America Is Not Europe

I can be wrong, and I will be wrong.
Please check out IntoEurope. It's a great channel that is extremely bingeable and produces European content (if the name didn't give it away already):
/ intoeurope
Sources:
The source document will always be posted on the website:
www.romuluseurope.eu/youtube/...
About this video:
This is the most American-centric video I think I will make a in long time.
I am not trying to claim that these differences between the United States and Europe are the most relevant (consumption tax and inequality overall, education financing, coddling of Americans, and the political system generally), or that these are the only differences that exist.
I made this video mainly because I've always felt that Americans and Europeans both engage in just looking at each other and thinking there are these simple differences that could be tweaked easily, and I just think that's far from the case. There are a lot of large and relevant differences between the two regions.
Also, this video engages in a bunch of generalizations, and there are enough relevant differences between 'East' and 'Western' Europe already not even including the differences with the US. That being said, I wouldn't be making this channel if I didn't think there were more similarities between Europeans that we would care to admit.
Assets:
Images:
[Figure of Cultural Groups in Europe] American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
www.abebooks.com/American-Nat...
[Figure of European Language Groups] Distribution of Major Language Groups in Europe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_...
[Mark Zuckerberg Image] added black and white filter and mosaic modifier
Author: JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US
Link: commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Mark_Zuckerberg_(7985186041).jpg
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
Elon Musk Image
Author: Duncan Hull
Link: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Bill Gates Image
Author: Kuhlmann /MSC
Link: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Germany
Plenaire zaal Tweede Kamer Image
Author: Husky
Link: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Inside Parliament of Sweden
Author: Suyash Dwivedi
Link: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Deutscher Bundestag Plenarsaal Seitenansicht
Author: Times
Link: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Footage:
[Senator Ted Cruz][59:36] Sen. Cruz and Sen. Sanders Debate Tax Reform on CNN - October 18, 2017
link: • Sen. Cruz and Sen. San...
[France 24] Emmanuel Macron Video. Can’t find the link anymore but the title was ‘France - Emmanuel Macron réunit le parlement pour tenter de se relancer.’ Video was also used as an image.
[NBC News] 1988 Flashback: George H.W. Bush Says, ‘Read My lips: No New Taxes’ | NBC News
link: • 1988 Flashback: George...
[Bloomberg Quicktake Now | CSPAN] Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema Votes Against $15 Minimum Wage Effort
link: • Arizona Senator Kyrste...
[Bill Gates] The wicked problem of school funding
link: • The wicked problem of ...
[Big Think] How overparenting backfired on Americans | Jonathan Haidt | Big Think
link: • How overparenting back...
[CPSAN] Constitutional Role of Judges
link: www.c-span.org/video/?301909-...
Music:
Expand by Hazy
/ hazy_music
Music provided by www.plugnplaymusic.net
Wonder by Hazy
/ hazy_music
Music provided by www.plugnplaymusic.net
Title: Blue Wednesday, tender spring - Exhale
Artist: Blue Wednesday
Link: chillhop.bandcamp.com/track/e...
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:00 - Taxation
02:26 - Federal Responsibility
03:05 - Education
04:58 - Coddling of the American Mind
06:19 - Scalia Rant
08:01 - Conclusion

[@hoogyoutube]

!! BIG ERROR: SWITCH RED AND BLUE AT 1:35: Blue should be top 1% and red should be bottom 50%. !! I was not expecting this video to do as well as it did, and it is really not as polished as I would like it. There are mistakes, and please take this video with a grain of salt. I may delete it in the future. Some housekeeping: 1. Sources and script can be found here: www.romuluseurope.eu/youtube/america-is-not-europe/ The comment section helps nuance the video, and if I see comments that add important corrections or more nuance, I will put them in that document. 2. I would highly recommend checking out the channel IntoEurope, which produces great European content: kzbin.info 3. I would highly recommend reading this paper on "Why Europe is more equal than the United States: wid.world/document/why-is-europe-more-equal-than-the-united-states-world-inequality-lab-wp-2020-19/. It's a fascinating read, and it was written by some very smart Europeans. 4. This is the most American-centric video I will make in a while, so apologies in advance if you expect more content on America like this in the immediate future. 5. I was trying to be less attention grabbing with this video, slower, and less focused on the timing of certain clips. I don't think that will help the analytics, but, either way, I enjoyed making the animations, and I hope you guys enjoy the slower paced video.

[@hoogyoutube]

Comment by Pangeid correcting Antonin Scalia :) - 6:52 Italy actually is an example of perfect bicameralism, where both chambers have the same powers

[@hoogyoutube]

Comment by Aloys - but you don't pay VAT on every single step of production, you can deduct VAT paid for materials/ingredients/tools/fuel even your business trips or phone or pc, and then the VAT is only counted once, based on final product's price

[@hoogyoutube]

Comment by Mariano Mancone - 6:51 actually in Italy the Senate, the other parliamentary branch is not honorific, and the italian parliamentarism system is actually called "perfect bicameralism", and while up to 4 senators can be appointed honorifically each 7 years by the italian head of state it is fully elected with a pretty similar electoral law to the lower chamber, the only notable difference is that it requires 21 years instead of 18 to vote for that chamber. But in the end it's just an insignificant remark that doesn't impact the rest of the vid and the analysis. Really great job

[@hoogyoutube]

Comment by Omit who is an accountant I trust - I'd just like to point out a falsehood here. While it is true that everybody pays for VAT in Europe, a lot of goods purchases by companies are VAT-free and even if they pay VAT, they can write it off in their corporate taxes. The whole idea of VAT is that the final "user" pays for it. Trust me. I'm an accountant.

[@Marco-hl6gz]

@@hoogyoutube Great video! just a note, the age to vote in senate elections in Italy was recently lowered to 18

[@Touhou2006]

"America Is Not Europe" me: *looks at map* Seems correct

[@nenmaster5218]

I dont know who wants or doesnt wants to hear this but Data, Facts and Statistics say clearly that the USA are the Richest but more or less the Worst at Handling Money. Just 1 random fun-fact for you to consider: Did you knew that Tax-Paying is in most Nations extremly quick and easy and not hated at all? Yeah, no kidding. 'Some More News' and' Second Thought' and 'Holy Koolaid' have done some epic Screwtiny of the facts, so please watch at the very least their videos about the IRS, if not many more.

[@ParmesanGoblin]

Source?

[@Touhou2006]

@@ParmesanGoblin my source is that I made it the f##k up!

[@tishaak2800]

@@Touhou2006 isnt your map technically the source?

[@Touhou2006]

@@tishaak2800 yes

[@Therealsimone0]

As a European, i'll admit i'm not American

[@albertalu4583]

Source?

[@Alistana]

@@albertalu4583 trust me bro

[@BigBoss-sm9xj]

@@mrtrolly4184 lol

[@Delgen1951]

Why do Europeans seem to think that America is just (or should be) just like Europe? When It is not.

[@maxsimes]

@@Delgen1951 i dont think many europeans think that it should be.

[@deltoid77-nick]

That comment about children's autonomy really struck a chord with me. I didn't have autonomy until I was 16 and when I first started navigating the streets I had no idea what to do when I got lost I quickly learned how to right after that but it's very interesting that European children are more independent alone.

[@italia689]

Realize this has only been the status quo since the nineties. 5:30

[@littlemissmello]

you remember all the great kids movies from the 80's when kids were still allowed to roam? I don't know any recent media that has that. Just Stranger Things I guess, but that takes place in the 80's so that doesn't count

[@LarryWater]

In my family, that only applied to girls. We boys could go anywhere we want.

[@Anonymous-df8it]

@@LarryWater That's sexist?!

[@Skankhunt668]

its not just safer@@Anonymous-df8it

[@sarahshaw7315]

My favourite part of living in Europe is that I’m not in America Edit: to all the Americans who keep saying their favourite part of being in america is that they’re not in Europe I have 1 word for you Cope

[@Rochelle007]

in UK, I’ll take anywhere that’s not here 🤣

[@morshu8267]

same

[@sarahshaw7315]

@@Rochelle007 … so would I ):

[@Wall3Wapter]

totally agree. i feel blessed being born in NL and not in the US.

[@tpmonster24]

goes both ways... my favorite part of being in the US is that i'm no where near europe

[@breefolf]

as a so-called "european", the word "europe" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, there is vast differences in economic policy from the uk to germany to sweden to hungary to russia

[@evanflynn8410]

Are you British? I only ask because of your disdain for the word "European." Lmao

[@wombat4583]

@@evanflynn8410 I think it's more ironic how the person who created the video wanted to explain why comparisons aren't all equal between countries while completely ignoring the differences that occur within individual European countries as if they're a monolith. Sure, trying to adopt things that aren't perfectly aligned with a system is naive and a simplification, but to outright reject ideas based on that same premise is just as naive.

[@crazydinosaur8945]

@@evanflynn8410 as an European i have a disdain for the word "British" especially if the word "prime minister" follows they really F**d it up over there. in my opinion PS i don't have a disdain for individual british people, just britain as a hole and what i represent in europe today

[@kingmuddy5898]

Compared to the differences between Europe and the US the difference between the western European nations is negligible and not even discussed. So your point is kind of irrelevant

[@wombat4583]

@@kingmuddy5898 And that shows your ignorance to the social, economic, and political differences

[@McRoma2]

That point about allowing children independence is also affected by american infrastructure. In europe, you could walk or bike almost anywhere you needed to go, and most schools were extremely close to the houses that they taught. In the US, thanks to suburban developement, this almost never happens, and to go almost anywhere you need a car, which you only get when your 16 at the very youngest

[@w8stral]

Yup: Exclusinve a big city US problem with their idiotic zoning laws. Small cities(not suburbs of metros) this is not true at all.

[@REDDAWNproject]

@ムクᴹᵘᵏᵘ⁴² 🏳️‍⚧️ ebikes are effectively useless with some of the distances you regularly have to travel.

[@ChrisD__]

@ムクᴹᵘᵏᵘ⁴² 🏳️‍⚧️ If you see someone on a ebike, they're stopping because something got jostled off the bike and it won't move anymore. Or they've been hit.

[@tysonmcduggan6870]

@@KZbinTookMyNickname.WhyNot What country are you from

[@allisafu]

It's as easy as Europe cities are mostly made for people, USA cities are made for cars.

[@ahaokatano3153]

this has made me think, just because it works in another country doesn’t mean it will work here, we most definitely have stuff that needs improvement but i feel like people sometimes look at the wrong things

[@arthas640]

True. An important lesson i learned from a foreign policy expert was that nothing exists in a vacuum and you have to look at something that works best for the country using it, not necessarily for every country in the world. He brought up the M1 Abrams as an example: it's a great tank for some like the US but it requires an intensive logistics network from extra fuel trucks to the ability to ship that behemoth around which wouldnt work for a country like Russia and would be nearly useless to a small island nation that just needs to worry about domestic security. You need the right policy to fit the right country. I also think people tend to kind of cherry pick. They'll focus on the worst parts of America and ignore some of the good parts, and they often compare that to the best parts of Europe. People often bring up the wealthy successful nordic countries but leave out the poorer parts like Greece or Moldova, and they'll criticize the American south for being close minded and/or racist compared to Denmark but ignore how racist parts of Eastern Europe can be, and they may compare homophobia in the American South compared to the Netherlands but ignore how homophobia is also an issue across large parts of Europe. The US definitely has issues but it was also one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage (before like half of Europe), the US has had issues with back sliding on democracy but still falls somewhere in the middle compared to European countries, and with the rise of Trumpism the US has had issues with authoritarianism but most of Europe had had a similar wave of right wing populists, nationalists, and even neo-fascists gaining power with the "identity politics" becoming a major ideology in many European parties and euro-skepticism only growing.

[@rsmac11]

Just stumbled onto your channel and this is awesome! I'm an American from rural Arizona who spent a good amount of time living and studying in the UK and living in a variety of countries in Europe and Asia. I've always had the hardest time explaining why I get frustrated when people make these facile arguments that "Finland does X, if we did X it would solve this massive problem." It's not that we should ignore successful policies in other countries, it's about accepting that those policies exist in an entirely different ecosystem - that we can't just copy and paste and assume it will work automatically.

[@kungszigfrids1482]

If you wanted to be like Finland you would have to most fundamentally, deport non europians and dissolve the federation.

[@chickenmonger123]

@@mnSr-ng1prI gotta say that is the most dangerous place to be. To not know what the system is, why it is that way, and who you are in it. Because someone is always willing to define it for you. Not very charitably usually. If it seems charitable, check the cup for poison.

[@LlibertarianGalt]

​@~m00nS74r~ Nationalism is just another vector of Socialism. You're another failed socialist utopian project. Bring back free markets!

