I grew up in NZ and currently live in the UK, 5 years ago I had a personal blow, lost my job and had a mental health crisis. I ended up being unable to to complete basic tasks and ended up homeless. I spent months sleeping in a night shelter, while being practically unemployable. Local council workers helped me get housed again with rent being paid from public benefits. A government department helped me to retrain and regain my confidence. I am now employed full time by a multi national company. I feel eternally greatful that I don't live in a country like the US, where I feel there would have been no safety net for me and I would have been essentailly written off the moment I was unable to work.
I am so glad that you were able to pull yourself up and start over. I'm also glad that in your country there are organizations that help the homeless. But please do not think the US does not care. I have to admit that our democratic party only uses peoples misfortune for their own political gain and then forgets all about them. However, there are so many organizations and government funding to help homeless people lift themselves up but here in the states you will find that these people want to be homeless. They don't mind something like food stamps and health insurance but they do not want to get a job, go to school to learn a trade, etc. They just want to be left alone. I volunteer with my church once a week to help the homeless and I know that they do not want to be pressured into starting over and they will actually get very angry at someone for trying to help. For instance, in California, a democratic run state, there are more homeless then there are in the entire US. These state politicians are doing nothing for them and most of them are addicted to drugs and do not wish to move away from that life. These democrats made it legal for them to do drugs, to defecate on city sidewalks, etc. The police are told to leave them alone when they commit a crime and it is actually illegal to feed the homeless. This does not represent the United States. I lived in Calif. I know this for a fact. Do we have a problem with the homeless here, yes we do but California is not an example of this great country. Please do not think that. We are a good people. Do not trust the media.
We’re so glad to hear you pulled yourself out of that situation. It’s also awesome that you had the support of your government. That shows a lot! I think the US fails to accept that if they put the effort into helping their citizens we will be grateful towards them in the long run. Thank you very much for your comment! ✌️
@@loners4life it always makes me laugh when people like you attack America... The country that accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world!.... America is so bad that people risk everything to get there!!!!!.... Its so easy to attack America but not so easy to praise is it???? The world would crumble if America didn't exist! It would be total chaos!!!!
Sweden here, and I just wanted to confirm what my swedish fellows below said. Its mindblowing to me that US wont mandate paid vacation, that you have a set number of sickdays and no parental leave. however what most disturbing to me is that it seems so common over there to be forced to have more then one job just to make ends met. I feel sorry for you over there. I really do.
It’s mind blowing to us as well! Looking back we now feel like we aren’t crazy for feeling like we shouldn’t have to be pressured to do way more than we were being paid for and also feeling guilty for making it a point that we want vacation time. But thank you for taking the time to comment! We appreciate your input very much. We hope to visit Sweden sometime in the future as we hear a lot of great things ✌️
Väldigt sant... "Mind-blowing" is the right word. The richest nation in all of human history should have the greatest lives out of everyone in all of human history too! That it is like this is mind-blowing, it doesn't make any sense.
@@loners4life Make sure to not make the mistake of just going to the expensive areas like Stockholm. I live in a smaller city and as a Swede I find Stockholm considerably more expensive.
A a Dane who has tried being a "low skill" worker before - I can tell you this: I could easily pay rent and food - and oh yeah we have free healthcare here which is pay for through our tax system. Also I had a car and my hobby is computers which I could afford - and good internet. And still I had enough money for everything else I wanted - within reason.
That is insane to hear! I wish we could have a system where even the lower wage workers here could feel less stressed out and afford things they need and even some things they want without having to work multiple jobs. Thanks so much for putting in your perspective! We appreciate it ✌️
@@loners4life Most of USA tax money goes into military and most of the money that the companies make, is just for the owner to get stinking rich and the rest suffers
@@loners4life yes indeed. And when that is all in place, it potentially has another side effect. If people do not need multiple jobs, then more people can work, so unemployment would go down. With more people working, less people would be needing to live on the streets. More people working would mean more people have enough money to live, which in turn would potentially lower crime rates. More people working and buying would mean more tax income, in which could be used for social project or healthcare.
