Reply to A massive income required to live the idealized american dream around here?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Newsflash: living in the United States suuuuuucks for 99.9% of people.  The US is only good for the ultra rich.

Garbage healthcare unless rich
Garbage education unless rich 
Garbage infrastructure 
Garbage safety
Garbage housing affordability 
Garbage childcare

It's honestly shocking how bad the US is now for the middle class and why so many people in the US roll over and take it because they let the millionaire and billionaire class tell them everything is fine. [/quote]

Um...ever read any Megan McArdle articles on how the middle class lives in Europe and how small their houses are? How little outside help they can afford to pay for? Sure they get a lot of things from their taxes, but the average American who makes claims like you would be giving up many square feet and any housekeeping/lawn service they pay for to get it. Plus some other things. The European social safety net costs, and it costs [b]the middle class there[/b] as well as the rich.[/quote]

And yet, I seriously doubt they would give up their lifestyle and health care to join our gun addled society.  [/quote]

Not saying they would. Just saying everyone who thinks we should tax the rich and become Europe is seriously deluding themselves that they wouldn't miss many, many niceties they currently take for granted. I think 99.9% of the population would be shocked how much they would have to pay in taxes to afford a European safety net. Many people who are fans of the European way would probably happily have a 900 square foot house with 1 car, no dryer, and no AC (as a PP mentioned) for free daycare with excellent chef cooked meals for their kids. But let's not kid ourselves - trade-offs would be made.[/quote]

Yup!  UK tax rates are up to 45% on income over 125 GBP. Their residential property taxes are significantly higher than(and you thought NJ property taxes were high, go check out the UK18-28% of the property value!!!).

Earn more than 37K GBPin dividends/interest and you are paying 34%+.

And they have a massive death tax/estate tax that starts at a low level.

So I still prefer the USA any day.  However, I would like to see universal healthcare---and by that I mean, let's get rid of private insurance companies and put together a system where the negotiated rates are standard for each COLA.  So everyone in Zip code (XYZAB) has a negotiated rate of $X for a regular doctor visit, $Y for a standard mammogram, etc.  As long as you pay cash for the service that day/agree to pay you get the negotiated rate.  None of this UHC pays out $200 for a mammogram, but BCBS pays $250 and Kaiser pays $175.  Eliminate the middle man, give everyone the powers of "negotiate rates with a large group" and price insurance accordingly---either tax us or allow us to pay for it thru something like the ACA does now, so we can select a bronze, silver or gold plan---so let our taxes pay for Bronze, and allow us to supplement with silver/gold and or purchase private coverage if we deem necessary (much like happens in socialized medicine where people buy private coverage). Costs would be so much less if we eliminated the private insurance companies.

But yes, the American dream of a 4 bedroom 2.5 bathroom home does not align with most of European standards---they tend to live at a much lower level than we expect.  And they pay a ton in taxes for the safety nets.

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