[@KS-yn5zw]

@@mnSr-ng1pr Venezuela was economically boycotted by the entire western world. If you make a living selling oil and no one else buys your oil it is obvious that your economy will melt. Add to this the fact that the dollar is the global currency, if you stop receiving dollars you no longer have economic backing and your currency will completely lose its value. this is a catastrophe

[@KS-yn5zw]

@@mnSr-ng1pr the internet accepts everything you write

[@wjzav1971]

As a European, I have to admit that we often discuss America with our own cultural and political lens. I had to learn a few years ago that Americans, while they do seem very similar to us on a surface level, DO have quite different values and different political views across the entire spectrum.

[@nakenmil]

But... that also applies to Europe? Europe is not similar to itself, even.

[@wjzav1971]

@@nakenmil true, but more similar to each other than to America

[@bganonimouse2754]

@@wjzav1971 Really? Germany and Greece, Italy and Sweden have more similarities than US states? I'd say California and Texas have more in common that Germany and Greece.

[@wjzav1971]

@@bganonimouse2754 No, what I meant is that Germany and Greece have more in common than Germany and the US

[@schellshocked751]

@@wjzav1971 Germany and Greece is definitely way less similar than Germany and the US.

[@omital-ittna1200]

I'd just like to point out a falsehood here. While it is true that everybody pays for VAT in Europe, a lot of goods purchases by companies are VAT-free and even if they pay VAT, they can write it off in their corporate taxes. The whole idea of VAT is that the final "user" pays for it. Trust me. I'm an accountant.

[@Tom-jt1rv]

Yes, thank you! VAT doesn't tax at multiple points during the supply chain, if you are a VAT registered business you can claim it back.

[@Mohammed8778]

Yup. Wanted to say this too. There are VAT prices in the supply chain that the company can get back from the finance bureau.

[@hoogyoutube]

Hey Omit, great comment and I’ll pin it to the top. Any chance you know where I can look to see the percentage of companies refunding the VAT or writing it off as a corporate tax? That way I can also put it in the article.

[@marcotangari2469]

@@hoogyoutube I'm a novice on the subject but in theory there's no advantage for a company in not declaring expenses to get the VAT write off, however the tax may be evaded by not producing evidence of a sale, you can find data on VAT tax evasion on the european commission's website by searching "VAP gap". Very cool style on these videos, hopefully i've been somewhat helpful.

[@redbox5646]

@@hoogyoutube It's just intrinsic in the VAT system. If a company let's say buys something for 100 (+ 20 VAT; so called input VAT), processes it and sells it for 500 (+ 100 VAT; so called output VAT), they will only remit an amount of 80 (100 output VAT minus 20 input VAT) to the Tax Office in the first place. That way, at each stage exactly the added value is taxed (hence Value Added Tax). The economic effect should be broadly similar to a GST imposed on the final stage only, it's just a different way of administering it.

[@nojatha4637]

I like how you addressed the issue of kids not having enough freedom. Parents use to give rules to children and then let them have their own adventures. It would build character.

[@charismahornum-fries691]

I think you need to take the massive amounts of school shootings into your equation. Parents are not going to sent kids out into the world if they fear for their lives on a daily basis.

[@melochin8237]

Yeah but most parents wouldn't want Darwin to take the wheel. Especially when the norm is that the kids below the highschool age can't be trusted with anything and are basically fuckin nuts

[@racool911]

Parents are too soft these days, my parents would freak out if I just left to go somewhere without asking permission

[@XSilver_WaterX]

Back before the 2000's, some teens were encouraged to go hunting and provide for the family. Meat and Fur are still profitable. You catch what you killed, family lives another week. You become the kill, family has to accept your death and look for other marketable jobs.

[@Kelnx]

That's how it was for me when I was a kid growing up in the 80s. Summers were so awesome. We would spend all day outside doing all kinds of things like riding our bikes around with crushed cans over the back tire to make it sound like a motorcycle or building forts in the woods and fighting "wars" or shooting girls with water guns or climbing trees and picking crabapples. It was an adventure every day. Looking back you really experienced the world and learned early on about relationships and what works and doesn't work when it comes to dealing with others. You got an allowance based on doing work around the home, and you learned what the money could get you if you were smart. I tried to give that same freedom to my kids when they were growing up, but others didn't let their kids play outside like that and my boys didn't have anyone to really hang with so they'd keep staying in the house. Then they got addicted to tech like all kids do nowadays. It ain't healthy, and now that they've grown up we're seeing just what a mistake that all was. Adults that never matured, never gained any life experience running smack into reality the moment they go into the real world. And their response is to hide from reality. Expect others, whether parents or the government to protect and care for them. It's sad.

[@user-te2qe4zf7t]

When you mentioned that there are no federations within the EU, you are grossly incorrect: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain (essentially is with its autonomous communities), outside the EU: Switzerland. Britain is increasingly becoming federal with its devolved Scotish, Welsh and northern Irish governments.

[@zachb1706]

The EU itself is how the US should be run. 50 individual states with an overarching but heavily limited federal government

[@DaDARKPass]

@@zachb1706 You're not very smart. Having a federal government is why America is so much stronger than Europe.

[@zachb1706]

@@DaDARKPass my idea is literally the vision the founding fathers had for the US.

[@DaDARKPass]

@@zachb1706 No it isn't. Your vision was what the articles of confederation were. Turns out, such a system was far too weak to work out. So, instead, the founding fathers created the constitution - this created a federal government that had the powers to collectively go to war and raise taxes - things that the EU can't. Additionally, the constitution didn't allow secession - something the EU literally allows via article 50. All of this means that while the founding fathers wanted a limited government, they didn't want it to be so limited, as the EU is. They wanted a functional government that could pass and enforce laws, but is limited by things like separation of powers and checks and balances.

[@coprilettodelnapoli5466]

​@@zachb1706i think the opposite.

[@Amadi605]

As a Polish kid. I started walking to school alone when I was 7. One day there was this small dog in my path that was barking at me. Since I was bitten by a dog as a young child, I became so afraid that I turned around and went home. When my mom came home she wrote I note justifying my absence saying that I was sick. But she told me that I have to get my shit together tomorrow. So for couple of weeks I took very long path around the location of that dog. Until one day I was walking to school with neighbor girl that was older than me. She said that there is a dog that she always feeds on her way to school. I didn't want to seem like a coward so I walked with her. I gave food to that dog with her. I wasn't afraid of dogs ever since.

[@JHeb_]

Wzruszające, ale czy jest jakaś puenta?

[@Amadi605]

@@JHeb_ Puenta wynika z filmiku

[@williamjamessidis3488]

@@JHeb_ 4:55 o to mu chodzi

[@PuhoyOG]

That's a cool story

[@JHeb_]

@@williamjamessidis3488 ok sorry, nie zrozumiałem dokładnie kontekstu

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

That list at the end... lol. I once thought about making a video explaining European food safety and quality regulations to our friends across the Atlantic, and realized it would turn into a cooking video about what makes all regional European foods unique. From the Backlava of Western Turkey, to the walnut pies of Southern France.

[@TheJeanrenaud2]

Danke for sending me here Kraut, great video! And I have to agree that the lack of consumer protection when it comes to the US, which regards to food for instance, is astounding

[@benoitbvg2888]

You mean 7 seasons and a movie?

[@alistairlee7604]

Kraut, please make cooking videos.

[@alexanderphilip1809]

I remember the one tiff they had about growth hormones in beef.

[@Arthur312HA]

Oh hey Kraut just watched one of your vids a day ago

[@yahtyscids194]

Thank you for this, I hope other creators see this and will try to make quality content like you do.

[@anoutinabil]

So well put and a perspective that's so fair and productive having extensively interacted with both regions and their people. Great video.

[@KNYD]

I love that affordable cheese was on top of the list. I'm a Finn and we are the biggest dairy consumers in the world, couldn't imagine life without affordable cheese.

[@jurjenbos228]

Greeting from the Netherlands, also big cheese eater!

[@theaceofgame1]

Greeting from France, biggest cheese lovers x)

[@ItsTheBibby]

Greetings from Sweden... meatballs anyone?

[@2011zurich]

@@ItsTheBibby Yes please...

[@KindredBrujah]

Scotland, also many of the cheese please, yes.

[@Watchingvideoslikeu]

It’s easy to blame “Washington” than your own state legislatures

[@SirArthurTheGreat]

I mean the issue is with both

[@menjolno]

No one wants to keep up with all the 50 states' politics and work politics.

[@blancavelasquez9859]

@@menjolno that’s because most sane residents of a state should only care about their own state politics and the federal level type politics, that’s about it.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

Blaming the "Brussels Beauraucracy" is far easier than Blaming your fellow Voters.

[@BlueIvory4]

@@cakeisyummy5755 ^^^

[@NotKimiRaikkonen]

I try explaining this to my brother when he tells me we should just adopt what Japan does to solve all of our problems. Which is crazy, cause we're not Japan, we don't have a Japanese economy or a population of Japanese people and Japanese society. You can't copy-paste anyone else's solutions to fit your own.

[@laqrwd]

@Helene Stromfors cars chips steel machine tools ships there is a reason japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world

[@RossanaLupa]

If us Italians just copy pasted the US economy we would suffer, and if they copied ours they would suffer.

[@tonyflamingo3444]

@@laqrwd Theres also a reason why the Yen's value is dropping, and so is the birth and marriage rate

[@justice4549]

Bit of a bad take here, I get what you’re trying to say but you 100% can and should take good ideas and policies and implement them if it fits for your country. You don’t need to be Japan to build a booming car manufacturing sector

[@justice4549]

@@tonyflamingo3444what does birthrate/marriage have to do with anything lmao. Both have contributing issues that have no real connection to their economy. Birth rate also just goes down the more developed a nation becomes

[@HamburgerMan-ch1od]

I have been waiting for someone to finally say this. I don’t think enough people including Americans themselves realize that the US has a culture. When Americans want free healthcare, they don’t try to understand the sacrifices and life altering changes would need to be made to make these changes come to fruition.

[@HamburgerMan-ch1od]

@@mwgaming5167 I never said that you need to sacrificing American culture, I meant sacrifices like certain freedoms, raising taxes. One thing Americans want is an affordable healthcare system. So we point out many aspects of other countries healthcare systems. Japan has one of the cheapest healthcare systems in the world. The reason for this is because it has the healthiest populations in the world. And this is because the state invests in laws and regulations to promote a healthy lifestyle and diet in its population. In the U.S, people would need to sacrifice some of the unhealthy things that some eat on a regular basis like fast food. (In terms of increased taxes). But Americans appose this. Which is evident when in New York, the governor attempted to ban the sale of large 1 liter soda bottles, which was turned down due to backlash.

[@swordarmstudios6052]

@@mwgaming5167 Well dramatic tax increases for one. Healthcare is too big. There isn't enough wealthy people in the country to just get them to pay for it. We would be talking a top marginal tax bracket being applied to people who make 60k a year, like they do in Denmark. You do that and the people will revolt, doesn't matter how good the service is. Universal healthcare is certainly possible, but I'm not confident you could convince people to pay the price. The people who say 'sure. you can increase my taxes for healthcare' don't realize how much of a bite that would really be. They are thinking a few percentage points. Actually it would be more like 20% or more , if we were lucky. And of course we have a lobbyist infested goverment to implement it. I'm sympathetic to the moral argument in it's favor. I have no faith the people would be willing to pay the real price it would require, and even less faith the goverment could in fact build a better system from scratch. I don't think I'm wrong. My approach would just be reform of health care regulations, with a reduction in the total amount of regulation , but also a crack down on all the bad behavior driving increased pricing and much harsher penalties for uncompetitive practices. For example, requiring drugs to be sold under it's real name and not a brand. Then after 7 years of patent protection ( current patent law for pharma ) , generics can compete with that drug, using the same name. Reduction of barriers to entry for new people on the market. Reductions in the amount of red-tape and overhead in the medical system, with a focus on metrics for improvements in patient outcomes. Rules to encourage the creation of Amazons for health care, published pricing, honest pricing, sticker price always equals insurance price rather than all the middleman drug dealing that is being done - along with very harsh penalties for fraud or abuse. We could also make it easier for people to get into healthcare. Allow EMT's to train into nursing. Allow nurses to apprentice into becoming doctors. Our health care problem isn't a delivery or technology problem. It's a finance , capital and labor problem. If we can fix how healthcare is priced, the market will work. And it's the only option we have because it's the option that only has an upside if we can get the middlemen out, and doesn't require huge sums of money, or a sacrifice on the part of any specific group of Americans other than health care providers.

[@HamburgerMan-ch1od]

@@swordarmstudios6052 I would say get rid of life insurance for a government operated system.

