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Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

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Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#101

Post by thefounder »

kyledrake wrote: post #2

Sure, but it's also really expensive to live in Switzerland. Not factoring in the cost of living over there is pretty disingenuous. And it's going to be a serious project to get residency there if you're not a Swiss citizen. Edit: This is not an opinion, cost of living in Switzerland is highest in the world, twice as high as in the US. Even if you make twice as much money, you're basically making the same amount. And…

If you are a EU citizen you have the same rights as a native swiss citizen so the path to citizenship(if you really want it) might be easier.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#102

Post by komali2 »

kyledrake wrote: post #97
komali2 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, yet the average swiss citizen has twice has much net worth, so I guess the higher cost of living doesn't result in less money in their pocket.

I mean yeah, Switzerland is a great place to live if you're rich.

It's also a great place to live if you're not rich, because of their incredible welfare system compared to our own.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#103

Post by boudin »

fastball wrote: post #79
boudin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine by me, but it's meaningless since it's not adjusted. And anyway, still not the case https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(no...

You're really not very good at this. GDP per capita is not the same as GDP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

To remind you, it's a post about working in another country, the GDP makes even less sense in this context if you don't put it per capita.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#104

Post by Broken_Hippo »

kyledrake wrote: post #2

Sure, but it's also really expensive to live in Switzerland. Not factoring in the cost of living over there is pretty disingenuous. And it's going to be a serious project to get residency there if you're not a Swiss citizen. Edit: This is not an opinion, cost of living in Switzerland is highest in the world, twice as high as in the US. Even if you make twice as much money, you're basically making the same amount. And…

It is extremely difficult to calculate cost of living. Sure, I might pay more in VAT, but if I'm also not stressed out about paying high medical bills and getting, in general, more money, the higher cost of living isn't so bad. For that higher cost of living, you get real benefits and a real safety net.

You get none of that in the US.

You might actually lose benefits if you switch states, and even when you do gain it isn't generally because everyone gets those benefits, but simply that you get them from one particular company as long as you don't get sick and get fired.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#105

Post by komali2 »

fastball wrote: post #96
cpursley wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don't think US cities have mass transit? No, they are a hilarious joke. NYC metro is a dirty cesspool that can't build anything within budget. Marta in ATL doesen't go anywhere and hasn't added a new line in decades. Everyone knows how bad BART is. Also, it's generally more expensive to take Amtrak than fly. And Amtrak goes nowhere vs the Russian train systems. Just pull up a map to compare. And Russia does hav…

Interesting that you decided to exclude Boston, Chicago, DC, and Philly from your list. NYC is a massively overbuilt city, much of which is on an island of bedrock. It wouldn't be any better if it was in Russia with the same geography. Not sure how Amtrak being more expensive than flying is relevant. Plus, I don't think you want to compare train coverage in the US vs Russia. Most of Russia's land area doesn't have go…

But most of the places where people actually live, does. Nobody needs trains to the middle of the Siberian tundra. Middle of south Dakota, on the other hand...

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#106

Post by jjuhl »

komali2 wrote: post #95
jjuhl wrote: post #69

So the USA is fucked up when it comes to work/life balance and the US has no social system worth anything. Who knew? Well, we all knew. The US has been the laughing stock of the world for decades and the only ones who haven't noticed are the americans. No news here.

But what shall we do? Not continue to spread the word to our fellow Americans that things can be better? I'm privileged enough to have had opportunities to see how the rest of the world manages societal and economic systems. They do it better. Before I saw for myself, I simply wasn't aware. The American way was The Way. All it took was for me to see for myself how much better it could be to turn me into an activist t…

The US is a lost cause. Just do yourself a favour and get out, sooner rather than later.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#107

Post by fizzledbits »

lagg wrote: post #19
mruts wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people (including myself), don't want a laid back work culture. I want to kill myself for the firm, and work as hard as humanly possible. I think I just derive the most happiness from working (though I do like drinking as well). I know a lot of other people like this. Maybe you can call us brainwashed or whatever, but this is how myself and most of my co-workers are. I don't think it's an accident that America i…

I think the downvotes (that's what gray means right?) are people's way of saying that the personal narrative that defines your life is so boring that your job is the only place you can achieve feelings like that. I feel bad for you so won't downvote. But I'd suggest finding something for that narrative that doesn't coincidentally mean handing your life over to the guy you work for. He certainly won't complain that yo…

Most of us admire artists and musicians who have totally devoted themselves to their craft, and we don’t condescendingly pity their “unhealthy work life balance”. My hero growing up was Feynman, who was doing physics every waking hour (or so I’ve read). It’s not like his estate is going to reap the economic benefits of his work; so was Feynman a pitiful sucker, abused by his university employers? Is it my responsibility not to become too passionate about my work so that I don’t somehow exacerbate the class tensions in our country?

I really don’t understand the logic of your comment and most of the others downvoters. He never said his ambition was to make another guy money; perhaps he’s making a lot of it himself, or regards the money as to some extent incidental. The comments about America aren’t in the best taste, but that doesn’t make it okay to put words in his mouth.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#108

Post by F_r_k »

fastball wrote: post #34
cpursley wrote: post #14

> America is the most rich and powerful country in the world Source needed.

Highest GDP + most powerful military doesn't cut it for you?

Who care about military ? So you can launch some rockets and kill each other ? Lame..

Some of the American people can't even go to the hospital..

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#109

Post by red_admiral »

There's a lot to like here, but

> The Swiss have a culture of professional part-time work ...

Coincidentally, this is the very day that one of the top stories on Swiss broadsheet Tages Anzeiger is about how more people would like to work part-time, but can't because of family commitments: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sonntagszeitung/nur-8-prozent-d...

EDIT: to quote for example "Rund drei Viertel der Eltern mit Vollzeitjob geben das höhere Einkommen als wichtigen Grund für ihr Arbeitspensum an."

Three quarters of parents with full-time jobs said the higher income was an important reason for their full-time work.

Later on it discusses the cost of living and of childcare for a family.

EDIT2: I don't know if it's deliberate that Vox put a video of "Why we should all move to SWEDEN" at the bottom, but I certainly chuckled.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

#110

Post by fastball »

komali2 wrote: post #105
fastball wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that you decided to exclude Boston, Chicago, DC, and Philly from your list. NYC is a massively overbuilt city, much of which is on an island of bedrock. It wouldn't be any better if it was in Russia with the same geography. Not sure how Amtrak being more expensive than flying is relevant. Plus, I don't think you want to compare train coverage in the US vs Russia. Most of Russia's land area doesn't have go…

But most of the places where people actually live, does. Nobody needs trains to the middle of the Siberian tundra. Middle of south Dakota, on the other hand...

So what you're saying is... the population distribution of Russia and the US are different and therefore present different problems?
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