re: Things Brits do better than Yanks?

That guy is clearly a delusional clown and knows frick about shite!

Join any American in Netherlands expat group on FB and ask their experiences.

The majority will tell you it's a cleaner, safer, more well-managed country than the US by a looong shot.

Yes, salaries are lower here, but that gap is rapidly closing and professional positions (IT, finance, medical, business) are seeing salaries grow a lot these past few years.

Even so all the "expat" Americans that had such high salaried positions in expensive US cities (e.g. SF, LA, NYC, Seattle) will give you a consensus report that despite the paycut they took to move here that they end up saving more money than the ever could in the States because big ticket expenses such as health insurance, education, childcare etc are cheaper here or the subsidies and social nets offset them enough to effectively render them so.

Yes, even in Amsterdam, where by the way salaries are generally higher than most parts of the US save for the aforementioned cities.

That guy is a fricking clown shoe.

I lived in Rotterdam those people are lying and usually are leftist losers looking for European validation.

Look at the American cities you named some of the worst places to live in the entire country. We left Rotterdam and moved to Raleigh then Nashville.

The quality of life doesn't compare.


There is absolutely zero way for the average person in the Netherlands to save more money than the average American.

The stats say way different than your anecdotal evidence.

The stats say the average American household has 20k more in purchasing power than that of the average household in the Netherlands. That was prior to the Euro tanking and having parity with the dollar.
It's probably significantly more now.

Household Disposable Income per capita
(including social transfers in kind)
Rank Country/Territory 2020 (PPP)[3]
1 United States 58,308
2 Luxembourg 49,861
3 Switzerland 43,062
4 Australia 42,554
5 Germany 42,433
6 Norway 40,659
7 Netherlands 38,940
8 Austria 38,726
9 Belgium 37,926
10 France 37,231
11 Canada 37,171
12 Denmark 35,953
13 Finland 35,767
14 United Kingdom 35,350
15 Sweden 35,231
16 Japan 33,248
European Union 32,956


The gap is not closing on salaries either is actually getting larger.

Anyone who moved from San Francisco, NYC,LA, or Seattle is going to save money if they moved anywhere else in the world.

Gasoline is 8 dollars a gallon in the Netherlands. The people ride bikes because it cost 100 dollars to fill up a wind up car. The taxes are ridiculous and the people are dull and weird at the same time.

Top Gear

The list comes from the OECD. OECD

I copied and pasted it because sometimes you need a subscription to view it.

Your data also comes from the OECD

If American households have 25k more in disposable income then the people of the EU, but People in the Netherlands are saving more than means they just live meager, minimal lives.

We have a consumption based economy and people buy way more things, have much nicer living accomodations, drive better and bigger cars.

Living a meager minimal lifestyle is unappealing.

If Americans reduced their quality of life to match that of a European who lives in a small dilapidated flat, with no air conditioning, and drove a Ford fiesta or some other wind up car we could save twice as much.

The European standard of living is materially much lower than that of an American.

In fact the bottom 20% of Americans are materially richer than the average person in almost all of the OECD countries.

Poor Americans richer than the average European.

A groundbreaking study by Just Facts has discovered that after accounting for all income, charity, and non-cash welfare benefits like subsidized housing and Food Stamps—the poorest 20% of Americans consume more goods and services than the national averages for all people in most affluent countries. This includes the majority of countries in the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including its European members. In other words, if the U.S. “poor” were a nation, it would be one of the world’s richest.


Notably, this study was reviewed by Dr. Henrique Schneider, professor of economics at Nordakademie University in Germany and the chief economist of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. After examining the source data and Just Facts’ methodology, he concluded: “This study is sound and conforms with academic standards. I personally think it provides valuable insight into poverty measures and adds considerably to this field of research.

The only European country that struggles with obesity on a level close to the United States is the UK.


It's a combination of diet and sedintary lifestyle.
Living in Europe you easily hit 15 to 20k steps a day without even trying.

Currently if I don't consciously try to get in any steps I can go a whole day on less than 2k steps.

Life is convenient and if you live in suburbia like most Americans you will drive every where or get delivery.

quote:

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Maintaining a monarchy in spite of worldwide democracy

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The Constitutional Monarchy in Britain beat a lot of (what are now) Constitutional Republics in Europe to democratic governance by at least a century.

Arguably, the English/British monarch became fully constrained by the Constitution with the passage of the 1688 Bill of Rights. (Although, one could argue it was at least a semi-constitutional arrangement even prior to 1688).

Meanwhile, in 1688, France and Russia were absolute monarchies.

Currently, of the two chambers of Parliament, the only chamber with any real power is the fully-elected Commons. (The Lords still exist, but only to scrutinize laws. They can’t block passage any more.)

(Edit: I would say that there is actually too much power currently vested in the Commons. A return to strong bicameralism would seem to be wise as the UK is, for all practical purposes, a simple majority away from tossing out the Constitution. Australia has a bicameral parliament with very strong Senate that the UK should attempt to copy. If the UK ever adopted a federal model, it could be a chamber with equal representation among the 4 constituent countries (and territorial dependencies) that could act as a check on the Commons.)

So you have a country ruled by a democratically-elected chamber with a hereditary monarch who only maintains his position due to popular support from the masses. (The monarchy makes the average Briton happy. But if the popular sentiment ever really shifted, the monarchy would probably be abolished in a heartbeat.)

I liked the way the Brits treated my family in our first trip to the UK. If we asked for directions people would walk a little ways with us as we talked. If we visited a store the employees acted as if we were longtime friends.

Their living accomodations are really drab. Small, old, very few have AC or basic things like a garbage disposal. No dryers. People still hang clothes up outside. Washer in the kitchen where the dishwasher is supposed to be.Small fridges so they grocery shop almost daily since they don't have storage. Rolling wardrobes and no closets or very little closet space.

I have no idea why people romanticize Europe. It's cool to visit, but unless you work for an American Multi- National or were able to keep your job and work remotely, your standard of living will drop dramatically.

You are forced to take public transportation. When I lived there it was almost 3500 hundred dollars to get a driver's license. Then so many taxes and fees on top of 8 dollar a gallon gasoline.

It's really an awful life if you are coming from a American middle class suburban lifestyle.

Food was awful as well. Extremely bland. Then the self righteous people who think they know more about America than you do.