[speakeasy]

(01-25-2016 11:06 AM)zatara Wrote:  

The average Joe in Alabama does not live a better life than the average Hans in Germany, that's fairly obvious to anyone who's been to both countries. The top 10% or so of Americans however do live a far better lifestyle than their equivalent in Europe, mostly due to lower taxes and less state regulation on business owners/workers rights for the working class. America is probably the best country in the world to be wealthy in, all things considered (a combination of safety/taxes/public services etc).

The bottom 90% in America though would be far better living in a European social-democratic state due to free university education, free healthcare, legally mandated paternity/maternity/sick leave, minimum weeks of holiday leave, generous unemployment benefit etc. Social mobility is much higher, quality of life is better and the social safety net is a very real thing.

The problem with this is that most Americans see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" (to quote Steinbeck). The majority of Americans think they're upper middle class, or will be, when statistically they both aren't and will never be. Its a country-wide self delusion that shows itself in working class people voting for lower income tax rates (which primarily benefit high earners), being anti-union etc.

The upper class in America have done a wonderful job since the 1960s of demonizing the poor, which deflects attention from themselves. For the average American reading this forum its not minorities on food stamps you should be angry about, its Paris Hilton or Dan Bilzerian paying negligible amounts of income tax.