europoooooor

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.

Copywriter for investors and crypto folks. Gamer. Muscle mommy wannabe.

Helpful perspective

My wife and I discuss this a lot, as our options are the US and UK

We've broadly concluded that the cognitive load involved in taking care of your kids in the US is vastly higher, and worse, than raising them in the UK (food, safety, exposure to culture, walkability etc)

One bucket I have for cultures is:

live to work or work to live?

GenX girl who learned the hard way 🔹 lifelong artist 🔹 software engineer 🔹 curator of conversations 🔹 made /blend-o-rama 🔹 thinks you're cool

Exactly!

The chances of any single person achieving that greatness is slim, and considering how many people shoot for those stars, you'd hope the US may have better poverty prevention systems in place

Agree with the US evaluation with the modification "optimizes for A FEW people who want to be great" there's a lot of competition for opportunity and no social or financial safety nets if you fail in your attempts like there are in European countries. "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!".

Multidisciplinary video artist. From Brazil.

He/him.

I mostly mint on tezos.

https://objkt.com/@henriquecartaxo

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)

So everyone who doesn't get the optimal life in the US will be just someone who didn't want to be great?

I would choose Netherlands too. A lot more peaceful. Also high school in the USA is a crazy place. P.s.  love the landscape in Netherlands .

Quality of life in Europe is great for most people. 

Quality of life in USA is great if you are rich.

This is really interesting take, thank you.

The work ethic and hustle is very different as one who hails from 🇺🇸 and lives in 🇫🇷.

Look at Asia and that is a whole other level.

30 $DEGEN

Insightful cast.

I think that "self" angle is wrong. I believe that my living standard could be slightly better in the US. But I'll never accept that regular people struggle to get by, scared by any health related event that may create a sink hole in their budget.

Yes that’s why the greatest people of all go to Asheville ⛰️

You should check out Gourmand 😋 

22 $degen

I thought it was about equity according to liberals

Do you feel like you made the right choice?