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America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

fortune.com

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Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#51

Post by Broken_Hippo »

petcat wrote: post #16
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-…

This just isn't true and really glosses over the downsides of the US healthcare system.

Employer health plans are only good as long as you pay - if they are good. Lots aren't and they require you to pay so much upfront. Waiting time for specialists and surgeries depend on the area you live in: Not common to wait months for a specialist in the US. You won't get seen if you can't pay for the doctor upfront and medicines are expensive.

I moved from the US (Indiana) to Norway. I've never had an issue seeing a doctor or dentist if I'm sick or in pain since I've been here. I can plan routine things in advance, but I don't need to plan months in advance. I'm just not getting in the same day because they save those times for folks that are sick and need seen sooner. I'll never have a bill if I'm hospitalized. Doctors tend to offer less invasive treatments first - they would have tried to avoid a knee replacement. And if the wait was long (which again, really isn't different from the states, depending on where you are and if you have money enough), the safety net helps out. Reduced work hours and paid time off work and stuff like that. The emergency room sends folks home with medicine instead of expecting you to go to the pharmacy afterwards! ER waiting times aren't longer and honestly, I can call ahead and suffer at home instead of in a waiting room if it isn't actually an emergency, but need urgent care. My partner was seen immediately when he cut off part of his finger, I was seen immediately when I had severe pain, but you'll wait longer for an uncomplicated broken bone and things like that.

And this is all relying on the public system - People can get shorter waiting times if they use the private system.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#52

Post by moi2388 »

petcat wrote: post #16
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-…

> I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want

I am in the EU and I can do that too?

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#53

Post by logicchains »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #44
logicchains wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

It sounds like you're statistically illiterate. Indian and Pakistani immigrants to the US overwhelmingly vote for the same socialist, anti-business practices that have kept their countries poor. And in business Indians engage in the same kind of anti-meritocratic caste-based discrimination.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#55

Post by bwb »

petcat wrote: post #16
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-…

I live in Europe, I can make an appointment with my dentist tomorrow. I was sick 3 weeks ago and just went on video conference at 6am with my PCP.

Just to help out there :)

This has been the case in every country I've lived in within Europe (3 and counting). And a mix of rural (50,000 town) and big urban areas.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#56

Post by mlrtime »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #34
gadders wrote: post #31

"We set the bar at half of what a typical American household earns. " Yeah, relative income isn't really a good measure. You want to raise the floor for people, not (necessarily) narrow the gap between rich and poor.

Wealth inequality itself causes a great number of ills in this country. We should absolutely aim to lower this gap as a goal in itself.

You missed the point, If the floor and the medium are rising, why does the gap need to narrow?

Why is this better factually, not ideologically.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#57

Post by Ekaros »

charcircuit wrote: post #10

>If the U.S. changed some policies – such as increasing the federal minimum wage – 46 million people could earn enough to rise above that fair pay line. You can't just raise minimum wage and expect people to make more money since businesses need to fire everyone who aren't worth the new minimum wage and then those newly unemployed people will depress wages for other jobs since there is more labor on the supply side.

On other hand if you can not afford to pay your employees wages they can survive on you do not deserve to be in business. You should go out and any resources you use should instead be used in way that can reasonably sustain workers.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#58

Post by rjh29 »

iamben wrote: post #40
petcat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-…

UK: A dentist will see you for an emergency appointment pretty quickly. I can usually get a routine appointment within a few weeks, but if it's a routine check-up I don't mind scheduling it for a few weeks/a month out. If I'm going private I can usually get a routine appointment same week. For more urgent enquiries with an NHS doctor I can usually get a phonecall next day, and they'll ask me to come in if it's seriou…

Finding an NHS dentist is nearly impossible in most of the UK, though.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#59

Post by cyclopeanutopia »

petcat wrote: post #16
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-…

I'm in Poland, and with the private insurance through my employer I can get both the same day - a week sounds really bad.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#60

Post by anonym29 »

isoprophlex wrote: post #7
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

Not to mention school shooting drills. Teaching kids how to behave when someone tries to shoot up your school, because it happens more than once a decade... And then not doing fuck all to fix the root cause, besides thoughts and prayers, because muh freedom. Incredible that this is the country that has been the dominant global exporter of technological innovation, pop culture and economic policy for so long.

Training kids how to respond to school shootings is like training kids how to respond to dual engine failures on an airplane.

It happens, it's just statistically so unlikely to ever happen to your kid, that the drill essentially serves as ideological propaganda reinforcing fear of the idea of the threat far above and beyond the statistical risk actually posed by the threat itself.

And as a reminder, Europe sees more people die to heat than America sees people die to guns.

https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/heat-death-europe-ac-american...

Maybe your guild should figure out how to beat the PvE server before lecturing the players on the PvP server on how ridiculous you think our freedom is. Major skill issue, noob.

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