency stability for Norway. It’s an oil rich country no different than UAE. You dear professor are no different than a UAE citizen pretending that oil has nothing to do with his comfortable life. Selling huge amounts of oil and pretending to be green. Hypocrisy to the max. Like I said you are no different than someone living on comfortable state retirement in UAE and pretending oil doesn’t have anything to do with anything there. You can’t deny that professor no matter how much it distresses your conscience. World knows the hypocrisy so denying it won’t make any difference either. Europes oil sheiks pretending to be green and oh oil money has no connection to us bs. Have a good day hypocrite and don’t bother commenting back. What a waste of time this heap of lies is.

[@patnor7354]

@@fredmidtgaard5487It's a lot more than 45%. Employer's tax, wage tax, sales tax, luxuries tax, wealth tax, inheritance tax etc...

[@icecave89]

US Expat 40years in Denmark, living the Rich Life..... Great video Thanks

[@airlag]

The fundamental fault of that publication is that it assumes that there is no value except money. Keeping your job in a crisis because the law protects you is worth a lot! A working and affordable health care system that not ends with loosing my job is worth even more. Even though I might earn much less money than an equal software developer in the USA, I'm happy living here. German education system could be better, but even the public education is way better than in the USA, so I've heard. There are no welfare states, except maybe for some arab oil states where born citizens don't need to work. Everywhere else people pay for a devent amount of social savety (and other savety), sharing this savety with those few who aren't able to pay for it. In my opinion that's the whole point in creating a nation.

[@RustyDust101]

Thank you Ashton, for another well researched video. The problem with many statistics that focus on average growth rates, or even averages of ANY kind is that many people don't understand the difference between the mean, the median, and the (arithmetic) average. Or what they can tell you. Or how a little mathematical "massaging" of data can skew the "outcome" of a study that is desired by the group that ordered the study.

[@piccalillipit9211]

*PERSONAL DEBT PER CAPITA USA* 2022 $101,915 *PERSONAL DEBT PER CAPITA EU* 2022 $26,000 OH we are so poor compared to Americans

[@j.a.1721]

To be fair, cost of living is lower in a lot of European countries, so those 26,000 dollars might still be a huge debt depending on which country.

[@brandoncomer6492]

Germany is one of the best performers in Europe. It is not representative of Europe as a whole. The main difference between Europe and the US, is that the US (for better or worse) lets people decide what to do with their own extra income, while the EU forces citizens to invest their money in numerous government controlled social safety nets and also forces you to essentially eat lost income by dictating extra vacation and six days. You can get way farther ahead in The US because the vast majority of the social services you pay into are ultimately wasted on your average individual, and you can make lots of money by reinvesting your extra income. But you can also get way farther behind if you're unlucky, suffer from some sort of chronic illness, or simply bad at managing your money. Personally I'd rather be treated like an adult and manage my own finances rather than have a nanny state government that does it for me, but to each their own.

[@xinceras-6542]

Worth noting that the Wall Street Journal talked about "Europe." But she almost exclusively discussed Germany.

[@leob4403]

The points are the same or similar for other parts of Europe

[@Valfodr_jr]

What no US citizen seems to take into account, or outright refuses to understand, when it comes to income and wealth in the US vs the rest of the developed world, is the extreme inequality that exists in the US. I have debated this issue with many US citizens who refer exclusively to average incomes and average wealth. When you have the unimaginable gaps between rich and poor, when 5 people have more wealth than the bottom 50% combined, it becomes impossible to get a correct picture of average income/wealth compared to countries where the differences between poor and rich are nowhere near that the perverted level it is in the US. Our working classes earn more and own more, and have less debt than the working class in the United States. This is largely thanks to the fact that our debt is mostly from mortgages that are covered by the value of the home, while debt in the US is largely medical or study related. Far too many people in the US have nothing to cover that debt like we do. So even though on paper we may have higher debt, we have assets at the bottom which are constantly increasing in value and cover that debt completely. Another thing US citizens don't seem to understand is the advantage we have of starting work life after education almost debt-free. Free education, government subsidized education grants and cheap student loans for those who have to move away to get an education means that we start earning money as soon as we finish education and start working. We don't spend the rest of our lives paying back, say, $500,000 for a law degree. We start earning and saving money for our deductible to buy a house and a car, start a family, etc. as soon as we graduate. We also don't have to think about healthcare insurance, medical bills or putting money aside for the children's education fund. It's all covered and free. None of this has changed since inflation. We still have these advantages over the US and they are not going away anytime soon.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

Yes, but does an average lawyer in Germany have the potential to become a millionaire? The US is all about money. People are willing to take on debt with a hope of making bank one day. How often that actually happens is another matter. If I want an easy life I stay in Europe with free everything. I think the European system kills ambition over the long run.

