[surgical_fire]

The Netherlands had effectively full employment until a few years ago, last I checked.

Unless things got dramatically worse in the past 3 or so years, I think you are massively overreacting.

I happen to have a few personal friends that live there, for that matter.

[retired]

I left mainly because of housing prices, the difficulty of being a freelancer, the 49.5% income tax after €78k, the 36% unrealized capital gains tax and just everything in life like supermarkets or public transport being so much more expensive than other European countries.

I took a big pay cut moving to Southern Europe, but post-tax I earn the same and everything is just so much cheaper. I honestly have a significant better life here. Good weather too.

[tasuki]

> I left mainly because of housing prices

I understand you're not the landlord then. I agree this is a problem: the same(ish) earning you mentioned in another comment makes social mobility difficult. Some people are born with a house, others without. That's super unfair. I'd first tax that rather than income.

[lazyasciiart]

So you’re not retired? Confusing username to pick if so.

[badpun]

Did you get a local job, or are you taking advantage of geoarbitrage via a foreign remote job?

[retired]

In the process of setting up a company to do consultancy services for Dutch companies, but eventually want to shift to local companies once I get to learn the language, culture and business.

[casey2]

Creating classes that bypass productive labor is possible. You then force workers to subsidize them. This maintains "full employment" on paper. The country, however, remains on the brink of collapse.