[@waynerodriquez4057]

As someone who lives in Bridgeport, CT, it’s ridiculous how inequitable education is here. 10 miles separates the best and worst high schools in the nation. Your zip code truly defines a child’s future.

[@Tarnatos14]

As an german, may I ask what the zip code is?

[@theexalius7947]

@@Tarnatos14 A zip code is a string of numbers assigned to a certain area in a city. They're used to split cities up into districts.

[@tieman3790]

@@Tarnatos14 postal code

[@Tarnatos14]

@@tieman3790 ahh I now understand thanks (to "theEXalius" too)

[@kudopengi6334]

@@qemdrive well the US loves turning old systems into things they’re not (e.g. social security)

[@MonsieurDean]

Wrong, if you look at a map, Europe is just an island of North America that strayed too far and hit into Asia.

[@pixydust4112]

😭😭😭 love your channel

[@cameronburke8002]

Far Right nut

[@jai-kk5uu]

Do an alternate history vedio in which rich were taxed (a wealth tax) During tech boom or dot com bubble

[@isnel1021]

@@cameronburke8002 epic

[@MrAsianPie]

@@cameronburke8002 Found the redditor

[@NorroTaku]

thank you so much for the dark background and graphics my retina is very pleased

[@blanchjoe1481]

Dear HOOG, Thank you for a well presented and developed piece. There has never been a quantifiable correlation between Economic Growth and High Taxes. The concept of Low Taxes equals growth has a ring of logic that historically has never been supported, much like there is no quantifiable correlation between CEO Pay and Corporate growth, profitability, and increased Stock value. Also, one other issue, America Is Not America. Any foreigner who comes here realizes instantly that there is not one America, but closer to about four of five different Americas, each with their own Geography, Conservative or Liberal Politics, Religions, Foods, Histories, and Population Densities. It is the People who make up these Americas who decide how much they are willing to pay for Health Care, Educations, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Government. There IS a direct correlation of States, and Counties that tend to reduce their tax burden over, and over again, by percentage tend to suffer more from poor schools, bad roads, slow growth, and fewer jobs.

[@aaronl19]

A far more fair comparison is the US and Canada, they have a lot of similarities, the culture, the taxing system, the problems, etc. But they also have a lot of differences, which people can debate on which one is better, but you never really see Canada be brought up, it’s always Europe.

[@hoogyoutube]

I mean it makes sense to talk more from a European perspective because there are lots of Europeans, but I’m not even sure if it’s remotely possible to measure the amount of comparisons made between America and Europe and America and Canada.

[@AsiaMinor12]

I don't see that many differences in Canada, I've met Canadians here in the United States and nobody would have ever known they were Canadians if they didn't say it themselves. Canadians don't have much of a culture that isn't different from the United States. When Canadian nationalists tell about their differences from the United States I laugh because their differences usually revolve around what cheap fast food place they have or the slight difference in spelling.

[@cnlbenmc]

Canada is jokingly referred to as "America's Hat" for a reason, except perhaps Quebec.

[@qjtvaddict]

Canada and USA are pathetic countries dude

[@notlucas6859]

@@qjtvaddict qjtvaddict is a pathetic person dude

[@tahirrizwan6759]

I remember as a kid in Holland just walking and biking to do groceries for my mom or hanging out, staying outside till 11 pm, taking the subway, streetcar, and bus to go to other cities. All the other houses had families and we regularly played with other neighborhood kids and everyone knew each other. When I moved to the US, I noticed this didn’t happen. The infrastructure isn’t made for it. 5 min by car is an hour walk in California and everything is so car-centric and stretched out. It was very rare to see playgrounds while small towns in Holland have parks and playgrounds everywhere + homes are closer to schools as well. I now live in Toronto and I see some European urban planning back in the city, but with a heavy emphasis of that North American inaccesibility bc of that grid design. Toronto is walkable by North American standards, but an absolute hell for Europeans. Public transport is solid though I must say in Toronto. Edit: I just wanted to reiterate that I don’t hate grid designs. It’s great for navigation and easy to move through. My gripes are with the size of some blocks which really call for solid public transportation to make it work for the ppl that have no cars 😅

[@brrrrrrrr8793]

The car-centric of the US also leads to a social divide. If someone can’t afford a car they are basically fucked.

[@karlk.6819]

i don't understand you guys that prefer walkable cities to spacious spread out cities. Space is a luxury. I'm atlethic and could walk 15 miles per day but the comfort of parking my car in front of the store i have to go is more important. you can't do that in european crowded streets, almost never

[@tahirrizwan6759]

@@karlk.6819 See that’s the issue, it’s built for cars not humans. Cars need maintenance, gas, stickers, insurance etc. Roads are stretched out for really no good reason. I’m lucky to live in Toronto without a car, but outside of it I’m reliant on a faulty bus system. Walkable cities imo offer more freedom, shops and amenities are closer which in turn makes everything more pleasant. In the US/Canada it feels like a trek getting to the store by crossing the parking lot. If most cities had a public transport system to match it, it wouldn’t be too bad, but this is rare. It’s really frustrating :/ My mom used to say Being without a car in California is being without legs.

[@brrrrrrrr8793]

@@karlk.6819 Because there is no need for it. You can park your car at one point in the city and than enjoy the city itself

[@karlk.6819]

@@brrrrrrrr8793 mmm...what if you need to transport the elders? or move stuff around? or there is really bad weather? I think your perspective works great if you're a tourist, reason why european city center is great for vacations. Way less for everyday, challenging, life.

[@captianbubbles4674]

When I went to the UK something I noticed was that distance worked very differently. Here in the US, I live 20 minutes from my work, and I imagine most people in the UK live a similar distance. The difference? Most people in the UK walk or take public transportation, and even then, their work is probably less than five miles away. I live almost 18 miles from my work, but because American Infrastructure -- specifically the Rural US -- is built around cars, I can make it in 20 minutes. I could not tell you if this is a good or a bad thing. This is just my experience. For me, it's great, I like being able to travel vast distances in shorter periods of time, and I found it aggravating that it would take me an hour to travel three to five miles in the UK. But I also understand that people in Europe -- and to a lesser extent, cities in general -- have the luxury of being able to walk five minutes down the road to a grocery store. At the end of the day, it's two different worldviews clashing together, ones that fundamentally cannot mix because they are so different.

[@antonia1613]

I really like this video! I always had to pause to fully dig nto the shown graphs. It would be nice if you explained them a lot more and if their screentime also was a lot higher :) thanks for your work!

[@tylerbaer1829]

I love this video and hate when people equate Europe to the United States. One thing I might add tho, is that it’s also similarly hard to paint the US as one single country with one big brush. I mean that people can live such different lives within the borders of the nation it is like being in two different nations. Like your part on the raising of children, where a mother in the inner city of Chicago may not let her child go outside, a mother in Appalachia who homeschools may let her child go out with a pellet gun and hunt small game down by the river.

[@excursor4296]

I hate it when I "USA citizen" am told to leave the country to really explore the world. . . .as if my SEVEN THOUSAND mile road trip in the USA did not expose me to new culture beliefs vistas food. . . . . No all that I get in reply is "Oh but it is still ALL just USA" I am getting sick of it.

[@hart2018]

@@excursor4296 yeah but what they mean is that Europe, Africa and Asia are much different then seeing the difference between someone who lives in Texas and someone who lives in Wisconsin. It is definitely much more different than anything you’ll see in the US. Ik it can be expensive but if you have the money, I recommend to go to different places, see small towns, not just the big tourist attractions. It’s fun to see the vastly different cultures.

[@maduit]

@@hart2018 I agree. You really can't compare visiting multiple places in the US with travelling around the world. I was born in the US, and visitied multiple states there - and now I'm living in Germany. You can't compare that to visiting multiple countries in Europe, or travelling to Asia or Africa. But that's just a typical statement you always get to hear from people who have always been in the USA.

[@dallyh.2960]

I loved exploring the "caves" (big rock overcroppings) up along the hills in our holler with my cat Kasper. Following streams to find their source. I don't think I'd ever wanna raise a kid in the city.

[@hunterhunter2215]

You guys forget that in the end your cultural similarity is what keeps your giant country together. If you really were that culturally different you would have independence movements pretty quickly. You can see that all over the world. It‘s kind of ironic that you have experienced such a low amount of cultural diversity that you start to think the other things can’t be different and because of that keep on avoiding chances to experience other cultures.

[@NAUM_Areas]

Every time I feel lucky for the freedom I had as a kid. Living in a small town in Iowa, I could go quite a bit of places. I even would pedal the three miles to the next town for little league baseball practice. It was a great childhood.

[@sillyrosster]

@Jimmy Lowhoes But your experience is anecdotal and not the majority. It's also getting worse and worse in big cities. It's not safe for kids to go to their friends houses across town because of dangerous roads, lack of safe pedestrian/bike infrastructure, and down right terrible public transit. You don't have "real" freedom until you can drive. Again, this isn't to say it's bad everywhere in the US. Them walking to school was an example, but you seem to understate how much freedom that gives to a kid (and time freed up for the parent). They don't just walk to school, but to the store, their friends, arcades, etc.. They don't have to wait to turn 16 to leave the one mile radius around their house without their parents.

[@Calebe428]

@@sillyrosster perhaps that is why he said "I feel luck for the freedom I has as a kid" the guys is just saying he is glad he had freedom, not that everyone does, so ur comment is literally pointless

[@user-wi4cs8sg8q]

@@sillyrosster I live in a suburban area, I had the freedom to walk to school to the store and to friends houses, etc. Because they were close to me. Most Suburban and small town Americans do have the European “freedom” of not always using a car. In rural areas you do need a car because you are in the middle of nowhere. In cities you don’t have as much freedom because cities are full of crime in poorer areas.

[@vanyac6448]

@@user-wi4cs8sg8q Well, I grew up in a suburb, and I couldn't even walk home from a place that was a 10 minute walk from my house until I was 12 years old. Because in California, if you let a kid be alone before age 12, Child Protective Services will come after you. So that's what my parents did, even though they thought it was bullshit. So I wouldn't necessarily say that suburban kids are freer than urban kids. In fact, it might actually be worse, seeing as you need a car to get around the suburbs. (though perhaps it's different in other states, especially Texas, Utah, or Oklahoma (which all recently passed free range kids laws)). Small towns though, I could definitely see kids being more independent there.

[@user-wi4cs8sg8q]

@@techtutorvideos again your complaining that your countries/states landmass is large. How are we supposed to fix that problem? Global warming could solve your issue with Florida having large neighborhoods.

[@nuclearmask8991]

I remember back in the day. My first day in 5th class I was allowed to go to school alone. I was so excited. "Coincidentally" my mom was out with the bike and "shopping". I saw her a few times and that's what she told me as a kid. With 17 or so I asked why she followed me and she just told me that she wanted to make sure that I find the way and stay on track. God I love my parents.

[@YakuiMeido]

Awwwww

[@Anonymous-df8it]

@@YakuiMeido It's sarcasm

[@racool911]

@@Anonymous-df8itHow do you know? I can't tell if he's sarcastic or not

[@Anonymous-df8it]

@@racool911 The mother is deliberately setting things up, so the commenter doesn't gain independence

[@darragh6626]

I've lived on both sides of the Atlantic and mainland Europe, I love the content you all make. Beautifully animated, thoughtful content from a Eurocentric view is incredibly refreshing. Hoog and Fern are both marvelous!

[@josephsshitpostemporium4325]

An important thing to keep in mind, that explains a lot of the weird power structures in the US, is that it was intended to be a collection of smaller nations/countries under a central government.

[@ryancroy]

Yeah. And people used to identify with their states before they identified with their country. People would be Virginian first, and an American second. Now it is flipped. It was a pain to get the country formed, because you had to get almost full approval from every state.

[@6Glitch]

When it was a confederation sure, but not after we ratified the constitution

[@randomname8616]

So kinda like the EU

[@josephsshitpostemporium4325]

@@randomname8616 Yeah.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

@@randomname8616 no, the EU is a joke.

[@coreywilliams1454]

I remember going for lunch in NYC on a work trip. I was explaining to them how as a kid my mum would let me go off into other cities on the train for the whole day, as a teenager i'd travel to London (3ish hours) in the morning to watch rugby or other events with friends then come back at around midnight, the look on their s was as if i'd just admitted to mass genocide.

[@NiSE_Rafter]

I had this freedom growing up in the states (Texas). My mom would go on business trips and I'd just be left to take care of myself for a week. I walked to the grocery store, to the bus stop for school, and even tag along some of my mom's business trips and explore the city while she was working. There were plenty of instances where I was out late and she didn't really know exactly where I was but it was never a problem because I always came home and I never got into trouble.

