I hate to sound trivial and to deviate from the conversation, but I would like to draw attention to Finland for a moment and say that the US government should follow suit (for the most part I agree that people in the US have learned to tolerate substandard quality when it comes to many technology services). In Finland, legislation dictates that it is the right of every citizen to have free access to at least a 1Mbps internet connection and by 2015 every household will have a 100Mbps connection. Food for thought: Perhaps if the US followed suit other mobile, banking (and network-reliant fields) would evolve accordingly?
The Differences Between Germany and the United States
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Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#12Americans living abroad are not even allowed to give up citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes. That's wrong, along with many other facts in this article.
It depends on what "allowed" means. The penalty for doing so exceeds that for many minor crimes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_tax#United_States
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#13Seems interesting but with a notable number of mistakes on the US, how much can I trust what is said about Germany? and how much has changed since he moved to the US?
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#14Americans living abroad are not even allowed to give up citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes. That's wrong, along with many other facts in this article.
It depends on what "allowed" means. The penalty for doing so exceeds that for many minor crimes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_tax#United_States
Was expatriation a serious problem for the US? It seems a bit of a severe step to take for someone who is already wealthy.
Not to mention it raises the question - if someone renounces their citizenship, what right does the country have to tax them? Doesn't tax come with the right of representation?
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#15just glanced though it but most of the stuff regarding Germany is pretty outdated
"By Axel Boldt, 1995-2010." - most of it seems to be from 1995. The section about "communism and socialism" (not really major topics these days) also suggests that this is rather old.
It is/was a major topic in Germany when talking about the political party "Die Linke".
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#16On charity: I see two reasons for these different approaches to charity: first, Americans distrust big organizations and third world governments; they fear that money they donate to global causes will trickle away in bureaucracies somewhere. Second, Germans intuitively don't feel much of a need to help local organizations or schools: "that's the government's job, that's what I pay taxes for." I think the main driver…
One thing I observed is that both countries got less different over the years: If you look at the policies regarding the social-net, Europe has tried to become more american (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept) while the US has tried to become more european (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Health_Care_for_Amer...).
Countries in the EU have a mandate to bring down public debt and the easiest place to do that is the welfare system (depending on the economy, most voters think it's too generous in some cases). Since social welfare is so large in Europe there are many places you can "trim".
In the US this is not the case at all. The welfare system has gotten aggressively more meager since the 80s. The AHCAA also isn't about more benefits but cutting public expenditure on healthcare in the long run. It's ridiculously expensive to treat someone in the ER for an infection rather than them having regular doctor visits. The same for birth control, pap smears, and breast exams. Treating early saves the government money. Don't confuse this act with the European welfare system, it is absolutely about saving money for the govt, your health is side benefit.
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends on what "allowed" means. The penalty for doing so exceeds that for many minor crimes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_tax#United_States
Was expatriation a serious problem for the US? It seems a bit of a severe step to take for someone who is already wealthy. Not to mention it raises the question - if someone renounces their citizenship, what right does the country have to tax them? Doesn't tax come with the right of representation?
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Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#18"Many extension cords still come without a third hole for grounding in the US. When you plug things into electrical outlets, you'll often observe cute little sparks. That never happens in Germany."
So in Germany there is no concept of grounding? Why? Also, is there any scientific explanation behind no sparking in Gemany?
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#19German history and resulting 'cough' freedom gets in the way here. Why not compare USA to Sweden, Holland of France :D
Re: The Differences Between Germany and the United States
#20"Many extension cords still come without a third hole for grounding in the US. When you plug things into electrical outlets, you'll often observe cute little sparks. That never happens in Germany." So in Germany there is no concept of grounding? Why? Also, is there any scientific explanation behind no sparking in Gemany?
I think you have it backwards - he's saying that all German extension cords have a third pin for ground.