[@Valfodr_jr]

​@@zuzanazuscinova5209 First of all, I'm not German! Secondly, of course a lawyer in Europe, or the world for that matter, can become a millionaire! Most of them will be. Lawyers earn extremely well regardless of where they practice. I guess you are just another US citizen who believes the lie about the US being better and more special than the rest of the world. You are not, at all! You have also clearly never been to or worked in Europe, otherwise you would not have uttered something so uninformed as that the system in Europe kills ambitions and that everything is free. What an incredibly ignorant but at the same time very US citizen thing to say! So to summarize; you are not special, but you are ignorant! In other words, you are a US citizen!

[@theBear89451]

US and German bottom quartile cutoffs are similar.

[@alitalati]

I wanted to echo the sentiment expressed by many here in the comment section by appreciating your intensive research of the subject you‘re handling. Besides, I appreciate your increasing bluntness and directness of naming things by their name, instead of your early more diplomatic commentary and relatively minced words ;) Keep up the good work and thank you for your quality content 👏🏼

[@aphness__]

Great video. I’m in between deciding in what country to move permanently, these all aspects are hugely important

[@Toimeme612]

Wall Street Journal:"Europeans become poorer as Americans get wealthier". The number of homeless people who lost their houses enter in the chat.

[@ayoutubecommenter1827]

I'm reading this from my bed at a homeless shelter right now. Normal working american who just had a ambulance ride cost me my life savings and put me in so.much debt I won't be able to afford anything nice for years to come. Was it my fault? Not at all. Insurance decided they don't cover my type of auto accident. Wtf is that shit. Always read the fine print they'll fuck you over big time. I'm only 23

[@Toimeme612]

@@ayoutubecommenter1827 Sorry for you.

[@boxerfada]

finally, you are a European family that started in America. But the mood is very European. And seen from my French point of view, that's the most flattering compliment I can give you. I love these pragmatic analysis videos, unfortunately the choices of economic policies are ultimately only rarely pragmatic but too ideological.

[@subject_7]

True. Especially, with the politicians ignoring N.ordstream. The German government is too ideological in terms of economic and energy policy and is not pragmatic.

[@Llortnerof]

@@subject_7 Pragmatism would be getting away from fossil fuels as much as possible. The costs of climate change are already far outweighing the gains.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@subject_7 But they are right and it is where everyone should be headed, if we want to survive as a species.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@Llortnerof Bingo! Spot on!

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@subject_7 We have known about this problem since 1965 and no one wants to address it because it is too uncomfortsble. To stave off the problems we are going to have, we will now all have to live like the Amish.

[@stevetobin3900]

Much gratitude for your digging into this article. I have found your comparative explanation excellent. I have lived in the USA most of my life, though was blessed by a stint of 4 years in France and 2 in Sweden. Thanks for providing depth to numerous comparative topics

[@brandonlett]

I loved the video really opened my eyes I recently have had a realization about my out-of-control spending habits and wow this hit home I'm in the process of working up the guts to ask for a substantial raise and mind you I make good money but cost of living is getting out of hand here in the states. I believe I live in a state (Texas) that is not as crazy as most, but food and every bill is going up substantially and everyone, I'm around on a day by day is in the position that pay is not. On a different note, I would love to live in Germany from the pictures I see its beautiful I have watched a few of your videos and it's fascinating the differences between the States and Europe.

[@ds2237]

One statistic that seems to get ignored when people talk about how strong the U.S. economy has been is the inflation adjusted median income. In 2022, the inflation adjusted median income dropped---in other words, the rich got richer and the got poorer.

[@wora1111]

I think the change of title in the WSJ tells the complete story: First a title was picked that would motivate (a group of) people to read the article, then there was some resistance because personal experiences did not match the title and therefore the title was 'sanitized'. Currently I notice lots of articles in American (and German!) media that show a dramatic title with little data corroborating that title in the article. IN Germany this is mostly about the subject of the 'Energiewende' or 'Wärmewende/head pumps', in the US it is often about the difficult relation between the ex president and the law

[@TypeAshton]

Yeah I agree. The spicy headline even got me to click... But the content was very much aimed at painting only one side of the picture.

[@ThePixel1983]

I think for some companies it's even a strategy, I must at least have heard it from KZbinrs: Start off with an extreme title and thumbnail, then dial it down once the algorithm has been convinced that your content is interesting.