Same, I moved to Denmark from Latvia (because I got together with Dane) and even being able to work only low lvl job as I didn't have the language i earned enough to have a comfortable life and save up for trips. Had enough leftover in my account after every month was over to afford moving once a year and buy new furniture and still have saving for "just in case"
In Sweden we have 480 days to share between the mother and father in paternity leave those are payed days, we have 5 weeks of payed vacation. Unlimited sick days. I had a back injury and had to take 1 year of sick leave and it was payed and I still had my job when I returned. School is free, education is a right.
Just to clarify a bit: 90 of those 480 days are designated to the father and can't be shared with the mother at all. The remaining days can be split however the couple like. We have a _minimum_ of 25 days paid vacation but it can be higher depending on your contract/agreement. We also have the paid holidays which I believe averages out at ~9 days per year under a five year period. It's something like 7 - 11 days depending on the year. So the data in the video showing that Swede's have no paid holidays is incorrect. I'd say the data for our neighbouring countries regarding this matter is incorrect as well. =P So all in all Swedes do on _average_ have 34 days of paid vacation per year. In my case it's ~43 days just because of the union I belong to (arbetstidsförkortning).
@@mremtb7689 the first 14 days comes from the company than if it's longer the insurance fund takes over. So both but in that I would say 3 parts. First the company than the government but it's taken from the taxes I have paid on my salary of all the years I have worked. So we all help each other you can say. But if you mean parental leave it's the government who pays. They even pays an allowance too to all parents every month from the first month of the baby to it's 16 years of age but it can go up to 20 years if you keep on studying. The allowance is about 120 dollars a month per child.
I love watching American Reacts videos because the more Americans that learn about the rest of the world and just how great America isn't (not having a dig), then the more Americans there will be who want to make changes in America. I feel for Americans, especially regarding your healthcare. I cannot imagine being denied medical services because you don't have insurance or can't afford it. I am in Australia and it is unimaginable to think that you would not be looked after by your government ... and then there is the costs of medications ... it is so cruel to make things like insulin and epi pens so expensive - these are life saving needs. Anyway, I look forward to watching you learn more 🙂
True. I felt sorry for the Americans missing a universal care. I heard lots of homeless interviewed and it was because they were destroyed by unpaid hospital bills or divorces. Very sad situation. Zero quality of life.
@@marierocher4422 That's your problem right there. Interviews get cherry picked to push ideologies. Most of our homelessness actually comes from people that choose to be homeless, because we have many systems that highly benefit homelessness. It's why a common sight around here is someone that sleeps in a tent at a park, but wears nice watches, has the newest phones, and so on. Additionally, high hospital bills almost exclusively come from two problems. Government subsidized healthcare, which encourages hospitals to charge whatever they want, because they know no matter how high the cost big daddy government is obligated to pay it, and the AMA, which is the association that more or less decides whether or not someone gets to be a doctor. They deliberately make sure to not license many doctors so as to keep demand high, thus higher paychecks, which obviously come at the expense of the patient and the taxpayers money.
@@Sin_Alder i agrée with you in some point. There are those really who choose to stay in tents free of charge from taxes, rentals, electricity etc. But there are some who ended up because of divorces, and mostly hospital bills. I found it more on the system not other people riding for free. How it works in Europe. Not saying Europe is good as it has different system yet it’s still universal health care. Somewhere there should be a system that gives everyone a security in healthcares. Is it not an early prevention saves cost on both? Rather than people are afraid due the costs until it’s too late?
@@Sin_Alder As an Aussie, reading this, all I can say is thank you America for doing your bit to reduce the world population ... however, don't think we'd let the like of you in here when you run out of poor, poverty stricken workers.
@@marierocher4422 Poverty and homelessness aren't exclusively an American thing. The world has the same problems, yet they deal with it in a way that is far more humane than America's calousness. Remember French history, if you tell the poor to 'eat cake', eventually they'll rise up and take over.
