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0 pointsTuring_Machine2y ago0 comments

And yet far more Europeans emigrate to the U.S. (on a proportional basis) than emigrate the other way. Particularly skilled Europeans, but even unskilled ones.

Maybe the "QoL rankings" don't accurately reflect what people really want?

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sergiosgc2y ago· 1 in thread

Quoting Scott Galloway: The US is a great country to live in if you're young. It is an extremely efficient capitalist society, at the expense of having no social safety net.

If you're healthy and on your way to a Phd, you don't really need a safety net. If you're unhealthy and old, you won't pack and move to Denmark. Hence the migration stats.

Turing_MachineOP2y ago

First, the Department of Health and Human Services has an annual budget of > $US 1.8 trillion, or a little over $US 5,000/year on a per capita basis.

Note that this doesn't take social programs administered by other departments and agencies into account (e.g., the Department of Education, the Veteran's Administration, the Social Security Administration...). Those also do a great deal of social spending (especially Social Security).

While this is probably not as high as the EU on a per-capita basis, it's quite unfair to characterize it as "no" safety net.

Also, I find Galloway's argument that older people are too unhealthy to move back to Denmark (or wherever)... unpersuasive. You can be pretty damned unhealthy and still get on a plane nowadays.

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