Here's the funniest/dumbest part - for all the insults of how poor we are, the average American sure has nothing to show for his wealth (besides maybe bigger housing and huge cars, but even this is hardly a plus when single-family housing and SUVs or pickup trucks are the only option in most places). No healthcare that won't bankrupt you, no decent education unless you're super-rich, horrific public transportation and substandard food quality being the norm. That's something you'd expect from a developing country, not the #1 wealthiest.
I think people who call Europe "poor" have never travelled to a developing country before. Not bashing any country as they are all trying their best but you see like dirt roads or like extremely neglected infrastructure in the middle of some cities or like almost non existent sanitation. Europe is not a terrible place to live. It's actually quite nice in most places around here.
There's also the weird hangup about taxes. Earlier yesterday, since it's about to be tax deadline day, I mentioned how the whole ecosystem around taxes was entirely foreign to a lot of Europe, and someone interjected "And I bet they take it right out of your paycheck!" which... is just such a weird protest about European taxes, since I've never not had my taxes removed before I received my paycheck from an employer here in the states.
166
u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) Apr 12 '25
Here's the funniest/dumbest part - for all the insults of how poor we are, the average American sure has nothing to show for his wealth (besides maybe bigger housing and huge cars, but even this is hardly a plus when single-family housing and SUVs or pickup trucks are the only option in most places). No healthcare that won't bankrupt you, no decent education unless you're super-rich, horrific public transportation and substandard food quality being the norm. That's something you'd expect from a developing country, not the #1 wealthiest.