As an employer in Australia, I can confirm having McDonald's on your resume is a good thing. It means you have worked in a team environment where you are required to follow systems, have thorough performance reviews and work various duties.
@@douglasbrown5692 its not too bad everywhere. Depends on the country! Young people have to start somewhere too, to kickstart it. Not everyone gets a dreamjob straight out of high school
@@mar97216 You caught me in a cynical mood. Yep, guess I'm thinking of the pay rate in the USA. I figure if you can't pay your rent, bills, food etc., and have a little left over, there's something wrong with the national pay structure. What's the situation in Oz?
@@douglasbrown5692 Im in Norway and I dont work at mcdonalds but we have a fairly good minimum pay, plus theres always extra after certain hours. Extra per hour starts at certain times and a lot of it is regulated. And because of unions we have negotiated the pay and they have to follow the set rules by the government. The hourly pay for waiters in the US terrifies me, just to compare. I have worked at the supermarked when I was younger and I got a pay I could live off, although I just worked part time while studying. ( I mean if I worked full time I could live off it). Waiters also gets a set hourly wage and they are not dependent on tips, actually tipping here is not really expected unless you go to a really fancy place and spend a lot of money. Tipping is just a bonus but people dont regulary tip like 20 %. Thats a lot.
@@douglasbrown5692 no, usually worked there as a kid while going to school before attending university and we have min wage here of about $26 hour for an adult. As per Norway we don't tip either unless you feel you received exceptional service usually in a fine dining environment
I never understood the idea of treating food workers like crap. These people literally hold my health in their hands because they are preparing food. I want them paid enough to care to make it right, especially if I have a food requirement.
Hi, I lived 16 y in the USA and moved back to Germany w my American wife end of 2017. Even though we worked for Fortune 500 companies (in the Silicon Valley) our quality of life here in Germany is on a whole other level. One thing that I always heard from Americans is "but you guys pay so much in taxes" ... honestly, after hearing that for almost two decades, I wanted to punch them out. My goodness, how come they do not factor in a) real estate tax (which can be insane where we lived in the USA), b) public infrastructure and transportation, c) school and university education (yes, university is free for foreigners too in Germany and some other EU countries) , d) vacation, e) health care & sick leave, f) living standards, g) environmental protection, h) parental leave ... etc etc ... the list goes actually on an on. Bottom line, live is better for the vast majority of people here, and that can be said about a lot of EU and also other European countries. Best remedy, get a f&%* passport and check it out for 3 months (tourist visa, but do not overstay, otherwise they'll lock you out next time - just saying, because I have a feeling you'd wanna stay).
I'm a Brit. I had a bad accident, although not life threatening it could have been life changing. I had 8 operations, all the aftercare needed like physio to help strengthen up. I got money for being classed as partly disabled to help pay for extras things it might involve. Glad to say although I suffer neurological nerve damage, I can do full physical exercise and I am quite healthy. Dread to think where I would be if I was an American.
YOUR ENLGISH POUND CRASHED THIS WEEK AND YOU BRITS ARE IN FOR A TERRIBLE ECONOMIC SHOCK IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Hi, as a french worker we normaly work between 35 to 40 hours a week with 2 days off. If we do more hours we get two types of compensations : money based on how many more hours we did, or more days off. Sometimes the company let us choose between the two of them.
the big difference between the USA and the rest of the world: what you call advantage/chance, here (France/EU) we call it a "right". USA live to work, others work to live
In Germany, you have at least 4 weeks of holidays, and your employer will make you take it, because they are legally obliged to. If you come to work sick, your boss will send you home. Sick days do not deduct from your holidays, you have an extra 6 weeks sick leave budget (your doctor will tell you how long to stay home). When your child is sick, you can stay home on sick leave. Two parents have together up to 3 years of parental leave paid 70% by government after which you are guaranteed to return to your job. Also we have public healthcare, free universities, and security. children walk or bike to school by themselves. it's safe in Germany. you can go everywhere by public transport.