[@sokolo161]

@@gugibugi0 Bullshit. I live in one of the most criminal cities in germany and its still extremely safe. Children ride their bike to school, people go out clubbing alone. Europe is as safe as ever.

[@gugibugi0]

@@sokolo161 Good to hear I guess but I've heard the opposite usually. I'm from the Balkans and I've never felt unsafe in my life.

[@sokolo161]

@@gugibugi0 The reality is that many people are pretty islamophobic here and elsewhere and portray immigrants as the boogeyman. The consequences since 2015 have not been drastic at all which doesnt fit their narrative. Crime has been steadily decreasing with no rise due to immigration at all. Germany is as safe as never before. The media is still overrepresenting immigrant crimes to a much greater degree tho. Some people really believe they are in imminent danger because of the media sensalization but most people live exactly the same way as 10years ago.

[@humongousballs]

@@gugibugi0 Since when are immigrants automatically criminals and bad people? And your comment about them "diluting" the cultures here is bullshit. In my experience the recent immigrants try their hardest to be integrated into our community. Trust me, I live in a country where nearly half of the population is foreign. If anything, it is immigrants from neighbouring countries and other european countries not wanting to be integrated... Get your head out of your ass and see the world from a different perspective.

[@user-eo3bc4oh1c]

This was super interesting and helpful. Thanks!

[@cyberpunk.386]

I’d love if you could make videos about all these differences you listed at the end

[@SuperTommox]

There's a mistake: Italy has a system we call "perfect bicameralism", where the "Senato" and "Camera dei Deputati" have the same power. In fact, we tried to change it back in 2016.

[@methyod]

That Scalia bit was some high octane trolling. All of the many factual inaccuracies read as deliberate; he was just engaging in some of the extremely spirited, disingenuous, arcane equivocation of the sort that the now defunct old guard of the American Republican party turned into a high art. This is what would degrade into the schoolyard make believe, bring tinkerbell back to life type stuff that makes up the trump era.

[@yannick7049]

@@methyod Yea, as someone who follows European politics closely... Its a lot of nonsense and just not at all how it works.

[@RumoSiAnnoia]

Thank you, I was just wondering if he was just being ignorant or deliberately lying

[@lucienmeunier2270]

Same for France. The Sénat is as important as the Assemblée Nationale.

[@Luksoropoulos]

I'm not an Italian, but I always thought the "Senato" is basically powerless

[@marianomancone6486]

6:51 actually in Italy the Senate, the other parliamentary branch is not honorific, and the italian parliamentarism system is actually called "perfect bicameralism", and while up to 5 senators can be appointed honorifically each 7 years by the italian head of state it is fully elected with a pretty similar electoral law to the lower chamber, the only notable difference is that it requires 21 years instead of 18 to vote for that chamber. But in the end it's just an insignificant remark that doesn't impact the rest of the vid and the analysis. Really great job

[@hoogyoutube]

Put in the pinned comment :)

[@Constantine_Brooks]

That guy sounded very dodgy.

[@danielstan2301]

there is another thing that is hugely different in europe versus US. We don't have too much separation between executive and legislative , but we have a multiparty system and our citizens vote for directly for our politicians(not via some electors) . What this means is that if a politician or a party messes up or try to get too much power , it will be sent to oblivion. There are lots of parties or people that were popular and now nobody hears of them anymore because they failed to meet people expectation in europe. In US you can just choose the lesser evil between those 2 parties which will last forever, with no real chance of different opinions to make it through to the executive or legislative sector

[@borutb11]

Yeah that guy was way oversimplifying and talkng as if UK = Europe, while still getting the situation in the UK wrong

[@DvDick]

@@danielstan2301 Exactly, if you look at the political landscape here in Italy, it's far different than how it was even 15 years ago. In the US on the other end it doesn't really seem to have changed much, except maybe that now socialist views are getting a little more traction thanks to people like Bernie

[@vascoapolonio2309]

Just came across your channels. Subscribed!

[@brennanxx3]

I agree 110% as I get older and educate myself on the world outside of the US ( cuz I'm far to poor to ever dream of traveling abroad 😅 ) Im just blown away at how many issues we face have been solved elsewhere. But when you look at implementing the same back here in the states, your right the nature of our federal gov and states coupled with the differences of Americans from one state to the next, ya it's hard to be able to do the same. All I have to say about this video is "that was real as shit" keep it that way my brotha 🤙🤙

[@presidentzeus2359]

5:50 the milk carton reference is insane. It was joked about in a movie I once watched, and had to ask my sister what was going on. And it is absolutely insane that "getting your face printed on a milk carton" is the American way of saying a child is missing.

[@sleven1160]

We don't really do that anymore. It probably has something to do with most people getting plastic gallons of milk instead of cartons, though even cartons of milk don't have missing people on them anymore

[@NitroNinja324]

Except it isn't. Maybe as a veiled threat or to be overly ominous, but only in fiction.

[@cattysplat]

It's not just that, I've seen mentions in the US about these amber alert things that would go out on news channels and electronic highway road signs, even before mobile phones were a thing. That's a huge obsession over missing children, many of which I would assume were just rebellious and returned home later. Europe has and never will do such a thing, because it's so common and most children do return home, actual criminal kidnap of children is very low, but US media gives a false impression it is happening all the time.

[@hi14993]

@@cattysplat US media is unfortunately hyper sensationalist. They are incentivized to push the most shocking stories to bring in the most money possible. If a panic makes people want to know more, then those people will buy access to said information. Also, because of the sensationalist nature combined with the political split, the media tends to act as a foil for the dominant political party, more often than not. In addition, political parties have tried to steer US media in order to drive public opinion toward or away from something. Probably the most egregious of these was the cover up of the Holodomor by the New York Times. Generally, people eventually get tired of the fear mongering and gravitate to other media sources that cause public opinion to shift again. The so called "political pendulum" at work. TLDR this is a 30000 ft overview but basically, the media try their best to control the sheep. They have found that fear is an easy to use motivator. The problem for the media is fear doesn't guarantee loyalty. therefore, it is less news and more political in nature.

[@ThatWasRage]

@@cattysplat Not really what an Amber Alert is. It takes a LOT of specific information in order for an Amber alert to be activated. You can't just activate it cause you haven't seen your kid today. lol If an Amber Alert has been activated then you can be VERY confident a child has been taken. No system is perfect of course and there have been some Amber Alerts go out that should not have but those tend to be rare and wont get news coverage. Amber Alerts were created after a child named Amber was taken (and killed) and there was no way to have multiple Police agencies communicate and get information out for people to look out for specific vehicle or person in a specific area. Because of Amber Alerts over 600 children have been saved from abductors that most likely would have done horrible things to those children.

[@christyhorgan6733]

This channel is so underrated, it's so useful to see content like this comparing Europe to America as not all European-American differences are obvious, particularly British-American differences

[@Ubeogesh]

it's just new. I bet it will grow a lot if the author keeps it up

[@thelegend_doggo1062]

Even the differences between America and Britain are massive and most Americans don’t understand that, they assume the rest of the western world is just like them with the exception that they speak another language. I’d live in the EU over Britain any day, but I’d live in Britain over America even more.

[@nalat1suket4nk0]

Yes and letting the rest of the world die

[@Mika-ph6ku]

@@thelegend_doggo1062 You have described far too many Europeans I've had to deal with my guy. It very much goes both ways. All the time I see Europeans bashing the U.S. for its ways all over the internet and all they are ever proving in doing so is that they don't know shit about the U.S.

[@thelight3112]

@@thelegend_doggo1062 I've been living in the UK for 4 years now and I cannot wait to go back to the US. The US is a big place though; I'd certainly rather stay in the UK than live in places like Los Angeles or the deep south.

[@rashadb954]

You made some great points! And we here in the US need to learn to keep these fundamental differences in mind if we are trying to form political opinions based on the policies that we like in European countries. We cannot just implement them here 1:1, gotta do the metric to imperial conversion first, so to speak.

[@boris001000]

lol

[@arthursworld7302]

This was really well done. thanks so much

[@moyndebs6759]

a Nigerian I wish my country/continent(Africa) could have atleast a good working system like America or Europe. Until then wish us luck 🙏✊nice video

[@cameronspence4977]

You guys will get there! Probably first need to eliminate boko haram and get the different peoples in nigeria to be less hostile to each other...and stay away from the chinese. They are actively and knowingly debt trapping countries that are trying to develop so that they will go bankrupt and be forced to sell parts of their country like ports, building projects, land, universities etc. back to china to pay for it. But things are improving and just dont give up trying to make your country better!

[@darth3911]

@@cameronspence4977 Most east African country’s are already trapped. Unfortunately China has started to debt trap outside of Africa. Currently they are getting the U.S. and Canada debt trapped to them.

[@dexorne9753]

@@darth3911 China is actually developing Africa unlike US and EU nations.

[@darth3911]

@@dexorne9753 Difference is the U.S. only provided FREE military development. They done nothing with social/architecture development. China on the other hand is as you said developing Africa but not in a good way. There development provides jobs ONLY to Chinese citizens and require said African country’s to agree on giving up farm land to China. It’s kinda like a new form of colonialism but instead of colonizing the Chinese are only taking land for resources.

[@Gigachad-mc5qz]

Trust me you dont want to be like america. Its an absolute nightmare unless youre rich

[@HistoryScope]

9:03 As someone who's autistic, I really appreciate that you put "how are you" in there. To this day, I can't figure out if someone form the USA is genuinely asking me how I am doing, whether it's a greeting, or how you're even supposed to respond to it. While talking to people from Europe I always know that that person is genuinely asking me how I am doing. It's a small thing to point out, but it's always so confusing to me to speak to people from the USA for little differences like that.

[@Aothis]

I am an American an I am genuinely asking you how you are doing? I Watch your videos a lot. Keep up the great work! I agree with you, people over here are more socially aggressive.

[@mr.34coffeecups67]

Ok but how expensive is your gouda tho?

[@Dancingonthesun]

I am Canadian and have traits, people here like to look friendly and nice even if they don't care. It can be hard to tell, and I usually assume it's just a greeting unless I know the person.

[@fads90]

Think of it as a way of saying “Hello.” When you hear it say “Good, how are you?” back.

[@Luey_Luey]

i'm raised in the US and have the same issue i default to the "good how are you" version because it's the least likely to cause some awkward issue

[@hismajesty6272]

As a child I wasn’t aware of just how important separation of powers and checks and balances are. Now that I’ve learned about how some parliamentary governments run (especially Canada), I realize just how impactful it is.

[@littlemissmello]

can you elaborate a little? What's wrong with parliamentary systems?

[@lastwymsi]

​​@@littlemissmello Its easier to push legislation through. Thats what the clip about the bicameral system and honorific positions was talking about. The US govt. systems, even at the state level, were made specifically to make it hard for politicians to enact stuff. This is in order to prevent abusive laws, powergrabs, etc. from getting pushed through by a stacked government (when a large part of the govt. is controlled by one group or party.) Your bill basically has to appease EVERYONE to be able to pass through the system, which is why most bills get altered endlessly untill they finally appease everyone. For the most part (as an American) to me it is good, because the intended innefficientcy prevents sudden power grabs, explotations, and regime changes purposely OR under the guise of dling something positive. However the side effect is that sometimes it can take multiple decades to have any substancial changes be made even when they are actually needed AND sometimes the biases of our aged representatives (term length limits are varied accross different positions) get in the way of progressing things to a better place. Edit: This is a quick n dirty description, I'm a muscian and programmer so Im not really able to present a hyper detailed recolection of our whole system that would actually be understandable to someone who wasnt raised learning about this system in school.

[@littlemissmello]

@@lastwymsi I don't really understand, how easy do you think it is to get a fascist govenment in power in a parliamentary system? There's always a million other parties that also have a vote, regular elections that are well organized so as many people can vote as possible, a system that can only ever work on compromise. A party is easier to start and to bring to a national stage but at that point they will have to appeal nationally as well and that is it's own challenge. The system in America however is not at all immune to abusive laws and power grabs, as the QAnon president has showed us. Presidents elect supreme court judges AND they stay for life!? A two party system is at times barely democratic if you don't mind me saying. To a point it's what we're used to that we prefer, but it's hard to look across the ocean and not frown at the flawed system that's presented so proudly as The Best In The WorldTM

[@MontySlython]

@@littlemissmello Trump did relatively little to the country, I don't know what kind of propaganda you've been reading but what little he did do was easily reversed by our current geriatric president. The two party system is only tangential to the main point which was bicameral legislature, George Washington was adamantly against the system itself and nobody has ever really enjoyed it regardless, the only reason its still two party is because of third parties being such poor choices in general, libertarian party for example is far too extreme in its views to ever be treated seriously, same for the green party.

