European countries vs USA

[PurpleTree]

She‘s good imo

 

[Rafael Thundercat]

Someone explain this

Russia

https://newrepublic.com/article/180630/russia-corruption-network-europe-buying-politicians-america?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SF_TNR&utm_source=Threads

[PurpleTree]

View of an American who moved to Spain

[Twentyfirst]

Europe is only good to live in if you are from America lol

American money, mindset, and upbringing going to Europe is a deadly trifecta 

I have rarely been impressed by the lives of Europeans they seem to waste a lot of time doing insignificant things and they hold onto money like there isn't an infinite cash printer...boring

[Letho]

On 2/15/2025 at 9:23 AM, ivory said:

I just wanted to hear from some Europeans on this forum. How would you compare health care, crime levels, cost of living, wages, consumer protections, and education to the USA?

Right now, I think all of these things are crazy in the US. It seems like we're getting dumber, cost of living is out of control, health is no longer valued, and companies can do whatever the fuck they want. I'm not sure about crime rates here, but in the US Incarceration is a business because private companies run the prison system.

People say that want to live here, but WTF?

Would love to hear your thoughts

@ivory I can't believe this is even a comparison, roughly 60% of U.S adults have at least one chronic health condition and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention around 40% of U.S adults have two or more chronic conditions. Unless you're a tourist, there's nothing really to compare, Europe even though there's many countries, wins hands down. Indirectly, this is what eats America from the inside out, no pun unintended there either as more than 42% of the population are classified as obese and an additional 30% are overweight, meaning roughly 70% or more U.S adults overall are above a normal weight range, no doubt a relationship there with the chronic diseases. These guys invented popcorn, burger, coca cola and film nights and then were the first to create a celebrity culture around that so what do you expect, now as no coincidence they lead the world in fractured ideological movements because of their infectious  taste for delusion coupled with a greater number of heartbeats (not push-ups) per minute for all the wrong reasons. Make America (Great) Slim Again, the problem is they love their burgers large over there, really large and because the temperature is dialed way up on their neural rate per thought they may interpret that as bigger burgers. So I guarantee you, perhaps you can even research this already that by the end of the Trump presidency, burger sales without a doubt and perhaps sizes especially waist sizes, will have gone up. Turn off Fox News Kool-Aid, get a dog and take it for a walk. I can't believe how oblivious they are to reality, I've got some people I love from the USA though, that's something I couldn't end this comment without expressing.

[BlueOak]

On 28/02/2025 at 8:57 PM, Twentyfirst said:

Europe is only good to live in if you are from America lol

American money, mindset, and upbringing going to Europe is a deadly trifecta 

I have rarely been impressed by the lives of Europeans they seem to waste a lot of time doing insignificant things and they hold onto money like there isn't an infinite cash printer...boring

Because there is a recession on. Nobody wants to say it because they've realised on some level that it creates a worse version of it. People spend less, they act in a more conservative way financially and that means cash doesn't circulate.

So we'll say we are coming out of harder times. I honestly believe we've gone over the hump, despite the fact some price rises are yet to come.

*If anyone has an above average income, they will never fully understand that 50% of the country is having a harder time than they are. That's a huge chunk of the culture, politic (foreign and domestic), social dynamics, etc going on. Always raise the base and average up if you want a more stable society. This doesn't have to be financially either, financial assistance or betterment alone tends to just decrease the value of existing currencies, which doesn't help long term. Its everything else you can possibly think of.

Edited March 2 by BlueOak

[Twentyfirst]

28 minutes ago, BlueOak said:

Because there is a recession on. Nobody wants to say it because they've realised on some level that it creates a worse version of it. People spend less, they act in a more conservative way financially and that means cash doesn't circulate.

So we'll say we are coming out of harder times. I honestly believe we've gone over the hump, despite the fact some price rises are yet to come.

*If anyone has an above average income, they will never fully understand that 50% of the country is having a harder time than they are. That's a huge chunk of the culture, politic (foreign and domestic), social dynamics, etc going on. Always raise the base and average up if you want a more stable society. This doesn't have to be financially either, financial assistance or betterment alone tends to just decrease the value of existing currencies, which doesn't help long term. Its everything else you can possibly think of.

I met a French guy with a million bucks in the bank complaining how expensive $120 nike shoes were and I was like what? That's a normal price

I am not talking about the economy but the mindset. They aren't as ambitious, see building a business as some chore rather than a fun way to live, avoid money or talking about money, hold onto their euros out of fear, negotiate with 3rd worlders selling a trinket for 1 dollar on the beach, etc etc 

I have been to poorer countries with better money mindsets. The internet is the globalizer why aren't any Europeans making massive money online like the Americans are. You know what Americans do during a recession? Spend themselves into oblivion using debt lol

Even most Americans struggle more than Europeans when growing up but then escape poverty and move up classes out of sheer hard work and will 

Edited March 2 by Twentyfirst

[zazen]

[zazen]

 

Europe has been dwelling in a self-imposed strategic twilight for decades. When you outsource your vigilance to an empire's pitbull for generations, your geopolitical vision atrophies like an unused muscle. The continent that once possessed the sharpest strategic minds has willingly developed diplomatic glaucoma, content to let America scan the horizon while they focused on internal bureaucratic minutiae.

