171–180 of 202 posts
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I have been in most capitals in Europe, and in quite a few cities of USA, and totally agree with the story. Of course there are some individual exceptions, but he is talking about the feeling from different cities, the state of public transportation or healthcare, which IMHO is fairly generalizable.
You are doing it too. Our lives are not random samples.
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Medical bankruptcy isn't really a thing in the rest of the world. That's part of the safety net, and it's hard to reconcile with the notion of 'personal responsibility'. > I don't expect everyone else to pay for my family's bad luck / misfortune If you take out an insurance contract, that's exactly what you're doing.
> Medical bankruptcy isn't really a thing in the rest of the world. Agreed, it's a problem, but for the average person with a job who elects an insurance plan (the vast majority of Americans,) it's not an issue. My sister-in-law spent 4 years being treated for cancer before passing away last year. Despite running up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bills between chemo, multiple surgeries, etc, it did not ban…
From: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/study-fewer-employers-offe...
>Nationwide, 83.8 percent of workers in 2015 had jobs that offered insurance
In other words, 16.2% of workers have jobs that don't offer insurance. That's 3 in 20.
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> The lack of a decent safety net in the US scares the crap out of me. What kind of safety net? No you're not going to lose your job and draw unemployment benefits equal to your salary for years on end. This is also the land of personal responsibility. It can be scary at times. My 6 year old son has a chronic illness (type 1 diabetes) and his supplies cost an exorbitant amount of money. If somehow I was unable to fin…
Your son having diabetes is not the same as say you getting an illness that prevents you from working. Or an illness for a child that requires more attention, maybe round the clock care. And if you work for minimum wage AND you have a child with diabetes its a very different story. Most of the people hanging around HN are technology related, some of us have a tendency to be a little egocentric. To compare your situat…
We've been fortunate to pay off our student loans and made the conscious decision when we first got married that if we didn't have the cash, we weren't going to borrow cash from our future selves to pay for it (with credit cards.) This by far has been the best decision we've ever made.
We have a reasonable amount of money in the bank (no matter the number it's never enough) and the only debt we owe is the mortgage on the house.
Student loans are a bigger issue for the up & coming generations. 17 year old american kids are not equipped to understand the implications of taking on $80,000+ in loans for a college education. We've put money away for the kids' college, but it won't be enough to cover their entire education unless they go to a public university. It's crazy to think that most parents don't steer their kids towards well-paying university majors. The worst case scenario happens far too often, for example: a kid majors in a generic degree like "communications" or "english" in exchange for $80,000 and their first job (if they're lucky to get one in their field!) pays them a pittance.
Many comments have this delusion of things being free. Free college, free healthcare, free this/that, etc. In this world of limited resources nothing is free. Either your tax money, someone else's tax money, or your govt through debt is paying for these "free" things.
The UK has healthcare free at the point of delivery. The UK government spends considerably less per capita on healthcare than the US governemnt. "Free" healthcare is cheaper to provide than non-free.
America needs to do a hell of a lot better on this front - universal healthcare should be a basic human right! - but it doesn't immediately solve the issue.
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> Medical bankruptcy isn't really a thing in the rest of the world. Agreed, it's a problem, but for the average person with a job who elects an insurance plan (the vast majority of Americans,) it's not an issue. My sister-in-law spent 4 years being treated for cancer before passing away last year. Despite running up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bills between chemo, multiple surgeries, etc, it did not ban…
> the average person with a job who elects an insurance plan It also forces you to stay in a job, even if it turns sour, until you've lined up an alternative. I can't help but think that employers like it.
I don't know about you, but I've never quit my job just because a situation turned sour. There have been cases where I said "ok, it's time to look for a new job." But never "Take this job and shove it - I quit!"
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Your son having diabetes is not the same as say you getting an illness that prevents you from working. Or an illness for a child that requires more attention, maybe round the clock care. And if you work for minimum wage AND you have a child with diabetes its a very different story. Most of the people hanging around HN are technology related, some of us have a tendency to be a little egocentric. To compare your situat…
credit card / student debt is a huge issue across the board in the US. Frankly you can live just about anywhere in the US on 100k if you have no debt. I read somewhere a while back that 67% of americans have less than $1000 in their checking account. That just blew my mind. But they're all walking around with iPhones and shiny new cars. We've been fortunate to pay off our student loans and made the conscious decision…
This is an extremely unhealthy perspective.
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You are doing it too. Our lives are not random samples.
But is it fair to say that observers with more samples have a better vantage point than observers with fewer?
"Life is much better in Europe than in the US."
"How do you know?"
"Someone said so on the Internet."
You see? It doesn't transfer.
I think it makes more sense to tell stories of specific things that happened to you, and let people make their own generalizations.
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> Medical bankruptcy isn't really a thing in the rest of the world. Agreed, it's a problem, but for the average person with a job who elects an insurance plan (the vast majority of Americans,) it's not an issue. My sister-in-law spent 4 years being treated for cancer before passing away last year. Despite running up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bills between chemo, multiple surgeries, etc, it did not ban…
It is an issue for the rest of us, though. From: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/study-fewer-employers-offe... >Nationwide, 83.8 percent of workers in 2015 had jobs that offered insurance In other words, 16.2% of workers have jobs that don't offer insurance. That's 3 in 20.
I'm hoping the Republicans manage to screw things up enough to lose Congress in 2018. If that happens, Trump will go all-in on single-payer/universal healthcare. He has no loyalty, and in the past (prior to running for office) he was pro-single-payer. So we'll see what happens.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
credit card / student debt is a huge issue across the board in the US. Frankly you can live just about anywhere in the US on 100k if you have no debt. I read somewhere a while back that 67% of americans have less than $1000 in their checking account. That just blew my mind. But they're all walking around with iPhones and shiny new cars. We've been fortunate to pay off our student loans and made the conscious decision…
>We have a reasonable amount of money in the bank (no matter the number it's never enough) and the only debt we owe is the mortgage on the house. This is an extremely unhealthy perspective.
Well, consider that I am not what I would consider "rich" (this is not a complaint!) The number would have to be $2m+ for it to be "enough" in the event I couldn't provide for my family - enough to more or less guarantee that the kids are old enough to take care of themselves (15-20 years worth.) Given that it's highly unlikely that I will reach $2m+ in my lifetime, the number will never be enough ;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is an issue for the rest of us, though. From: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/study-fewer-employers-offe... >Nationwide, 83.8 percent of workers in 2015 had jobs that offered insurance In other words, 16.2% of workers have jobs that don't offer insurance. That's 3 in 20.
I don't say this to demean these people but I would guess that a majority of that 16% are low-skill/minimum wage jobs. When you don't have skills that are in demand, employers less likely to offer benefits. Businesses are just like people, if they can get away with paying less, they will. I'm not saying it's right. I'm hoping the Republicans manage to screw things up enough to lose Congress in 2018. If that happens,…
And there is the difference. The US is about survival of the fittest.