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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have relatives in both northern and Southern Europe and none of them are complaining about their standard of living, even the ones whose incomes your would consider extremely low.

[b]If you measure success or a good standard of living by large homes, large cars, and large portion sizes when eating out[/b], then yes, Europeans are "poorer." But most Europeans don't have 4-5 bedroom houses filled with endless stuff from Costco and Target "runs" or big-ass fuel-guzzling cars. They take (much) longer vacations, can retire earlier in some countries, don't go into debt for higher education, and don't have to declare bankruptcy due to medical debt. They all take vacations, even those with lower incomes, and have full lives--except with a lot less of the store-bought crap that Americans spend their lives working for.
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Living in a nice, large home and driving a large, comfortable car IS something most people want, including Europeans. They buy the nicest home they can, just like we do.

sounds like you think all Americans care about is buying stuff at Target, which is so sad. It’s a big country out there and you should get out there and discover it.

[/quote]

Not really. Plenty of people even here prioritize walkable, livable communities. They are extremely expensive and out of reach for most.

I have been all over this great country and my work carries me out to the more far flung areas. It’s amazing how similar it all looks. Rotten urban core, streetcar suburbs of varying wealth, more spread out suburbs with strip mall after strip mall with the same stores, followed by exurb developments, some with mansions where you have to drive to get your mail, and others that are like a cheap Tuscan knockoff with a name like Grove Estates.

And just behind that - the poverty. The junk in the yard, falling down houses, trailer park on the suburb, Dollar General intractable, hopeless, rural poverty.

The flavors are are little different - southern poverty hits different than northeastern small factory town poverty. But the American dream looks really depressing when you see it rotting all over. And you see where fentanyl hit the hardest. [/quote]

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