Average wage is a very narrow view of what ultimately translates into quality of life.
You couldn't pay me to live in the US. I've gotten very close to immigration, but after seeing up close what kind of predatory situation a new immigrant into the US lands in I figured it isn't for me. Though I totally understand why you would want to move there if you are from a country in Asia or Latin America. Then it is a huge step up. But from Europe (ok, one of the wealthier countries in Europe) it felt like a big step down.
50K in Sweden is like 100K in the US. And that's before we get to the distribution of that income, which in the US is extremely lopsided, far more so than in the EU.
I don't know much about Sweden salaries but if it's close enough to general EU I believe it might be MUCH harder to get a net 50K job in Sweden than a net 100K job in the US.
Sure, in the US you will have less "prepaid" services or might need to pay much more for specific stuff but that's kind of the point of freedom of choices. You get to make your own mistakes without entering a collectivist group that on average is bound to make more costly mistakes.
> You get to make your own mistakes without entering a collectivist group that on average is bound to make more costly mistakes.
The costly mistakes of not being bound to your employer because of life insurance.
The costly mistake of not having to think about mass shootings in schools
The costly mistake of having acess to working public transport and generally great public infrastructure.
The costly mistakes of...
Source: I live in Sweden. I have friends in the US with high paying jobs who still have to spend a week on two on the phone with their insurer after an illness, and who can't get anywhere witout a car.
wages, adjusted for purchasing power see the wiki link.
innovation suffers.
more government intervention is needed.
I'm not saying these are slam-dunk, but there are upsides and downsides to everything and one doesn't have to be a millionaire to be anti-regulation
(I am not, and I am)
EDIT: moved a period
> wages, adjusted for purchasing power see the wiki link.
That's a non-starter for me, purchasing power is relative to the society you live in, not an absolute that you can use to compare across countries unless everything is the same, and the USA and the EU couldn't be further from each other. Especially when looking at average rather than at say the part that is below the average distribution wise.
> innovation suffers.
Innovation suffers the world over from Silicon Valley, and more importantly the wealth concentration there. No other region in the United States has managed to come close to challenging SV, and neither did Europe (or any other region in the world, for that matter). Wealth concentration is like gravity.
> more government intervention is needed.
In what way? I really fail to see the connection here.
> I'm not saying these are slam-dunk, but there are upsides and downsides to everything and one doesn't have to be a millionaire to be anti-regulation
But it is perfectly possible to be a millionaire and to be pro regulation. Because out-of-control businesses are just as dangerous in the short term as out-of-control governments are in the longer term, the difference is that the businesses tend to live a lot longer (they are essentially immortal unless they really blow it).
You couldn't pay me to live in the US. I've gotten very close to immigration, but after seeing up close what kind of predatory situation a new immigrant into the US lands in I figured it isn't for me. Though I totally understand why you would want to move there if you are from a country in Asia or Latin America. Then it is a huge step up. But from Europe (ok, one of the wealthier countries in Europe) it felt like a big step down.
50K in Sweden is like 100K in the US. And that's before we get to the distribution of that income, which in the US is extremely lopsided, far more so than in the EU.