[hollerith]

Agreed. There are many reasons to prefer living in Europe to the US, but "more money in their bank accounts" of non-wealthy people is certainly not one of them even though the American must sometimes use the bank account to pay for things that are provided by the government in Europe.

[jajko]

Unless we talk about Switzerland. But that's like 2% of the continent so what you say is valid.

And given too left-leaning and fanatical green-deal-at-all-costs push from Brussels economical situation won't get better, in contrary. They could be pouring money into defense, its not like in 20 years russia will stop wanting to subjugate/murder us all. Or they could try not killing their own automobile industry so quickly. Or...

EU started a slow but steady decline given changes in global economies, it will take probably a long time due to various factors but trend is clear.

[alephnerd]

> And given too left-leaning and fanatical green-deal-at-all-costs push

Investing heavily in renewable technology and R&D doesn't mean spending less on military or industrial capacity - in fact it's fairly dual use.

Furthermore, US, China, SK, JP, and others manage to balance both.

The issue is most EU members stopped funding their militaries following the fall of the Berlin Wall and redeployed that capital elsewhere - especially during the European Recession+Currency Crisis (1990-95), GFC (2008-11), and Eurozone Crisis (2008-2014).

[s1artibartfast]

And Switzerland is most like the US out of European countries, albeit an idealized version of the US.

It has private healthcare mandated by the government, and an economy favorable to capital. It has a federal system where most of the power and spending resides with the cantons(states), and much closer to the voters.

The Swiss constitution was actually modeled after that of the US.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Swiss constitution was actually modeled after that of the US

“The Amercian national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was constructed on the Swiss model of a confederacy of some over sovereign states. Then, Americans repudiated confederal government in 1787 as impotent and unworkable and adapted a new federal constitution. The opponents of the new charter, the Anti Federalists argued that a Swiss style government was still a viable model which offered the best hope for the preservation of American liberty. The Swiss themselves repudiated confederate government in 1848 using many of the same arguments Americans had marshalled against it in 1787 and adapted a Federal constitution modelled after the American constitution of 1787. After the Civil War many American state and local governments adapted constitutional reforms borrowed from the Swiss. The initiative and referendum – which continues to this hour to give the politics of California and other influential states their distinctive tone.”

https://www.legalanthology.ch/hutson_swiss-and-american-stat...

[s1artibartfast]

I think that supports what I said, but I love the added detail. There was more back and forth exchange than I remembered.

Another fun fact about the Swiss government that I think is superior to the US is that the effectively have seven presidents which form an executive council. The executive council debates behind closed doors and presents a unified public front. Internal debates of the executive counsel are sealed for 20 years before release to the public.

That said, my favorite thing about Switzerland is still that the vast majority of tax collection and public spending occurs at the local level. Federal spending revenue is approximately 30% with the rest being the local cantons. Swiss Cantons are smaller by population then a typical California county.

I think this emphasis on local government results in Civic engagement, oversight, and empowerment while reducing political strife.

[JumpCrisscross]

> seven presidents which former executive council. The executive council debates behind closed doors and presents a unified public front

This resembles the Athenian executive. It works in peacetime but less so in war. It’s also bad if you polarise because it blamelessly deadlocks.

[throw_pm23]

You said "A was modeled on B", the answer said "B was modeled on A".

[JumpCrisscross]

No, the Swiss federal constitution is based on America’s federal constitution. The American Article of Confederation, our previous Constitution, was based on our Helvetic Confederation constitution. Strictly speaking our constitution is based on the American Constitution.