Item — HN Reader

Well I don't have to pay for any transporation, 'cause my employer can't decide on a dime to force me into the cage 5 times a week ;) I also only live a 15 minute bike ride away, rather than a 2 hour car ride as seems to be the case for many people in the US.

But even ignoring all that, money isn't the be-all, end-all. Having worked in the US for a stint, I'll take my "low" pay in the Netherlands any day of the week over rotting away in a soulless US megacorp headed by legitimate psychopaths, where they can decide to fuck you over at a moment's notice for any reason and you have no recourse.

After all, what good is money that you can't spend? If you gave me a trillion dollars but it meant I had to spend 12 hours of my day dedicated to work, what use is that? I'll take my sane working culture I have at the moment despite me earning marginally less (if you ignore literally all the other benefits of living in the Netherlands, that is) all day, every day.

3 comments

> rather than a 2 hour car ride as seems to be the case for many people in the US.

The Netherlands has good bicycle infrastructure but the majority of people still go to work by car.

The commute time between countries is similar.

well, in the netherlands, the median income is roughly 1/2 what i was making at my first job out of college.

considering i also got free lunch everyday, 24 days of PTO, monthly stipends for gas and app subscriptions, 6 month parental leave, it’s pretty hard for me to look at the european market and see the government mandated some of those benefits but to pay for it i’d make roughly 1/3 to 1/2 what i make in the US, and subsidize the poor performers to boot. literal fucking joke to compare europoor salaries with american lol

You are being crude about it, even though you have a good point. The problem with this perspective that I used to also share is that either advantages are largely in the process of collapsing at the moment, i.e., more money in the US and more quality of life in Europe.

Inflation from money printing and immigration is eating away higher salaries and lower costs that made suffering the corporate hell tolerable for many people; and in Europe money printing and immigration is going to collapse the social welfare and quality of life fabric of society.

i’d argue the US is too business friendly relative to pretty much everywhere for us to get worse at a pace faster than EU, which means relatively, we’re always doing pretty good. until another global superpower comes along

I'd take the trillion. Think of the good you could do!

Responding to hyperbole is hardly adding to the discussion.

Money isn't everything. People claim it is are often missing something money can't really buy.

If you are unhappy while wealthy you would probably be unhappy without wealth as well, perhaps more so due to the financial stress. Either way, I would rather be unhappy with money than without.