The same reasons apply to Tipping. I'm from New Zealand and, like Australia, England and most of Europe, we DO NOT TIP as part of normal transactions. In all these places, by Law, minimum pay levels are in place EG That McDonalds in Norway that you heard paid $22 per hour. In restaurants /bars etc the staff are paid good wages for the work and do NOT have to fawn and grovel in demeaning ways just so that they get tips! It's a disgusting way to make staff earn their wages/salary. Just increase the price of the meals and drinks to their correct levels to cover the increased wages. The goods/services must be priced to cover the actual cost of wages. Then to see that often a "Tip" gets added to the Bill is a shock. It means that the meal/service cost was misleading. Here, it is illegal to mislead on costs/prices. The price advertised is the price you pay. NO OTHER ADDED COSTS ARE ALLOWED.
so true!!! although we tip everywhere we go, because we know it isn't the workers fault for their shitty wage...it still blows our mind that employers pay employees terribly knowing they will be receiving tips. so unfair. Brian used to work as a waiter for $2 an hour when he lived in Texas because they knew tips would make up the rest. smh
NEW ZEALAND REFUSES TO JOIN ANY BINDING MILITARY DEFENSE TREATY WITH THE FREE WORLD. YOU PARASITE OFF OF THE STABILITY AMERICA GUARANTEES FOR YOU. AND CHINA HAS BIG PLANS FOR NEW ZEALAND SHOULD AMERICA STOP PROTECTING NZ. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR NEW ZEALAND'S, EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Tipping is common in Canada even though minimum wage ranges for $13 to almost $16 Cdn an hour provincially. If working for a federally regulated industry such as banking, interprovincial transportation, the postal service, etc, the wage is now over $22 Cdn and hour. People can decide to tip or skip the tip. Most common tips are 10 to 15 % of the total bill. Serving food and drink can be a pretty lucrative job in the right setting when tips are included.
@@loners4life German here, US tipping is at average 22%. • Restaurant prices vs Germany are *22% higher* in the US. >> Conclution: As a US costumer, BEFORE even having your meal, you pay 22% more as over here. Additional, you are *made to think YOU have a responsibility* for the waiter beeing payed fair. No. *Here is why:* >> Free "Tape-water" is in the US *no Mineralwater* like in Germany. Huge difference. The *onlyone* getting "this" water free in the US is *the owner!* Why? >> Bc the 3cents costs of this "blant" water is *already included into your overpriced meal.* (lower quality in base products used as well, for high costs) >> The R. owner in the US pays a waitrees arround 2,45-4$/h. *But wait,...minimum wage is 7,25+$/houre!?* >> What you miss to see, the owner *expects AND transfers HIS OWN costs* on the costumer bc the burnt in "we need to tipp"* mentality opens him the gates to it. >> ONLY if after the day, the tipps will not make up to the minimum per houre wage, the owner is "forced" to pay full minimum wage. • See what is happening? Costumers & waitrees are getting forced to do smt, the owner should do. >> The tipps SHOULD only belong to the waitrees and the owner should not know how much extra she/he made. Period. None of his buissness. He is NOT paying full out of HIS pocket but only arround 25-50% of the per/h payment, rest is transfered over to the customer paying a total of: 22%+21% = *43% ON TOP OF THE COSTS vs Germany* /// • *Consumer Prices* in Germany are *12.5% lower* than in United States (without rent) • *Consumer Prices* Including Rent in Germany are *24.5% lower* than in United States • *Rent Prices* in Germany are *44.5% lower* than in United States • *Restaurant Prices* in Germany are *21.1% lower* than in United States • *Groceries Prices* in Germany are *27.8% lower* than in United States !!!!! *Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child* *US:* 1,164.71$ vs *Ger:* 373.06$ 1,084.43€ 347.35€ .... /// A lot of lies are told by US politicans like "US has low taxes" NO. >> The use a trick comparing aples with oranges bc you dun understand the numbers. *Look:* At average *Income Tax* in the US is *22%* At average *Income Tax* in Germany is *19%* *Wait?!* _>> It says average Tax is _*_38%_*_ in Germany?_ True! • Wtf is it now! >> The average 38% Tax, includes: • With 7% *buys* a German worker his 100% premium HC *Insurance.* Nationwide & EUwide, inc. transport home. Hospital costs 10€/day. Can not be denied by law! • With 12% *buys* a German worker *State-Retirement-Insurance* after 40years paying in, global-wide monthly payed out by Germany. 