[@Depreuz]

@@littlemissmello They have two parties that get most of the votes, we in Norway for example have like 5-7 at the lowest where they can group together to get the 50% neccessary. powergrabs are easy in the US because of the two party "system" they have. in Germany there were three major parties when the NSDAP came in power. take what I say with a pinch of salt because I am writing this just from memory

[@StepanKuzmenko]

I am pleased to see this video on my KZbin feed!! I am not sure how this in any way, whatsoever explains the differences between the U S of A and Europe. Have you listened to the Vicoria Nukand Pyatt phone call? Methinks that is more interesting. LOSTSOS LOVE BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[@pugswillfly3211]

One thing Ive always thought is strange, is that in most European countries, theres a fairly wide spread of political ideologies. But in the USA, from an outsiders perspective, there are two types of Conservatism. They have taken a two party system to a new height.

[@kaisertreu6276]

The democratic party is only "conservative" (or free market oriented if you will) in the economic sense. Culturally speaking they are still progressives. On the other side, republicans are also less conservative culturally speaking than their European counterparts.

[@weldin]

Not really. You have more parties but the spread of ideology is pretty similar. I would say the US is more economically conservative than most European countries, but it’s not like there are a high number of communists and fascists in European and only a small number of general center-left/center right voters. No matter the country, the biggest parties are almost always the center left (democrats, SDP, Labour, etc.) and center right (Republicans, CDP, Conservatives, etc.) The difference is that in America we don’t split the factions into different parties, they are just coalitions within the larger parties (like the progressives and blue dogs in the Democrats).

[@Big-Chungus21]

@@kaisertreu6276 they are “progressives” with massive quotation marks. Still very much conservative from a uk perspective.

[@randomname8616]

Yeah like imo you should have at least one party for each combination of the 4 basic political quadrants: cultural left, cultural right, economic left, economic right. Those 4 can give you 4 political profiles of: - Cultural left & economical left - Cultural left & economical right - Cultural right & economical left - Cultural right & economical right Yet the US only seems to have "cultural left & economical right" (democrats, broadly speaking) + "cultural right & economical right" (republicans, broadly speaking). This imo just leads to unavoidable mix of interest of what voters want from their party, so even if one of the two parties wins there'll always be a large portion of their voter base that won't be happy with whatever direction they'll take.

[@cactuskhan4649]

@@Big-Chungus21 Implying the UK parties are more progressive? What are some of those policies that the Democrat's don't support?

[@SilentButDudley]

Another foundational thing is the US has a bad history with overtaxing due to the British when they fought for independence. As a society, America puts more importance on lower taxes and less intrusive government. The issue with the US today is the amount the government has stepped in and caused issues in terms of College prices and healthcare prices. It is because privatized healthcare and colleges were able to use the government to steadily increase prices and increase their profits. Government benefits and Privatization has not meshed well, and destroyed both systems.

[@ilmari435]

Ultimately the reason to the horrible prices in housing, education and so on, is that the rich make the rules for themselves. 90% of the Americans have no political power according to a Princeton study, which is worse than ever after WW2.

[@ryanwinters7120]

Absolutely agree. American values don’t call for an over abundance in government control and guard rails. So really a big way to not have this happen is to get government out of these things/fields etc…. The more the private/public sector work in tandem with government the worse off the average citizen will become

[@ilmari435]

@@ryanwinters7120 There is no robust evidence of government being the real problem, if the government happens to be in democratic control. In many European countries government control works actually better than privatization. For example the public healthcare system in a typical welfare state is multiple times more efficient than private healthcare in countries that don't have public healthcare, when looking at not only quality per dollar but e.g. the swiftness of the process, too. I don't know about those "American values" either, since during Reagan's presidency 70% of Americans thought the access to free healthcare should be in the constitution, and in fact 40 % thought it already was in the constitution. Now 60 % are for free healthcare, but the elites do not of course want that, because the current system makes them money. So, I would say that the problem is rather the lobbying than the government. Believe it or not, it has always been the case that democracy produces the most well-being. The fear of government is irrational, because actually the highest and most stable economic growth ever in America was in 1950s to 1970s, during the most "intrusive" governmental control in 100 years. At the time studying in university was virtually free, and the only reason USA didn't introduce a Universal Basic Income to eliminate poverty, was because Democratic Party opposed - because they demanded rising the proposed amount of UBI.

[@laurencefraser]

... Yeah, they have a bad history of Propaganda regarding over taxing. Initially: no tax. American colonists raid French colonies, which triggers a war between France and Britain. it's long, global, and Expensive. Britain attempts to defray part of this cost by way of a one time levy on the colonists in their American colonies: Part of the cost of Only those troops garrisoned in the colonies to defend them, and Only the cost incurred During the war. Remember, there is NO OTHER TAXATION of the colonists at the time, their administration and security (among other things) are Entirely paid for by the regular tax payer back in Britain. The colonists, as a group (well, the wealthy ones who have the ability to get involved in the decision making and would bear the brunt of the costs, anyway) Refuse to pay this levy. This is, by most definitions at the time, Open Revolt. The standard solution to open revolt by basically every country is to send in the troops and put down said revolt... ideally by way of just showing up and arresting people, but that almost never works and the backup plan is bullets, bayonets, and fire. Britain (it should be noted, that when I say Britain here, I mean the Elected Parliament, the King had nothing to do with any of this decision making until later on, and very little even then) looks at that and realises it's a dumb idea. The whole point of the exercise is that they're short on cash. Sending in soldiers is Expensive, the very expense they're trying to cover. So instead, the institute a Stamp Duty. This amounts to 'you can't import or export anything without an official stamp on it, and we charge you for the stamp'. This has two advantages: the colonists can't just not pay it, and it can be used as a punitive measure instead of sending in the troops. Note that the stamp duty was still the only tax the colonists had to pay, was still less than the taxes paid by people back in Britain, was very low compared to those paid by citizens of any other European Empire, and still only mounted to reducing how much the British Taxpayer was Subsidising the colonies, because to my understanding it still didn't cover the administration and defence of the colonies, let alone any infrastructure projects and the like. Also note that at this point NO ONE has said anything about representation, At All. This is the point where the population of the British colonies in American start splitting into 'loyalist' 'revolutionary' and 'don't care'. About equally. And the revolutionaries start stirring up riots and engaging in assassinations of administrative officials and loyalists. Much is made about being taxed to pay for foreign wars... expect the war the colonists were taxed to pay for was one they started. Sure, the British 'won' (and, if I'm not getting my wars muddled up, gained France's Canadian colonies out of it), and the American theatre ended up being basically a sideshow in the actual fighting, but foreign it was not. I'll admit, I'm less clear on the specifics of this part, but somewhere along the way Benjamin Franklin and others are sent to Parliament to negotiate on the matter of taxes and independence and such. This is a fundamentally doomed prospect for several reasons. One: The revolutionaries spend the entire time gearing up for a shooting war, and commit to (and start) it Before Franklin's Party Returned From Britain. Two: The revolutionary's position wasn't 'no taxation without representation'. It was "no taxation. Period." The entire reason this came up was because the colonists Were Not Taxed while costing the government a fair bit to maintain (all the more so when they start wars with peer global super power!) prior to this series of events, and the colonists were British citizens, so parliament wasn't having any of that nonsense. Somewhere during this diplomatic mission is when the concept of representation comes up... in the form of a journal entry or letter by one of the members of the American group... which notes that they're never going to have any success in convincing parliament to see things their way unless they first have at least one representative of their own In parliament to act on their behalf. (frankly, even if they had their own MP, it wouldn't have worked because, again, their entire position began and ended with 'no taxes! at all! ever!'.) As for the king, his entire contribution to the issue was that, at some point, he received a letter from the colonists complaining about the taxes. This being the first he'd heard of the matter, he went and asked is relevant advisors... The heads of the government departments responsible for taxation and the colonies. You know, the ones responsible for the entire tax issue coming up in the first place. Who, of course, tell him it's a minor issue that is all under control and almost resolved (They weren't even being in any way dishonest. At the time, from their point of view, it was true!), leading to the king writing a letter back to the colonists that... perhaps wasn't the best thought out in terms of tone, but it basically amounted to 'thank you for communicating your concern, The matter is being resolved, also refusing to pay your taxes or engaging in armed uprisings are acts of rebellion of the sort that would obligate me to send soldiers to deal with the matter, so don't do that.' ... ... That was literally all he did. The rest was all the elected parliament (ministers and such being chosen from among the members of parliament) Oh, and as an added bonus: After the American colonies gained their independence, they now had to pay for their Own administration and defence, Without heavy subsidization by the British tax payer... and with most of the loyalist colonists having buggered off to Canada, when they hadn't been killed (shrinking their potential tax base). Taxes, consequently, went WAY, WAY up... and never came back down again. That's right, those terrible taxes imposed upon the colonists under the British... were less than any tax ever levied by the independent American government since. Which is to say, No, the American Colonists were NOT over taxed under the British. Extra bonus: If representation had actually been the goal (it was Never Mentioned prior to recruitment propaganda, remember), it could have been attained with hilarious ease: All the colonists had to do was say 'yeah, we'll pay the same (ish) taxes as people back in Britain for the same (ish) benefits... starting with our own MPs, of course'. But again, representation wasn't the point. It was very much about not paying taxes. Specifically, it was about RICH and Powerful people not paying taxes. (and, you'll note, ceasing control of the governmental body that actually did the taxing has done a spectacular job of allowing them to either not pay taxes, or funnel the taxes back into their own pockets, ever since.) Basically, A small number of particularly wealthy businessmen and land holders ruining everything for everyone else (and lying about it in the media)to line their pockets... ... ... it's almost like nothing's changed!

[@ilmari435]

@@laurencefraser whoa man, did you really just type all that? I mean, I gotta raise my hat for that

[@CoreyANeal2000]

I think you can compare them policy wise and infrastructure and how they both do things. But you would have to break them down to things that both do the same way or have similar mechanics within. Otherwise, you would be simplifying their differences.

[@smileyr]

1:36 everytime I hear someone say”the US should have a Universal health care” I tell them “you want to pay more taxes” and then they get all angry. You can’t have both, you either get taxed more for universal healthcare or you get tax less and pay for you own healthcare. “Tax the rich” is a scam

[@paulster185]

In US you *have* both. You pay twice as much for healthcare as second most expansive country (France) and you don't have an universal healthcare.

[@jurajsintaj6644]

@@paulster185 But, clearly, you don't pay it in tax, you pay it insurance fees, and 5-6 digit healthcare costs. This is clearly, clearly much better than taxes.

[@eternalcanadiandevyt]

@@jurajsintaj6644 Sarcasm?

[@yellowkid846]

Pretty good video. Perfectly highlights the issue in the US that the federal government can’t be expected to do everything, and to get meaningful change you have to have the local, state, and federal governments working on their own problems.

[@bobmcbob49]

part of the problem too is that American politicians campaign by promising to address issues that should be handled below their level. But if a candidate wanted to do their job properly, they would be seen as weak for not addressing those issues.

[@kareemellebany3559]

remember that many problems' solution involves spending money, and the federal government has much more in the purse. Plus: if they collect taxes, they should be expected to provide services. if states were going to try to fix everything on their own, more rural states would not be able to implement most programs or "problem fixes".

[@bobmcbob49]

@@kareemellebany3559 taxes should be used to pay for public services. Finding a service to spend excess taxes on is backwards.

[@kareemellebany3559]

@@bobmcbob49 this is not what I meant. I mean that the Federal government's power to collect taxes and the amount it can collect enables it to better plan for services. in the US, there is no "excess taxes". There is a shortage of tax money. My point is that leaving most programs that need strong spending to local governments will lead to a California and New York with all the good services and Wyoming/Kentucky with bad/no services.

[@bobmcbob49]

@@kareemellebany3559 California and New York have greater needs to go with their greater incomes.

[@rgs8116]

well made video, u got urself a new sub!

[@Retly_Ai]

Was recommended this video. It’s about time I got recommended an actual video I like.

[@frosty_puffz1986]

The interesting thing about comparing and contrasting these two entities is that people have to realize the very foundations of them are built differently, and we observe them through those lenses. It's easy for someone from the U.S. to operate under assumptions of what is normal to them, and vice versa with someone from Europe - only to realize that there are faults and positives to both, and that navigating the thin line of what is best for each while also adhering to the unique qualities of each is very, very difficult to do.

[@ilmari435]

The interesting difference is that the US was founded by rich slave owners, and democratic forces are usually militantly suppressed, e.g. Abraham Lincoln. Many European countries have been if not founded, mostly affected by the interests of the working class. Another interesting thing is that the rich are becoming more powerful everywhere. 90 % of Americans seem to have no political power (Gilens and Page, 2014). At the same time, interestingly as well, relative poverty has increased.