This dependency didn't happen by accident. It was cultivated, nurtured, and enforced through a complex system of carrots and sticks – NATO bases, financial entanglements, intelligence sharing that was really intelligence capturing. The arrangement suited the empire perfectly: Europe remained comfortably blind while their resources were redirected, their industries captured, and their sovereignty quietly hollowed out.

Europe's strategic myopia is now so advanced that they can't distinguish between their own interests and Washington's commands. They've forgotten how to assess threats independently, how to engage with neighbors directly, how to calculate the true cost of following imperial directives. They've traded their binoculars for a blindfold and called it security.

It's time for Europe to reclaim its sight – to dust off those spectacles that have been gathering cobwebs since the end of the Cold War. The continent needs to rediscover its capacity for independent strategic thinking, for seeing beyond the narrow frame the empire has provided. The alternative is continued blindness while being led toward conflicts that serve another's interests.

The carrots that once seemed so appealing have revealed themselves as the most expensive meal in history. Meanwhile, the stick is no longer just looming – it's firmly pressed against European backs, driving them toward economic suicide and unnecessary confrontation with their neighbors.

True vision requires the courage to open eyes that have grown comfortable in darkness. It requires the willingness to see uncomfortable truths: that treating your largest energy supplier and natural trading partner as an existential enemy might not be the strategic masterstroke it was sold as. That perhaps the greatest threat to European prosperity and security wasn't coming from the East after all.

Europe must rebuild its atrophied strategic vision before it's marched blindly into one last, final abyss from which there is no return – all while believing they're walking toward the light.

[sholomar]

On 2/28/2025 at 2:57 PM, Twentyfirst said:

Europe is only good to live in if you are from America lol

American money, mindset, and upbringing going to Europe is a deadly trifecta 

I have rarely been impressed by the lives of Europeans they seem to waste a lot of time doing insignificant things and they hold onto money like there isn't an infinite cash printer...boring

Sound like the place I should be living. I get tired of the excesses of the US and people spending recklessly and then getting a bail out from the perpetual money printer. I'm a boring person though.  I can see the disadvantages of this overly fiscally conservative mindset and risk aversion though.

Edited March 2 by sholomar

[Twentyfirst]

1 hour ago, sholomar said:

Sound like the place I should be living. I get tired of the excesses of the US and people spending recklessly and then getting a bail out from the perpetual money printer. I'm a boring person though.  I can see the disadvantages of this overly fiscally conservative mindset and risk aversion though.

If you go to Europe and spend like an American but balance it out responsibly it's unreal how much fun can be had. Theres places that people are already spending a lot of money like Mykonos and I forget a couple more spots but the advantage doesn't exist there. Everywhere else it does though. Just spend more than the natives and most of the tourists and you'll suck up all the fun but don't go into american style debt

[BlueOak]

On 02/03/2025 at 10:14 AM, Twentyfirst said:

I met a French guy with a million bucks in the bank complaining how expensive $120 nike shoes were and I was like what? That's a normal price

I am not talking about the economy but the mindset. They aren't as ambitious, see building a business as some chore rather than a fun way to live, avoid money or talking about money, hold onto their euros out of fear, negotiate with 3rd worlders selling a trinket for 1 dollar on the beach, etc etc 

I have been to poorer countries with better money mindsets. The internet is the globalizer why aren't any Europeans making massive money online like the Americans are. You know what Americans do during a recession? Spend themselves into oblivion using debt lol

Even most Americans struggle more than Europeans when growing up but then escape poverty and move up classes out of sheer hard work and will 

Can I speak plain.

Because money is less of a god here. This is not an insult I have no other word that would substitute. If I said cultural differences, that's too weak a definition. Almost every decision Americans make seems to be based on money. I am somewhat like this and I have a great friend saying things like, just go with the flow, that I overthink it.

[Twentyfirst]

32 minutes ago, BlueOak said:

Can I speak plain.

Because money is less of a god here. This is not an insult I have no other word that would substitute. If I said cultural differences, that's too weak a definition. Almost every decision Americans make seems to be based on money. I am somewhat like this and I have a great friend saying things like, just go with the flow, that I overthink it.

Well ya Americans are obsessed with money and materialistic consumers. Still funner hanging out with them over boring stingy Europeans