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by Omniusaspirer 1456 days ago
The inherent view so many Europeans have of the US based solely on news or anecdotes from expats is pretty amusing sometimes.

Nobody is getting a lawyer just to sign up at a gym, and our incomes are comically higher for skilled persons than European salaries. I literally make 10 times what my French counterpart would in my profession and with a much lower tax rate so the real difference is even larger. I could work for 5 years and retire in France wealthier than if I had worked a 40 year career in France. Would I rather be disabled or unemployed in France? Probably, but that's not exactly the HN audience.
2 comments
Tainnor 1456 days ago
> Would I rather be disabled or unemployed in France? Probably, but that's not exactly the HN audience.

But it's also about knowing that your friends, your family, the people who make your coffee, the people you meet in the park etc. will have a safety net to fall back on.

I do think that I'm not the only person who finds that reassuring.

re. the "I make more money", I realise as a person without kids, I have a skewed perspective but I don't find myself lacking a lot in life. I don't understand the obsession with wanting to get as rich as possible, and if society provides for a lot of things (including kids' college tuition) you may not need to save as much.

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Omniusaspirer 1455 days ago
It's less the desire to be grotesquely wealthy and more than ability to work less time for the same quality of life. I've taken several 6+ month breaks between contracts now and they gave a lot of clarity and perspective to what life could be. Time is our most valuable and limited asset.
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Tainnor 1455 days ago
Many people in Europe, at least in the tech sector, seem to work less overall, whereas when I worked for an American company, our colleagues over there seemed to routinely work overtime, be on call without compensation etc.

I work 32h a week, I earn enough money for myself and I feel that my work-life-balance is pretty good. I think I prefer this to working really hard for 10-15 years, almost burning out and retire and do nothing.

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morelisp 1456 days ago
You've begged the question a little by choosing France, a country with roughly the same cost of living as the US or Germany, but with programmer salaries more in line with smaller or eastern European countries.

It's true French programmers may be able to swing 10x in (parts of) the US, but they can find 2-5x just by moving to Germany or northern Europe.

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