7+12= *19%* >> *with 19% buys* a German worker "now & then" security/freedom. >> Remember above average *Income Tax* in Germany is... *also 19%* 19% Insurances bought 19% Income Tax = Give 50/50 Take *>> Pre Covid19, Germanys Healthcare System made 22 Billion Surplus!* • Money can only be used for HC related points and is meanwhile put into a state-stock pot, to further increase money slow but steady. A pool for SOS times, to catch germans if smt wrong happens... and it did... *BionTech* the 1st vaccine finders, sponsered by Germanys HC pool money. NOT Pfizer, pfizer is JUST a Distributer for BionTech. >> Contradicting, with this 22 Billion surplus, a HC4ALL System like the inventors of it, the Germans, by a German *conservativ,* would cost to much... • Eeeh as Germany WITH ALL it gives, including months long Spa paying (btw. Every German townname starting with *"Bad-"* like *Bad Cannstadt* has a Spa! "Bad" is a title for german towns, like for people is the Doctor title) this HC-System is not only paying itself, but on top generating surplus, into a growing pool for bad times, if the targeted surplus of 30-50Bil is reached, every monthly HC costs (7%) would be lowered bc of no true need to stock up more for bad times bc the collective power already reached the savty-net goal & from now on, everyone benefits to lower the costs bc of it, like a reward for the collective population. Way more to it, but i broke already my limit of typing a wall of words. >> If you made it this far & could follow through the points, you see... Germany Tax 38% is with 2 insurances >> average US Income Tax is 22% without 2 insuances. >> Ger Income Tax is 19% without 2 insurances Cheers *Edit:* With the *3%* less average German Income Tax, is the German worker almost paying half of his 100% premium HC of 7% total. While the US worker, gets nothing =( >> *Also,* a german worker *can not be fired today!* There is a *minimum* of 4weeks/1 month *payed delay* before it can be taken into effect. The longer you work in a comp. the longer the delay grows. So the worker has time to find another job, while the comp. has time to find a replacment & let the going out worker, transfer work-knowledge over to the new guy. All benefits. Minimum payed holidays are 22 +13 = 35days *as a right,* also job changing will not take those away from you! >> If you get sick WHILE in holiday as soon you get a Dr.'s notice, your holidays planed but not used are back. Bc holidays are ment to relax. While sick you can't. German Worker rights. >> *Ellon Musk* got his 4ss handed down by the 1st Tesla Union in his new german Giga Plant. Even the richest (well not anymore lmao this guy...) can not do what he wants here in Germany. Cheers²
@@aw3s0me12 This article or comment is really well explained. Americans should read it and realize how they are basically being screwed and exploited. Slavery in this day and age.
☺️I'm danish ... ☺️ ... I get payed sick days, payed vacation (6 week) up to 11 weeks payed paternaty leave, free health care at the point of service, affordle medicin, 37 hours a week is considered full time, free at the point of service college and university.... Thanks unions and social democrats☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️ I pay 36% in tax
UK here: when I was pregnant I had a lot of complications and had to stop working at 4 mths all my medical care was free I also got paid my full wage for the remainder of my pregnancy 6 mths, then I had a year off on maternity leave this has staggered pay of 3 mth full pay then 3 mths 80% 3 mths 60% and then 3 mths government maternity pay my company evened it out over the year so I had the same pay each mths for the whole year, while I was off over those nearly 2 years I accrued all my paid leave and also then had my full year paid leave for the upcoming year this enabled me to return to work for the first year as part time but still get paid a full time wage. I don't know how anyone in the US has children affording the care for is ridiculous and then not being able to spend any time with your child afterwards is horrific 😢
YOU ARE CORRECT. THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ALL OF EUROPE IS EXTREMELY GUILTY. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Easy, we just pump our politics with anti-choice legislation, see the predictable rise in crime rates, pump up the authoritarian sentiments in the public, overfund the police, reduce training expectations, get rid of safety nets and force hyperindividualist cultures down each other's throats until they forget who they are and who their neighbors are.