[@frosty_puffz1986]

@@ilmari435 I mean the definition of political power is interesting, and it's definitely not related to the country being founded by rich slave owners. Europe was comprised of Kings and Queens with complete authority for the longest time. Subjects had no power, and so while stronger government seems like a progressive ideas to Americans, it actually is more idealistic of much older European theories. At the same time, voting in the US is 1 person to each vote, so any perceived addition or subtraction in political power is simply that- perceived. It's a cultural thing. With all of that in mind, you have to remember that Britain was a colonization and enslavement powerhouse for the longest time. That's why Africa was in turmoil under the for years, and their occupation allowed for slave owners in Africa to trade other African individuals to America colonists. If anything to get from this, I mean to say that the US was founded guns blazing and with the idea that everyone needs to fend for themselves and carve their own way, while Europe has always been a continent with pretty simple leadership roles. Neither is better, neither is worse, but the whole world has a lot to improve on.

[@ilmari435]

@@frosty_puffz1986 good points though a bit irrelevant maybe IMHO. Most of the European countries' constitutions have been written by mostly working class interests, and the role of kings and the like has not really affected them. But now we are approaching an interesting topic: some people seem to consider gov't strangely unnecessary. To me that sounds odd: how could the United States ever have shaped to what it is now without governmental action. Stealing land from Indians and other colonies and so on I mean.

[@ilmari435]

And what do you think about the statistic mentioned, that comparing laws to interests the bottom 90 % don't have political power? Because this is pretty recent regress, in the 1930s America was one of the most democratic countries ever.

[@n8zog584]

@@ilmari435 do you know the American government killed about 20% of the native population on the high end of estimates? They killed what was left after the Spanish, British, French and disease ended the vast majority of the native population. Colonial powers toppeled both the Aztec and Incan empire. What is your European colonialism worth now? Gold? This does not excuse what America did. The American government was well into a phase where it should have known what was right. But instead it finished the job that European colonialism had started Not to mention, most of America's founding fathers did not begin life in America owning slaves. And I would add they procured them through European power. Right now we are both defending the indefensible, so please stop. We should figure out how the situation can be helped instead of just spewing what we think we know about history.

[@thomashearne4670]

The clip from sculia is one of my favorites because he says the gridlock the sometimes happens in the federal government is by design. The founding fathers, having just won independence from a tyrant who held too much power, were hesitant to give that much power to another person or group of people. Any argument for giving the government more power was flipped on its head by asking "and how could a tyrant in charge abuse this?". They eventually decided a government capable of sweeping good was also capable of sweeping evil which is why they wanted the government to gridlock as often as needed, because in the event that a group of people sought to make themselves tyrants, it would only take a handful of representatives to gridlock them. Hell, even DC being where it was is by design because they thought the humid and muggy temperatures would make meeting in DC untenable for most of the year unless an emergency was happening. Too bad they couldn't foresee the invention of air conditioning lol

[@gindrinkersline3285]

In Sweden, Parliament (Riksdag) is unicameral. It elects and can depose the prime minister or any other member of the cabinet. The Prime minister can dissolve Parliament. To safeguard against tyranny the government cabinet (Prime Minister + ministers) has no control over the government agencies. The agencies are also autonomous with regard to each other. Sweden can therefore operate without a cabinet. For example, during the current pandemic, it is The Public Health Agency that is "in charge". The director-general (of The Public Health Agency) is the central figure, not the prime minister. Also as a side note, the military forces are under the command of Parliament, not the cabinet.

[@einereinar]

I'd like to point out that after WW2, Germany got a constitution that also asked _how could this be abused_ at every corner, and many other european countries either rewrote or modified their constitutions in this this regard. Yet we don't end up as gridlocked, while in my opinion being more resilient in that regard. The fact that Trump was not impeached is considered very outrageous here. Making it so hard to pass something or passing a vote of confidence can also be a bad thing. In Germany and various other countries, we have for example the constructive vote of no confidence, which requires the opposing movement to put up an alternative candidate, therefore, you don't remove the chancellor/prime minister, but replace them. This enshures that the office doesn't become vacant and also makes the "bar of entry" more flexible: instead of requiring a rather rare 2/3 majority, the parliament has to find somebody they can agree on. Or like the comment above me shows, in some the country doesn't rely on a cabinet to exist. In general, we distinguish more between "the government" and "the state", former only being the cabinet itself and the rest of the executive branch being more independent from them. Sure, the government often appoints their leaders, but they can work on their own and in many cases it is unusual to replace every agency's head with an administration change. And yes, the military usually reports more to the parliament than the government, latter may be the official commander in chiefs but often they can't order a lot without the authorization of parliament. Also, many european countries have rather formal second chambers, but that doesn't mean that they have no power, most often it's just practice here to not interfere too much. Their theoretical power is not always less, just often not used, and more considered an emergency break that if not needed stays silent. Doesn't mean we have less division of power, and usually we have voting systems for our primary chamber that are considered more representative than FPTP. Edit: spelling

[@gindrinkersline3285]

@@einereinar Bravo! What a superb reply. The sentence: "In general, we distinguish more between "the government" and "the state", former only being the cabinet itself and the rest of the executive branch being more independent from them." is spot on. I very much enjoyed reading what you wrote and I hope more people read it too. 👍

[@einereinar]

@@gindrinkersline3285 Thank you very much :)

[@newtonia-uo4889]

@@einereinar I think the issue is that you're comparing apples to oranges, in a state, laws get passed relatively quickly. In the federal government, it is gridlocked by design to ensure that whatever binding action the federal government makes has to be thoroughly discussed and passed by a supermajority. The U.S is a federal union, its basically 50 different nations under one umbrella, and the federal government must operate knowing the delicate balance of each states' "sovereignity". Imagine if the EU passed laws as quickly as a parliamentary unicameral legislature, There's little to no input by the minority government as the majority has the full reign of legislative power. How many nations that was represented by the minority government be sidestepped by a simple majority vote?

[@minimalist_h]

The music at the end was too loud, so it was difficult to understand the text!

[@Ugapiku]

You need to make a 2.0 version with the animations that you mentioned being left out... 3h video let's go!

[@ZombieOfun]

A small note on walking to school in the US: many of us simply can't. The cities and schools are too spread apart. As a child, I couldn't get to school without being driven and now I can't get there as a student teacher without driving.

[@nine1690]

It’s always crazy to talk to Euros who don’t understand this. Like bro… my state is the size of multiple of your countries. And we have the same population.

[@SirEdigarious]

For grade 8-10 I walked 2 hours to get to school and 2 hours to get back (couldn’t be on the bus because I kept getting punched by the bullies lmao) in the winter, the big fancy houses would never shovel the snow off the sidewalks which since I live up north, could go higher than my knees. I had to walk in the road alongside cars and 16 wheelers. It was like, a half stroad or something. It led to an interstate. When I went into 11th grade, I transferred to a different school that was a five minute walk from my house. Crazy shit.

[@Mega-Brick]

​@@nine1690A point that's always fascinated me is, were it not for roads, parking lots, etc, things would actually be quite-a-bit closer together. One extra thing is the US puts more emphasis on lawns and backyards, and while I prefer them, many people seem to feel that sacrificing those for the sake of closer amenities is a trade worth considering.

[@nine1690]

@@Mega-Brick I ain’t sure how me not having a backyard is gonna shorten the 80 miles worth of forests and farmland between my town and our state capital. The US is just bigger, and has less colonized land. You’re explaining why cities and suburbs may be larger, but missing the fact that rural America is where most of the distance comes into play

[@Joesolo13]

@@nine1690 The state size isn't the problem, it's city and town design. Free parking and subsidized roads mean people living in the boondocks get a bunch of services and infrastructure that they don't really justify

[@compromisedssh]

Great video, as always. I noticed in your list of too-lazy-to-animate differences, you switched from government policies to cultural quirks. I sat here for a while, trying to figure out what hugging meant (in terms of government). Then I realized that you'd drifted into culture when I saw tipping.

[@dnielbloqg]

There seems to be a massive cut at 1:53 since there was a leadup animation and the music doesn't line up. Since I can't find a comment mentioning it, was there a correction made that needed cutting out a significant portion of the video or did you just not like that part, and was that cut made before the video was uploaded or after the fact?

[@Ian-bt8dz]

Appreciate the video, should help me on my map test in the future, I always confuse the names.

[@PiercingSight]

The federal responsibility is one of the biggest issues in politics in the US today. Most people aren't even aware of their own state government. The United States ARE 50 sovereign nations in a federated union, and the state governments have MORE power than the federal government. The media focus on the federal government is a massive detriment to our political discussion because people are trying to apply region specific problems and solutions to the entire country.

[@Olivia-W]

There's a lot of truth in that. The States vary quite a bit.

[@TheWaross]

I mean, Canada works just fine and their provinces have a way higher degree of autonomy compared to US states so...

[@KaosKittyStudios]

@@TheWaross What he is saying is not the issue of where the power is but where the people's focus is. Americans, like most of my family for instance, focus almost entirely on the federal government, however where I live in Washington state for instance, alot of people have begun looking at the state government due to strives we have taken to rely on the state more than the federal government. Access to affordable health care has been the big focus and is better than in many other places I have lived. If more Americans focused on and held our State governments responsible things would likely improve. But Americans ignore the power and ability of the State Governments, and the state government officials wait for the federal government to do thigns so they can push blame away from themselves, get re-elected and keep making their massive wages.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

These channels cater to such r***rds. The formal structure is irrelevant if your political elite all conform to the same beliefs.

[@olafowl5678]

The state government absolutely does not have more power than the national government

[@MatthewChenault]

There’s also an issue with the rural/urban divide between each given state. For instance, the Commonwealth of Virginia has ~40% of its population living in rural communities, which is double the national average at ~19%. As a result, the populations of these regions will have dramatically different demand compared to many European nations. After all, a man living in rural Virginia isn’t going to care much for public transport when he’s got his own pick-up truck to get to town whenever he needs to.

[@mormacil]

1) Certain divides equally exist in Europe, look at the still present East/West divide of Germany with vast differences economically. Or an even bigger example, Belgium. Split between what's essentially the Wallonian rust belt and the more service oriented Flanders. They even speak different languages, now that's a divide of needs and customs. 2) A true patriot would care. I don't have kids yet I feel child benefits are necessary. I won't ever get cervix cancer but fully support national health insurance covering it. Taxes are for the benefit of society, not oneself.

[@davidvandervoort4945]

@@mormacil that last sentence is the issue. America is much more family oriented than societal. If it benefits my family I want it, if it harms my family I don't. This can be extended to a regional level. The south wants low property taxes, the north wants low business taxes, those ideas clash and you get low taxes across the board, both want what's best for their "family" everyone else be damned. rural communities don't want their tax money going to public transportation, because they don't benefit, so you get a divide between rural vs urban that ultimately leads to nasty protest and violence.

[@maildaemon]

@@davidvandervoort4945 That's really sad. I do agree with mormacil, though; a true patriot would support the overall bettering of their society.

[@davidvandervoort4945]

@@maildaemon many American patriots consider other Americans apart of there family on an international scale, but on domestic issues the lines are drawn thick. There is no way I am going to pay for someone else medical bills (through taxes) when that money can be used on my family. Society can turn on you instantly, because they don't need you, your family on the other hand does.

[@perthdude21]

​@@davidvandervoort4945 It's interesting to hear the mindset and perspective of Americans. I live in a country with universal health care, and it's very popular. No political party is going to dare to repeal it as it would be politically very unpopular. My thinking on universal health care is that yes, we pay for it through tax (there's a 2% tax levied on income for it), and while it does benefit society, it also benefits you and your family. Without universal health care, health care costs can be very costly, even with private health insurance. You can be left thousands or tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket even with private health insurance. The cost for an individual and their family can be much higher without universal health care than with it.

[@marenaltah]

In europe or to be specific in germany we have local governments that are modeled after the Bund (the german government). They have their own options and power. This local goverments are also called Kommunen that effect the Länderebene (goverment of one german state). So I just dont get the point of 7:55. The Bundestag and Bundesrat are exactly this 2 bodies that can differ. If you could explain what you mean, it would help alot becaue I want to understand :)

[@nathankongstad8524]

clicked because of the danish cube lol KOM SÅ DANMARK!!!!

[@MJ46.91]

man the work it takes just to make the animations you make has to be immense, yet it's so impressive, and it deserves all the support it can get, thank you for the great content

[@tyberfen5009]

Once again an outstanding production, that covers some often overlooked issues

[@josepheridu3322]

This video seems to focus only on Western Europe as "Europe", not Central or Eastern Europe.

