[mindjiver]

Man, I can list so many reasons, starting with a very risk averse society, then continuing with very bad economic policies during the period after WWII up until our big finical crisis in the 1990. Please note that I have some libertarian tendencies so my views are perhaps coloured by that.

But that was not my point. My point was how low the barrier for "great benefits" where even for "spoiled" software engineers in Silicon Valley. Why not try to move the goal post a bit further?

[craigyk]

I agree, US companies should have better policies, but that would rely on the government enforcing an even playing field (not very libertarian). Otherwise there is no way any single company can stray too far from the pack without seriously damaging their competitiveness.

Maybe something like the government covering 70% of the your away pay (capped, obviously), and giving the company 15% to go toward to whatever they chose (covering you more, hiring a temp, the bottom line, etc.) The size of the company could also be a factor on how large that payment is (the smaller the company, the larger the percentage).