From: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov (David S. Browning)
Subject: US vs. NL (Was: Job (baan))
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 04:55:00 GMT
Reply-To: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov

klink@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (steven.r.klinkner) writes:
|> US: 
|>     - low tax on wages (greater disposable income) 
|>     - low cost of housing purchases (low population density) 

In most of the US, geographically speaking.  However, economic
opportunities tend to be in metropolitan areas, where PURCHASABLE
housing is unattainable for the majority of the middle class.  In
those areas, you can rent but you'll never own.  Luckily(?), since gas
is so cheap, people buy houses 1-2 hours away -- by automobile -- and
drive that distance every day!

|>     - cheap personal transportation (cars & gas)  

Indeed!  But at what expense to its own future and that of the rest of
the world?  The US seems to have the following attitude: given global
competition for finite resources, use as much as you possibly can NOW!
Some argue that, indirectly, the US subsidizes automobiles more than
public transportation.  Not only does the US promote public
transportation inadequately, it actually DISCOURAGES it!  (I can't
back this up with data, but it is plausible, and certainly consistent
with the country's attitudes.)

|>     - lower taxes & regulation in general (lower cost for air
|>       transporation, telephone services, greater access to imported
|>       goods, et cetera)
|>     - large, integrated economy (economic opportunity, access to
|>       mass-market goods, travel within US without passport or
|>       currency exchange)

Won't this be also be the case for the EC?

|>     - fewer social services (means generally better life for the
|>       educated middle class due to lower taxes)

Improvements in some social services, such as education & health care,
would benefit the middle class.  Unfortunately, many who are
considered "middle class" are really just 1 or 2 paychecks away from
homelessness.  Without any help for them, especially for homeless
families, they have little chance of "getting back on their feet" once
they cross the line of poverty.

|>     - better university educational opportunities 

Yes, but it is getting harder for the "middle class" to afford
education, and it is getting harder to get into cheap public
universities.  Many public universities are cutting back services,
while demand for them is increasing.

|> NL: 
|>     - greater availability of public transporation 
|>     - greater social services (enhanced unemployment, sick leave, health
|>       benefits, but at the expense of higher taxes)  
|>     - low cost of housing rentals (for residents only?)  

HUH?  Is there some discrimination based on resident status, or are
there housing subsidies for residents and not foreigners?  Please
explain this, I hadn't heard of this before.

|>     - more holidays and vacations 
|>     - smaller economy (means smaller farms, shops, and businesses are 
|>       more common, sometimes providing better quality, often at 
|>       higher cost) 
|>     - better pre-university education 

-- David

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