[@89Awww]

Many American proponents of socialism (including Bernie Sanders) inaccurately cite the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as examples of successful socialism. Those nations are not socialist. They are capitalist countries with free market economies which also have vast social security nets with many generous welfare programs that are supported by extremely high taxes. They are examples of *social democracy.* The Nordic social democracies are as successful as they are because they can be. Their combined land area (the five sovereign states, not including Greenland or the Faroe Islands) is 509,526 square miles, with Sweden being the largest (173,860 sq mi). However, the United States' total area is 3,796,742 square miles. In other words, the United States' area is more than seven times larger than all of the Nordic countries put together. None of them are bigger than Texas (total area: 268,596.46 sq mi). If the entire United States were the size of an average Nordic country, it could also be a compact unitary state with one central governing body instead of a vast federal state where powers and responsibilities need to be shared between the national and local governments. Additionally, their combined population is, according to recent estimates, 27,608,486 with Sweden being the most populated (10,402,070, according to 2020 estimates). The United Sates' population is approximately 331,893,745, which is more than twelve times larger than the Nordic countries' combined population. None of them have more people than Ohio (approx. 11,799,448 people). This is due in large part to the colder climate of Northern Europe which causes the Nordic countries to have some of the lowest population densities in the world. Large portions of their populations live close to their capital cities. Their social securities nets can provide for the needs of their citizens because five or ten million people is a more reasonable burden than over 300 million, which is insurmountable. The demographics of people who live in the Nordic countries are also important. Although each of them have seen increases of immigration in recent years, they are very culturally, linguistically and ethnically homogeneous compared to the United States and a large amount of the immigration they experience occurs among themselves. Such homogeneity enables the Nordic societies to enjoy much greater cohesion and cooperation between classes and politicians than the United States. Their national legislatures are unicameral (meaning only one chamber) because their law-makers don't need as many checks and balances, since all of their consituents have more shared consensus. The United States Congress by contrast, is a bicameral legislature with two chambers (the House of Representatives and the Senate) which slowly pass legislation but fairly represent the highly diverse segments of American society. In conclusion: The Nordic countries are doing so well because their Nordic Model is a variety of Social Democracy which was specifically tailored for them but it's not a one-size-fits-all system. Social democracy works best when it is implemented in smaller, less populated and less diverse societies such as the Nordic countries. If the United States were to adopt Social Democracy, as implemented in the Nordic Model, it would inevitably collapse because of the sheer size, the highly diverse nature of American society and the peculiar needs of all Americans. Not all nations are built the same and it's not fair to look at the United States through the lens of a Nordic social democracy. The United States is far from perfect but that doesn't mean the policies of Nordic countries would be perfect for Americans either.

[@nonyafkinbznes1420]

"If the United States were to adopt Social Democracy, as implemented in the Nordic Model, it would inevitably collapse" You see, that's their goal.

[@89Awww]

@@nonyafkinbznes1420 Thank you for taking the time to read my comment! Most people wouldn't do that before writing a reply and yes, I agree with your statement of that being their goal.

[@eshankulkarni2843]

I can't believe I had to scroll so far to see this comment. Great insight.

[@89Awww]

@@eshankulkarni2843 Thank you for your kind words! 😊

[@buddermonger2000]

I think the biggest thing that the last clip hit on is that the US is an intentionally disunited and slow system and thus really only responds to very long cultural shifts which leads to a lot of mindless bickering. I think it's also worth noting that as a bloc, the US states are very much the equivalent of the EU countries in terms of level of governance which makes the focus on the federal government make even less sense overall. Individual states should probably embrace that and take more power but with the focus on the federal things won't change that way.

[@wich1]

Actually, that last clip is entirely misleading in my opinion. Yes the executive and legislative are not separated in the same way in many European countries, but that comparison falls down in equating a PM to the US president. The US president has (in my eyes) ridiculous powers with executive orders left and right, each president undoing and outdoing the one before. European PMs have no such power, decisions can only be taken with the legislative as a whole. And that is where the other major difference comes in, which is that most European nations don’t have a legislative (voting) system that leads to a two-party state. These nations always have governments formed out of coalitions of competing parties and/or minority governments that need support from parties outside the government to get anything passed at all. On top of that, as time goes on there is increasing fracturing of parties and increasing difficulty of forming coalitions/governments. As a result I believe that both the US system and the European system result in slow progress in the long run. In the US because there is a constant flipping back and forth giving a volatile, but on the whole slow moving system. In Europe there is a much more stable, but very difficult to get moving system resulting from the endless amounts of consensus needed in the legislative. On the whole I prefer the European system as although it is slow, generally I see it moving in the direction of good. The US system on the other hand seems to allow for slow movement towards the bad to be hidden by the constant flipping back and forth. But then, I’m European, so maybe I am biased…

[@honkhonk8009]

US States are supposed to function like European countries. America itself has been a litteral Union for basically forever. The best thing about American Union-Members/States is the fact that they all actively contribute to the country, and are perfectly fine if their state loses out a little bit in favour of some other state. Zero animosity betwene them. Thats probably why its easier to setup business across america, than it is Europe.

[@ryanm2279]

@@wich1 very good points made, however movement toward good or bad is fairly arbitrary. The US political system is suffering at the moment from volatility, but this is the exception and not the norm. Intense party rivalry is driving a downward rhetorical spiral but in terms of actual legislation, it’s stagnant. For most of US history having only two parties forced the political system to moderate as both parties had to find consensus with a lot of people and there was little chance of extremists coming to power. While we are going through something of an existential crisis at the moment that will inevitably pass, however this is not the first or the last time it will happen . With that, stability will inevitably return.

[@wich1]

@@ryanm2279 I do not share your optimism, I believe any system that devolves into a two-party state is doomed to fail

[@ryanm2279]

@@wich1 What is your evidence for this? It must be remembered that there are other two party states in effect that don’t appear as such. From a European perspective it may be easy to think that the two US parties are similar to European parties when in effect they function as coalitions. The two party system is less than ideal, I agree, but remember there is nothing in the US system that mandates two parties. It’s an unfortunate result of our voting system which can be changed.

[@FAKETV96]

This was an amazing video and I feel like not many people address the problem of american kids having very little freedom. That was a huge issue for me being raised in the suburbs.

[@Orcahhh]

yea, but then again it can be a problem in some parts of europe too, namely italy i grew up in paris, and went to an italian school i could basically do as i wanted, just had to tell my parents where i was, but could go pretty much anywhere in the city on my own if that's what i wanted most of my friends, on the other hand, didnt had that possibilty, and where closely watched by the cliché but sort of truth "overprotective italian mother" to this day (i'm 19) some of my friends can't really do much without their parents being either there, or close by for example my best friend went to university in the netherlands, his ENTIRE family followed him (grandma who speaks neither english or dutch included), while i went to canada on my own instead

[@beepbop6542]

@@Orcahhh Well that's more a social problem. In Italy if your parents let you a teen or even a child can walk through the whole city and take public transport easily. In the US you usually HAVE to be driven by car.

[@vokasimid5330]

That's why college experience in US are celebrated

[@kungszigfrids1482]

It should just be common sense that children after the age of 7 dont need adult supervision.

[@kungszigfrids1482]

@@vokasimid5330 While in Europe it is not, for do to more work you have less freedom than in school.

[@StarryNightGazing]

WTF is Scalia blabbering about the Italian Senate being HONORIFIC??? Italy has what is called PERFECT BICAMERALISM, that means that House and Senate have EXACTLY THE SAME PREROGATIVES!! What an incredible display of ignorance.

[@moherrmann1997]

thanks for the vid

[@PikeProductions23]

I thought this was going to be another shallow "aMeRiCa bAd" video that is littered throughout KZbin. I'm very happy to see that you kept things analytical and thoughtful. Much respect

[@tomasavendanozacarias5205]

As a non american (usa) I am tired of all the vids that kinda boil down to "WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING WRONG" I already know all that is bad with america, NOW I want all that is good about it

[@USERZ123XD]

@@tomasavendanozacarias5205 sadly there isn't that much good about it that is why America is in constant crisis. Like you can find good thing in stuffs like travel vlog or food channels. But good in terms of government policies? Not really

[@br8745]

@@tomasavendanozacarias5205 There is plenty that is great about America, along with its struggles, just as anywhere else. Stay away from the politicians and the self flaggelating, and you will find many great things. The individualism, dynamism, scenery/nature, and diversity would be a start :).

[@2.5chainz]

@@USERZ123XD america is in constant chaos because Americans LOVE they’re own chaos. Americans weirdly want to see the downfall of America you can see this in all those American films dating back to the 90s about some villain, natural disaster, alien threat, government attack wiping out cities and crippling the country. People talk about how America is on its last legs or about to collapse but Americans especially, have been saying this since the 60s maybe onwards. Maybe it’s a certain pessimism or boredom that comes with being the biggest superpower and it’s all been emphasized with social media.

[@USERZ123XD]

@@2.5chainz Americans don't want chaos, they are weirdly obsessed because they are subjected to constant misinformation campaigns, the problem with America isn't censorship, it's information overload, instead of having censorship through blocking stuff, the United States does it through barrages of mis info that real information gets muddled with tons and tons of miss Infos.

[@unitedfederation262]

For such a short video it does cover a lot of topics and explains it better than most people who make longer videos covering theses topics. Well done 👍

[@amistradd5392]

*Viewer feedback - Can you use clear, contrasting colour for next video, because my eye can't see it clearly e. g 1:47

[@Calebakeenhughes]

Who edited and created those drawing animations? Would like to make an offer

[@seth2815]

This has such amazing production value, I really hope you gain some popularity, you more then deserve it.

[@dravendubz8731]

Great video, keep up the great work and research; these types of complicated topics are great to get people involved in understanding the social structures around us

[@Andrei-gg3so]

I appreciate how you started your video and how you didn’t make a generalised claim that all european states provide quality social programs. I keep seeing this trend in the media where european countries and EU countries are seen as great over all, but its not like that. For example, in Romania we pay taxes for social programs (medical and what not) but our system is corrupt, unregulated and unorganised in some regards. We pay tax for medical care but we lack doctors and medical infrastructure and where we do have some medical personnel there is so much demand for medical care that you dont get treatment unless you bribe. Eventually you when you bring into account the bribes you payed so that a doctor even looks in your direction, you end up paying close to the private sector rates. And you can encounter the need to bribe even in the private sector. Just imagine having a serious medical problem on top of being financially unstable. I know lots of folks that died waiting to be cared for. Then is the disregard for cleanliness in hospitals. I used to work in the field emergency department and i had victims refusing hospitalisation because they feared they might die from infections in the hospital rather than the current injury. There were recently cases where doctors reused internal defibrillators from dead patients on new patients so that they got more coin in their pocket.

[@officialpanasonic6244]

America could definitley learn how to do public transit like Euopre

[@raddude585]

One thing I always find interesting in these discussions is that it has always seemed to me that there is an element of this Europe compared to the US thing that I never see discussed. Much of the US culture is melded from a number of different waves of people immigrating from various places around the world at different times and for much of the US's history it was largely various places in Europe so it stands to reason people might be tempted to compare the regions culturally. One thing I often see overlooked in this is that there is a self-selection bias in the desire to uproot your life from wherever you currently are and settle in a place halfway around the world to a region that would have generally been thought of as a frontier to some extent. The sorts of people who would make such a choice are likely going to be people who are disproportionately fiercely independent and often likely people who are going to tend to push back against whatever cultural norm they perceive themselves from leaving (otherwise you presumably would not have chosen to go in the first place). I would argue that the American culture as a "frontier" settled by people who to some extent self-selected for this endeavor likely played a pretty big role in establishing the independent and decentralized mindset of much of the US culture and then as that culture developed and became a known commodity presumably the people choosing to immigrate there afterward were likely disproportionately people who found themselves attracted to that sort of mindset and ethic. I don't see it as particularly odd that a mishmash of people actively choosing to leave Europe (and of course other places around the world at points) for what from their perspective is either a frontier or an established country with a reputation for fierce individualist mindsets would end up with a fairly different overall world view (despite having a lot of shared cultural heritage) and culture than the places they left given that you could frame it to some extent as being filled with people that pretty much by definition did not make that same choice. It pretty much fits the concept of a self-selection bias from a cultural development standpoint exactly from my point of view

[@mustang8206]

Finally, a European who actually understands.