I live in Japan and while some small signs of the historically unhealthy work culture still remain, more and more companies are enforcing the breaks and time off rules. In fact, it’s more common now for companies to enforce time off. For one, at my current job, they will call you out if you don’t properly take the required break time (like if you go back to work early after lunch.) Also, your paid vacation days accumulate per year. And my dad accumulated 40+ days of paid time off. So, he was called to the office and told not to come to work for a month and ten days so they can keep adding paid days off (cause he was maxed out, and if he didn’t use them, the company couldn’t add any more.) So, yeah, work-life balance is given importance here. 👍🏼
wow! We can't even imagine being told to go on leave haha We are curious if your dad did anything exciting on his time off? Also, thanks for your comment, we have heard very mixed things about work life in Japan.
@@loners4life he caught up on sleep and worked on his bike. I don’t know what else he did, because it was Covid time, so he didn’t want to go to crowded places. But by the third week he was bored out of his skull and wanted to go back to work. 🤣 Yeah, I understand the mixed feelings because traditionally, Japanese people work themselves to death. But in recent years, they have been working on changing the work culture - improving laws and regulations on companies. And you have to hand it to Japan, when they say they’ll change something, they get on it and make significant changes quickly. Now, overtime hours are capped, they created a “childcare leave” system for when a parent needs to take time off when a child is sick or something, companies are monitored for worker’s compensations and hours, etc. Plus the term “work-life balance” is thrown around so much that people can’t help but change their minds about how they work. So, I think it’s miles better now that when I first came here just fifteen years ago. Plus, because of Covid, a lot of companies are keeping their remote work and flex time systems for good.
SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT AMERICA SHOULD NOT DEFEND JAPAN AGAINST CHINA? Wow, and China has some very serious debts to repay Japan from WW2 as well. Best of luck Japan!
Nope its like that.. hey a dane here and that Means i am from denmark.. sorry for my spelling i speak english bether then I write.. lets just say that I would never move or visite the usa i would rather go to another country.. as for transport.. here we mostly use bicykles, busses or trains.. you should check out here on youtube vids from tictoc news.. americans living abroad: first time you realized america really messed you up.. Hope you check it out😜😘
From my german perspective it is mindblowing, that you call "benefits" what we call "rights". Maybe another great video to reacht to would be: "How The U.S. Ruined Bread"
Absolutely true. I am not German (Italian/Croatian), but I like Hayley Alexis videos, she is in Germany but a lot of what she is saying applies to most Europeans.
But they are benefits if you think about it. Most things such as food, shelter, work, etc. are benefits that are the result of people building up countries and civilizations. Suppose that rule of law and civilization would collapse tomorrow. It won't matter what your country or my country have written in their constitution. All the things that we consider rights would be gone.
@@MrHellweasel that's a straw man. Humans are living in civilisations and societies for around 10000 years. And if we don't completely fuck it up with climate crisis or a nuclear holocaust we will live like that another 10000 years. And as long as we have societies, societies will have laws and can decide what they consider as a right or a benefit. If you argue against that you argue against any law and we can start to do whatever we want. But if you consider laws are a thing, you should asked for the reason, why one society calls something a benefit and another a right.
@@pixelbartus If you think that is a strawman, look no further than the USSR or Nazi Germany. Goerge Carlin said it best when he said that rights aren't rights when someone can take them away. They are temporary privileges. I am not arguing against having them. I am arguing against the term right and the way it is used today. As if it is something set in stone and will always be available to us.