[@patrickhanft]

@@ThePixel1983 it's even worse. There's a method called "A/B testing" in media companies, where an article might be released with two different headlines to two different portions of an audience. After a short period of time (maybe 15 minutes), it is determined from tracking data, which of those titles performed "better" and this is then chosen by the algorithm automatically further on. This might have played a big role in why media title have become much more spicy. And I would argue, such a strategy will always creep its way into the content of the articles itself.

[@svensulzmann4282]

I would suggest that is click baiting which is lucrative for media outlets.

[@wora1111]

@@ThePixel1983 I have a different way to look at this: Many people will just read the title and assume the title to describe the content. If one knows that the title is understood as a short form of the content you do not have to read, let alone understand the content of the article (or video in case of YT). That makes for an easy way to shape the opinion of many people. Some recent incidents in German politics show that even definitely smart politicians fall into this trap.

[@Roger-np3wi]

More and more poor people from South America want to enter the USA, but more and more citizens want to leave the USA. If you are at least a millionaire, it can make perfect sense to want to live in the USA and pay much less taxes than in Europe. The middle class in the USA, on the other hand, is losing more and more. The "white working people" are the group that lost the most. People who didn't go to college and now often do low-paying jobs, often shuffling from one job to the next, often without the health insurance that employers usually provide for their employees. The factories where they worked no longer exist. Those, in other words, who have always worked hard and simply can't get any higher in life. One could list here many many points how much the USA has changed since the seventies for many citizens to the negative, but that would simply lead too far. Those who are affected by it, know it long ago. The WSJ article does what our parents always did when we kids had it bad...others have it much worse. A situation is made more beautiful than it really is, because others are much worse off than we are. The debts of the USA have risen from 5.6 trillion in 2001 to 32.8 trillion dollars today and an end to the increase is really not in sight. In Germany, for example, it has remained roughly the same at 2.4 trillion euros today as it was in 2001. A bit of whitewashing is exactly what a government does in bad times, so I think the article is government-driven.

[@Iriton1]

Well done! I am missing such a precision and objectivity in most articles I am used to read.

[@Henkjr66]

Excellent video explaining such a difficult economic topic as the difference between wealth and wellbeing in such depth yet clarity an accessibility.

[@TypeAshton]

Glad it was helpful!

[@denise4954]

At first I was amazed, then in disbelief and finally amused. To me, the article sounds like "Someone's ass will fall on the ground" Someone is afraid that more and more US citizens will emigrate to Europe. I wouldn't be surprised if there were similar articles about Australia and Asia.

[@willdanger6833]

Lol more Europeans move to America so you're way off.

[@spoenk7448]

Do you have a source? I'd be interested in the numbers.

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

@@willdanger6833 oh yeah... lots of Norwegians move to ÚSA to flip burgers. maybe eastern europeans.

[@NormanF62]

A lot of retired people in the US move abroad because the cost of living has become unaffordable - and that’s true in being able to afford a place to live and access to high quality medical care without facing financial bankruptcy. The WSJ author brushes this under the carpet and breezily assumes the higher quality of life in the US makes up for such shortcomings. Now that’s certainly true for some people. Its dishonest and misleading to state its true for everyone. If we’re going to discuss what constitutes a true quality of life, we’d have to address the standard of the quality of life and the delivery of health care and the article picks up lazy cliches I think in an attempt to avoid analysing people’s life satisfaction and health security. A nation’s well-being is defined by more than its economic strength or the lack of it. When you omit or gloss over facts you don’t like whether due to ideological bias, ethnocentrism, or bringing up an inapplicable framework, you arrive at a distorted understanding of the differences between the US and Europe and why they exist. To be sure, both parts of the world could use improvement but one place isn’t necessarily better than the other and we would be better off in benefiting from a win-win solution. To his shame, the WSJ article author wasn’t interested in going there.

[@mlynto]

Did you know that German retirees do the same? Maybe even more than US retirees percentage wise.

[@suitable4137]

​@@mlyntoFrench as well.

[@maximkretsch7134]

The behaviour of the average U.S. consumer is characterised by making private debt. Nationwide this inevitably results in a trade deficit. The decades-long trade deficit is possible due to the fact that the US dollar is the world reserve currency and can easily be printed in order to chew up those foreign debts by means of demonetisation. Europeans and East Asians produce more than they consume, have by consequence a trade surplus, the US owes them money, so they sit at the bad end of that Ponzi scheme.

[@ingeborggroth1415]

Excellent analysis🌻 Thank you so much for it.