[@richardhall5489]

Hi Daniel Have you considered this issue in terms of the countries culture's shadows (in the Jungian sense)? The frontier model you allude to seems to me to be a useful myth- based on the idea that there was basically nothing there when the settlers arrived. Recently it occured to me that the USA and Canada are built on violence - the violence that the settlers carried out on the people that were already there and the landscape and their natural resources. This includes the violence of slavery and the consequential racism. Many of the people that left Europe for Canada and the USA did not do so by choice ( for example Jews fleeing Europe before and during World War 2) and consequently arrived traumatised. Perhaps this is why America has a fear based culture and fear based foreign policies. You can achieve a lot in terms of making money and accumulating property when your motivation is trying to avoid the hell your ancestors experioenced. I live in Europe and feel an ancient connection to the land. This connection is grounding and nurturing. It seems to me that the same ancient connection is only available to the native /aboriginal / first nation people in North America. I apologise in advance if this is a half baked over simplified version of an existing well founded academic argument. I'm not an academic. I drive a delivery van and practice yoga and meditation. I'm not anti American. I came to this perspective through trying to understand certain perspectives presented by North American Jewish Budhist teachers. Try this as a litmus test - how does your frontier model explain the seemingly endless number of school shootings? Is it a product of fierce independence?

[@raddude585]

@@richardhall5489 Well my point wasn't so much that it was a frontier but rather that it was seen as a frontier in the eyes of many of the people choosing to go there. IT isn't intended as some sort of grand overarching explanation for every element of a culture but rather a potential root for a very specific element of the culture that I think is often overlooked.

[@raddude585]

@@richardhall5489 Any narrative attempting to explain the entirety of a culture is almost certainly laughably oversimplified at best

[@raddude585]

@@richardhall5489 Although I certainly agree that North America was settled/conquered/however we are referring to it in an extremely violent way and that that is certainly a common narrative of events likely because it is largely true but I'm also not entirely sure that there are many areas of human habitation in the world that one group of people didn't come in and do much the same if you go far enough back. Admittedly much of that is far further back in history and I suppose could very well be argued would therefore have far less impact on the modern culture than these examples. As far as connection to land goes that is an interesting point though I'm a little unclear exactly why we are making the assumption that a person's ability to feel attached to the land of their birth is in some way intrinsically tied to historical events that none of the people in question in the Americas or Europe ever experienced. I suppose I can see a cultural element to the point to an extent but it seems a little bit of a stretch to me.

[@AndreasNesgaard]

I really appreciate the graphical designs of your videos and also the subtle background music. You manage to make the videos both calming and engaging. It's a really nice touch to show the durations of each clip of footage you're including. And it's nice to have "dark mode" in some interesting videos ☺️ Keep it up - kind regards.

[@ferruccioveglio8090]

Mr. Scalia, the italian Senate is not honorific, it has the same power of the "Camera dei deputati", just the half of components: every law must be approved in the same form by both of them. And in France the President IS the executive (the prime minister being a sort of employee) and he's elected in a separate election, different from the legislative one.

[@ShadowScotsman]

i hate to be "that" guy but why are the graphs at 1:35 starting from 7 or 7.5 and not 0, kinda misleading since it makes to gap between the top1% and bottom 50% look bigger than it really is.

[@thegreengrotto1662]

i really appreciate you having subtitles as i'm hard of hearing and it makes watching videos much more engaging and comfortable

[@79treefrog]

Very fascinating video. I am 20 years old and I am from Kentucky. For the first ten years of my life, I lived on a private horse farm where my dad worked. He did not make a lot of money, but the house was part of the job, so no rent, mortgage, the electric bill, water bill, etc. We had a big back and front yard and the farm itself is very large with a few other houses spread within it, some 2-3 miles apart. From the age of probably 6+, I was allowed to roam the farm and go to the pond or to my grandmother's house (a mile to a mile and a half away) or to just hang out with my friend on our bikes. It was a very unique period of my life because, after that, we moved to the city. The city is fairly poor but not impoverished. There is little crime and fear of crime so I was allowed to go out by myself and walk around, but besides going to the park, there was not a lot to do and I did not have a lot of nearby friends. By high school, I would sometimes walk to school and in Senior year, I would lie about having work so I could take work block, which meant I got to leave halfway through the day for work. Not having a car, I would simply walk home. I know about the differences between my state and childhood compared to others, but it's insane to realize that there are millions of Americans that... Can't walk home from school. Or go out to the park. Driving is a necessity in so many American cities because of its awful design. The fear of crime is also extremely prevalent throughout the US, and even in some places of Kentucky, but fortunately not where I'm from. I'm not sure what the point of my comment was, but it felt interesting to share my experiences and see how it's different from others within the same nation. Thank you for the great video.

[@littlemissmello]

Excuse me, what the hell is work block? I'm one of these alleged "Europeans", I have no idea what it means haha

[@maxcohen4891]

@@littlemissmello Huge thread necro but, a work block or off roll is just a way for high school seniors who are less than a full enrollment from graduating on time to work a job part time or participate in an extracurricular.

[@littlemissmello]

@@maxcohen4891 thanks! Does that mean that kids can just decide not to take their classes or whatever? If by their final year they haven't taken everything yet? How do you ensure all kids go to school and graduate?

[@merovmerov7631]

He sold me his video with "sugary bread" and "affordable cheese."

[@jamesguthrie9454]

One issue at 7:50 you said that the state legislatures are modeled after the federal government. But this is correct. Rather, several states had an equal bicameral legislature and this was adopted by the federal government. For example Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey all had separately elected chambers, but all of them had the governor elected by both chambers

[@elijahweber8786]

I think the whole lack of child independence thing is only a problem in large cities or suburbs of those cities. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, the kind of place where you know almost everyone. While waiting for my grandma to drive me home after school (we lived wayy out in the country surrounded by trees and farms definitely not walkable), I would walk around town maybe go get a coke from the vending machine, chill at the old train station, play with friends. I was born in 2001 so wayy after the whole 80's fiasco of child abductions. That how it is for most people in small towns. I mean yeah occasionally you'll see one or two paranoid families that don't let their children out as often but for the most part the rural lifestyle offers a lot more independence in the US.

[@JoeMama-dj6lc]

I also feel like less child freedom is more of an issue today then it was back then where everyone wasn't nearly as paranoid.

[@Brotherjohn56]

I’m at that age now and I live in a rural small town in KY. Before I got my license, walking was impossible unless you were in downtown, the rest is just roads and more roads. I always have to drive to go anywhere here. I guess it just depends on if you get lucky on what small town you live in lol.

[@Kaiserboo1871]

I think it’s because US cities are impoverished crime ridden shit holes. I wouldn’t trust my kids to be alone in those places.

[@Brotherjohn56]

@@Kaiserboo1871 dawg you obviously don’t live in the states, everyone can tell from this comment. but by all means, take your kids to russia, oooh maybe north korea

[@Kaiserboo1871]

@@Brotherjohn56 I live in the states, and most US cities are crime ridden shit holes. Especially now thanks to woke DA’s refusing to enforce the law and instead opt to legalize crime.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

Also, There's Public Transport and Walkability. How Walkable a City is determines a Child's Ability to go outside alone.

[@Victor-tl4dk]

It also goes the other way. When no children or people walk city planners see no reason to make cities walkable.

[@rockingttalent3666]

@@Victor-tl4dk The other way can't happen on its own without.

[@Victor-tl4dk]

@@rockingttalent3666 Exactly, it's a cycle.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

@@Victor-tl4dk A Vicious Cycle, if you will. Car Dependancy promotes itself.

[@-caesarian-6078]

True, and it’s also a result of rural land prices and urban history. Most European cities were fully developed back when walking was the only practical way to move around, while most American urban centers were always built around the car. Also while a property developer in Denmark would have to spend a significant amount of their initial investment buying up small plots of farmland, massive swathes of mostly unused plains could be easily purchased by an American developer, making the American urban sprawl of houses cheaper than a modern European apartment complex. And this is just the economic side of it too. When it comes to culture, “the American dream” is still commonplace here. Renting apartments is viewed as (at best) a temporary solution until you have decided where you want to live and work your career, where you will buy a suburban house for your family alone. In Europe, renting or leasing a city apartment for years at a time is normal, or even a practical necessity (given small road networks and high car/gas taxes) if you want to work in a city. I’m certain that people on both sides view the other system as being either wasteful or depressing, but I know their are also those who would life like the other side, if given the choice. It’s just the result of geography, economy, and culture.

[@lelandunruh7896]

I'm a Texan who studied political science in the Czech Republic and law in Switzerland (at Scalia's alma mater, no less). My wife is Swiss and studied theology and education in Israel, where we met. The sheer amount of diversity just in those few places I named is immense, and I think people really don't appreciate how contingent policy is on culture, tradition, and even things like internal diversity. It is usually more complicated than you think.

[@CountRedrain]

0:57 Seems a bit weird you divided Spain into "groups" but not the Scots, Brittany, Bavaria, etc... Add to that you put down the Valencian State as Catalan. We have our own language and customs mate, which makes it a tad arbitrary. Apart from that fantastic video!

[@ashtons.2483]

While there are huge differences between the US and Europe, I do think it can still be worthwhile to examine policies in one to try to determine the best course of action for the other. Many of the differences that do exist between the US and Europe were caused by policies implemented in the past, and both areas are populous and wealthy from a global perspective. With context, we can learn a lot about not only what policies accomplish, and can determine what changes should be made to better fit a certain place.

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

For now they're different, but they're growing closer to each other. The EU is very busy federalizing. The EU is getting it's own Border Patrol and we're slowly heading into an EU wide minimum wage. Monetary policy is also getting standardized which is going to hollow out the Nordic models. Healthcare is still a state thing here, but this was also the case in America before Obama. COVID has proven the European healthcare system doesn't work. No cooperation, insufficient coordination and essentially no proper healthcare for treatment outside state. Just like housing. There's an EU wide housing program and that's all about making housing unaffordable while Biden has done everything to prevent evictions.

[@LeoniasSvk]

@@hendrikdependrik1891 home ownership is vastly different, especially in some countries easyli reaching 70%

[@qinby1182]

That Europe tax billionaires more is a FALSE statement. I live in Sweden we do not tax wealth and we do not have any estate tax. Do not know much about other countries tax systems but since EU countries do "compete" with each other i asume it is more or less the same over the continent. The reason the USA only can agree on tax breaks and sanstions is because of the 2 (One) party system captured by corporations. Europe consists of multi party states where capital does not select the political winners but to a greater degree is decided by the people.

[@dunnowy123]

I don't agree that there's NO value in learning from Europe, but...the reality is, most things that "work" in Europe will not and cannot work in the United States. Kraut had an EXCELLENT video about why universal healthcare is probably never going to happen in the USA for this very reason. Or, how different in cultural psychology, political structure, and geography make certain policy proposals unfeasible.

[@MrPicky]

Funny how the US assisted countries in Europe after WWII in so many ways, like how to adopt policies, politics and economy as taught in the US. Europe (at least the "Western" part) has then "mastered it" while USA totally went off its own course...

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

I think planning is a very interesting theory for why kids in USA are not allowed to be on their own is. Car centric design of cities stifles teens more than gives them the needed freedom. Especially it's visible in suburbs. Car centric design and overzealous zoning creates unnecessarly long distances which are dangerous to deal with on foot or bike So without cars teens can't go to school or visit their friends. They need their parents assistance until they're 16. In most of Europe it's not an issue (at worst they take public transport). That's why in European many countries only 18+ people are allowed to drive a car

[@honkhonk8009]

Its not as bad as youtubers say it is. trust me. I live in Canada. On side of the city is old, and has human centered urban planning. The other side where my friends live, is newer and more suburb styled. Its litterally not that bad. Bus system here is good, and compensates perfectly. Americans and Canadians love nature and wilderness. If you force people to live without a good backyard, and the ability to have a garden or grow trees, or mow their lawn, not everyone gonna like it. Theres a reason why American billionaires have ranches and hundreds of acres of land, while European billionaires just have a mansion

[@th3oryO]

@@treyshaffer 'more developed' bullshit. Learned different lessons and in different ways, yes. Would you say kids in Nigeria are hyperdeveloped because of all the hardships and life lessons they had to learn early in life? Your comment comes off as Eurocentric and incredibly naieve, and I'm not even American.

[@honkhonk8009]

@@treyshaffer I dont think its fair to say mentally developed. I think its better to say their more matured yk. But in my opinion, its not as bad as some people make it out to be. Some parents still let go alot, and let their kids have real life experiences. Its mostly the suburb kids that end up without it.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

In the USA, there is a Minimum Number of Parking Spaces per Building. In Europe, There's a Maximum Number of Parking Spaces per building.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

@@honkhonk8009 So, in Nigeria, the Average 16 Years old is Maturer than the Average Western 17 Year old due to their Different levels of Childhood hardships?

[@motatheautist2225]

That was an amazing video

[@Harrison.DuRant]

I grew up on a farm in South Carolina. I was riding ATVs at 6 years old and stayed outside until 10 PM almost daily during the summer months before I started working on the farm. Cities/Suburbs and the rest of America are almost like different counrties in the same country sometimes.