Content
@
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Sterling Schuyler
@sterschuyler
when my husband and I were debating whether to have kids in the US or the Netherlands, I came to the conclusion that: The Netherlands (and a lot of Europe) optimizes for the average person to live well. The US optimizes for people who want to be great.
14 replies
130 recasts
238 reactions
Henrique Cartaxo (Augurs)
@henriquecartaxo
So everyone who doesn't get the optimal life in the US will be just someone who didn't want to be great?
2 replies
0 recast
0 reaction
Sterling Schuyler
@sterschuyler
My point is that the US has more options to achieve greatness/success, but taking that risk can also lead to not-so-greatness. Ex: retirement 🇺🇲 In the US, most people are not required to have a retirement fund/pension. They can invest as they please. 🇳🇱 In the Netherlands, not only do most people have to contribute to a pension, but when they retire, that fund manager dictates their monthly allowance. The downside of NL: people don't have control over their own money. (In US, people have options to invest big) The upside of NL: there's minimal elderly poverty. (In US, there aren't strong systems to prevent poverty)
2 replies
0 recast
1 reaction
Sterling Schuyler
@sterschuyler
Another example is higher education. 🇺🇲: everyone can apply 🇳🇱: only those in HAVO or VWO go to university, but only VWO can do PhDs. MBO can only do vocational But in NL, everyone graduates high school with a career path ahead of them. In the US, you can to do whatever you want - including flounder
1 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Henrique Cartaxo (Augurs)
@henriquecartaxo
Had to google HAVO and VWO :) But I get the picture. Fair points. But it seems to me that the fact that some people can make it big in the US is supported precisely by all those who don't make it big, because money has to come from somewhere. When you say "you can do whatever you want including flouder" what I understand is that who flounders wanted to flounder, like it was their choice or failure and not something that's intricate to the system where they live. Even if the system was perfectly fair, without all the boosts that the already rich families get in their "do whatever you want" saga (like anyone can apply for higher education but almost no one can afford it, right?), even if it was running ideally, many would still have to fail. So yes, it's very high stakes and high risk. I wouldn't want it for myself or my family.
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
