Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe it's not trivial to get a job there, especially if you come from outside the EU. And soon restrictions will be imposed on EU countries as well.
What type of restrictions?
Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
261–270 of 462 posts
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is in Switzerland you don't have to be mega rich to have a good life and because those places don't have different laws than the rest of the US, they only compare if you're rich enough for laws not to matter, at which point it's a moot point. Even the rich won't get paid leave or sane taxes or decent working hours, so to be comparable the level of richness has to put one beyond the necessity of work. I…
Can you explain how you think you need to be mega rich in America to have a good life? Most of the US has a low cost of living compared to eg Switzerland. In most of eg Texas - most of the US actually - you can live well on $50,000 to $60,000 per year. You're aware I'm guessing of the economic metrics of the top 50% in the US? It seems obvious to me that in fact you do not have to be mega rich to live well. The top 8…
> Most of the US has a low cost of living compared to eg Switzerland. In most of eg Texas - most of the US actually - you can live well on $50,000 to $60,000 per year.
You won't get >4 weeks paid vacation in "most of eg Texas", or actually affordable healthcare, or paid maternity leave (let alone multiple month worth) and post-leave work-hour arrangements, or a "sacred lunchtime", or the ability to work flexible hours without being looked at like a loser (unless you're self-employed maybe), or 80% salary unemployment, or the ability to live without owning a car.
A privileged few may get those. Not "most of eg Texas", not by a very, very long shot.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
>As disingenuous as comparing a small country to the US as a whole. Why? Countries seem to scale pretty well. A social structure that works well in one city can work well in 200 cities.
A social structure that works well in a city of 100000 people will not be able to work the same way as a city with a population of close to 4000000.
Again, I don't see why it can't scale. Whether you've got 50 blocks of city employing a specific social structure or 500 blocks at a ground level its the same.
Granted mega cities add a level of complexity, but on a very broad level I don't see why people here thing you can't scale a system employed by a 8m country to say 80m. Its just more of the same.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is in Switzerland you don't have to be mega rich to have a good life and because those places don't have different laws than the rest of the US, they only compare if you're rich enough for laws not to matter, at which point it's a moot point. Even the rich won't get paid leave or sane taxes or decent working hours, so to be comparable the level of richness has to put one beyond the necessity of work. I…
Can you explain how you think you need to be mega rich in America to have a good life? Most of the US has a low cost of living compared to eg Switzerland. In most of eg Texas - most of the US actually - you can live well on $50,000 to $60,000 per year. You're aware I'm guessing of the economic metrics of the top 50% in the US? It seems obvious to me that in fact you do not have to be mega rich to live well. The top 8…
I love how we went from "The USA has awesome parts too, like Marin!" to "well you've got to be rich to live in them" to "well you don't have to be rich to live in Waco!"
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#265"Now that I’m back, I’m angry that my own country isn’t providing more for its people."
If you want Switzerland in the U.S. there is only one option: break the U.S. up into distinct, smaller countries that are able to foster a common culture that can be relied upon to solve the prisoners dilemma inherent in all social welfare schemes.
A side benefit for our friends abroad: maybe we'll stop bombing the shit out of the rest of the world.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#266"Driving Bentleys ruined me for BMWs and their poor make quality" Switzerland is one of... three maybe (Luxemburg, Norway) countries with higher standard of living than the US. Not even Switzerland's neighbours (Italy, France, Germany) with people coming from the same populations can reproduce it. All these great states are tiny (8M people) outliers. There are more people enjoying work-life balance in America than al…
Well at least having 20+ days of paid vacation and (compard to the US) cheap health care is a thing in many european countries
20 days paid vacation is the legal EU baseline, FWIW. Most of europe is at or above 5 weeks when you include legal holidays.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
But household income adjusted to PPP isn't the only quality of life indicator. For the 'median' family in the US, they can expect to pay far more for health care and transportation. US PPP income is highly skewed because the US dollar is very strong, and a basket of consumer goods in the US is very cheap. Healthcare and education on the other hand are astronomical, and certain items seen elsewhere as 'luxuries' can b…
Income PPP adjusted also doesn't factor in taxes. Things like free tuition are paid for by much higher rates. Healthcare is usually part of compensation packages in America. I'm not sure if that gets included in gross income. My main problem with quality of life indexes is they tend to overvalue income equality. It's true that income inequality is generally associated with poor countries but the USA is clearly an out…
> Healthcare is usually part of compensation packages in America.
For certain jobs. Many don't provide healthcare.
> Things like free tuition are paid for by much higher rates.
Higher rates in higher income brackets. Not across the board.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is in Switzerland you don't have to be mega rich to have a good life and because those places don't have different laws than the rest of the US, they only compare if you're rich enough for laws not to matter, at which point it's a moot point. Even the rich won't get paid leave or sane taxes or decent working hours, so to be comparable the level of richness has to put one beyond the necessity of work. I…
Can you explain how you think you need to be mega rich in America to have a good life? Most of the US has a low cost of living compared to eg Switzerland. In most of eg Texas - most of the US actually - you can live well on $50,000 to $60,000 per year. You're aware I'm guessing of the economic metrics of the top 50% in the US? It seems obvious to me that in fact you do not have to be mega rich to live well. The top 8…
Firstly, while 50k is far from "mega rich", only 50% of households in Texas earn more than that, so it still excludes a lot of people (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html).
Beyond that the differentiators are working hours/flexibility and healthcare. A household in Texas might have quite a good life in many respects with an income of 60k/year, but do they get 6 weeks off, flexible working hours (useful if you have kids), and paid maternity/paternity leave that lasts more than a few weeks? In the US if you want/need that extra time away from work you might need to take time of work or go part time, causing a drop in income and perhaps company sponsored healthcare, but in many European these things are available by default to fulltime employees.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#269"Currently an estimated 28 percent of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called "offshore" funds) are kept in Switzerland." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Switzerland#Banking It's cute that she even provides numbers and leaves this out. This is the only number you need to know. Everything else is the direct result of this. You know who else does awesome? A closed community of multi-mill…
Exactly. The reason Switzerland can live like this is because of the political environment in Europe that allows specialized, regional industries to keep their wealth instead of transferring it to poorer regions through cross-continental benefit programs. Vox, where this was originally posted, posted multiple times about how this is one of the causes of the Greek crisis, but never mentioned Switzerland or the other N…
> The reason Switzerland can live like this
Oh bullshit, all of the points enumerated in the article save for average salary (which clearly isn't the article's focus) are equally applicable throughout western and northern europe, except maybe in the UK.
Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
#270I think living anywhere other than your home country for a while is a valuable experience. You learn to not only recognise the flaws in your own country (which you can then push to improve), but you also learn to appreciate what you previously took for granted.
That's one of the most pernicious things about the US tax system though. Because citizens get taxed by both the USA and the country they're in, it strongly disincentivises people from ever moving abroad (unless they revoke their US citizenship). This leads to Americans never really discovering, en masse, what life in foreign countries can be like. They're just tourist destinations.
not totally true, you are not taxed up to 100k while working abroad. see "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion".