re: Do Americans Know What a Massive Ripoff American Life Really Is?

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Yet, a couple hundred million people manage to afford it every day.

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Yes they do.

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Heating, electricity, gas, water? These things can easily add up to $500 to $1000 dollars per month

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I survived the 100 days of 100 degrees in 2011 in Texas and never payed more than $500 for all those services combined in a single month.

Dude must have moved to Manhattan or San Francisco.

There is so much wrong in that article I don't even know where to begin.

The biggest things:

1. American median income is higher than virtually all European countries of any size (usually 20 - 40% higher), so demand pressure is going to be stronger on basics.

2. Even besides that, purchasing power adjusted, America is an even richer country than all but a handful of tiny European countries. That is, the data pretty clearly says that we make more money, have more take home and disposable income, and it doesn't cost as much more as it should to live here relative to our income levels.

3. His point about utilities is just straight up wrong. America has pretty cheap utilities relative to a lot of European countries (except France, thanks to their nuclear programs).

4. European countries do pay for all that shite even if they don't see it. Subsidies cost money.

well I just watched a video of a 10 year old kid having to work 15 hour days as a street vendor making French fries to eat. I think i can deal with the realities of American life over being born in poverty with no mechanism of upward mobility.

There is a lot of truth to it. Our economy depends on people spending money.

Every holiday (traditional and the new ones like the gays who have a whole month in the summer) is used to try to get you to spend money.

We are all so valuable to companies that our information is sold to companies who are trying to target customers.

Think about everything in life that is solely based around money. Travel ball has become a billion dollar industry and there are people out there who think its a must their kid plays travel ball. And who benefits from it? The shoe companies, bat companies, ball companies, equipment companies, the hotels that all of these teams stay in over the weekend, the fields where these tournaments are held, etc, etc and yet there is absolutely nothing that suggest that travel ball is beneficial to kids.

Disney world. Yes, kids want to go see their favorite characters and there are cool rides and cool things to do and see, but not without trying to squeeze every cent possible out of you. I have only been once and it was when I was a kid and I remember how expensive things were. I just remember being in a shop with my dad and him looking at the prices and saying "$30 for this? People buy it, their kid plays with it a few times and then they forget about it. You can buy a stuffed animal for less than a dollar".

Just about everything is about trying to get you to spend as much money as possible.

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There is a degree of honesty here, buried within all the crap, but it is something that people choose themselves.

Living in the USA can be expensive, but is cheaper in a multitude of smaller, less populated areas.

People choose to spend an excess on TV, subscription services, etc. They aren’t necessities. They could turn them off.

People choose to be poor managers of their household expenses.

It is all based on choice.

Scruffy has lived overly comfortably in less expensive areas on the country with an income of $30k, and he was still able to save a significant amount of money and take international vacations.

Everything is a choice. Americans just feel they have to show off to others.

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Yeah, I also think it's about "keeping up with the Jones's". It's a shame people don't realize that others really don't care.

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How much do I pay for internet and TV in Europe? About thirty dollars, give or take. How much do I pay in America? $150.

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If you are paying that much for internet, you apparently can't find better deals for yourself. Maybe this reflects more on personal choices.

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4. European countries do pay for all that shite even if they don't see it. Subsidies cost money.



Most utilities here are also heavily subsidized.

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Not anything close to depth or breadth of subsidies as in Europe.

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There is a degree of honesty here, buried within all the crap, but it is something that people choose themselves.

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You can go to almost any "this is what changed when I moved to Europe" blog or youtube video and the same meme develops. That meme is that people pretend like some relatively standard things are completely and utterly excessive, like...living space, choices at grocery stores, restaurants that are good and not incredibly expensive, etc.

The biggest difference is housing. They will legit argue their closet-sized rental is just as good as a home in the US. They will also always argue expense in terms of the peasant's life (remember Europe is still very class conscious). You don't hear about these people who "downsized and love it!" talk about things like, buying a home...or...investing for their retirement.

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If you are paying that much for internet, you apparently can't find better deals for yourself. Maybe this reflects more on personal choices.

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Sounds like somebody who hasn’t been able to cancel their directtv subscription after multiple tries.