44:00 and in most of these countries, they can't fire you for taking maternal or paternal leave, they are required to give you your job back. Not that it's really an issue, because it's the norm, most wouldn't even consider it.
This doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’m an American, and I grew up overseas, and one thing I noticed was how much worse I was treated back here than I was in the places I lived and visited. I had always said that if I could afford to. I would move back to this place as I grew up in and leave the United States. I am autistic with mental disabilities, and they treat us like shit here I mean like shit plus the services for adults on the spectrum is horrible the only thing that stops me really is money.
Hi I live in the Netherlands and we have a strikt 36 hour work week, 24 days mandatory paid vacation days, 50 political parties, 35000 KM bike infrastructure, working public transport and we are one of the happiest people in the world. And this not only in Amsterdam but all over our country.
Fast food work is often viewed as good work training for our youth here in Australia, because as you said, it's fast paced and stressful. It teaches the young people how to handle these situations. It's a shame they are looked down on in the USA.
I (Austrian) only watch videos like this to comfort myself, because the optimal condition looks completely different here too. There are countries where it is MUCH worse. America is always the best example. In Austria you have to work really hard to fall through the safety net. Here you always have health insurance. it doesn't matter if you work or not. But, in order not to create any illusions: racism, poverty, underpaid workers, social divisions are also here (the bad English made google)
My favourite saying I've heard time and again is: "Americans live to work, the rest of the World works to live". And you can see this clearly any time you ask a person questions about who they are. Most people will say stuff like "oh yeah here are my hobbies, this is the music I like, these are my favourite comedians, this is my favourite memory, here's where I've been in the world .... oh and I work at this place doing this" .... whereas an American will start off that same conversation with "I work at this place, doing this job" ... it's the _first_ thing they say. And often a large portion of the entire conversation revolves around their job. Almost like they identify themselves based off the type of job they do and what company they work for, the rest of who they _actually_ are - their likes, dislikes and personality - are secondary rather than primary. That is _not_ a healthy attitude or way to exist. Your job shouldn't define _who_ you are as a person. It definitely shouldn't define your _worth_ as a person. Yet in the USA this seems all too commonplace, and it's rather sad to witness.
In Germany you have to get a break of at least eleven hours between one working day and the next. It's called 'Ruhezeit' and it means if you finished work at 10 pm, your boss must not order you to work again before 9 am the next day.
@@DSP16569 Germany caused Russia to invade Ukraine by refusing to heed America's warnings not to do Russia's bidding in building the Nordstream 2 pipeline. America time and again warned Germany it was a threat to European security, but Germany sided with Russia to the end. Russia was certain that European dependence on Russian petroleum meant that Europe would not react to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Germany also refused to spend even the paltry minimum on military defense required by NATO for all members. On February 25, 2022, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine in full, Olaf Scholz made an emergency trip to Washington to inform Washington that Germany would now take heed to America's warnings and both develop Germany's military and ween Germany off of Russian petroleum, admitting that America had been completely correct in the years prior warning Germany about the severe Russian danger.
I worked in Switzerland and it is really so, that you are respected, well paid, and receive benefits, AND life outside the workspace has NONE of the ingredients that make life in the US a permanent stress... I had the chance to study in Harvard and thought for a while about doing it (was living in Boston) but now I do not regret to have ended studying in Latinamerica and Europe! (which was paid almost entirely by the State!) YOU Loners are still young, do not waste your time! leave now, life is short... AND there are so many places where you cannot only work but you can also make the transit to entrepreneurship, Canada, NZ, Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Portugal, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, Malaysia, etc, etc, there are lots of opportunities out there, do not waste your time in the US, where the next shooting can also be right around the corner...
My daughter work at McD in Denmark. We pay some of the highest incometaxes here and the highest taxes on vehicles. And yet she can afford to rent a home close to city center, drives a modern citycar and live a comfortable life with everything one would need. 5 weeks payed vacation, unlimited payed sickleave and free healthcare.
I‘m living in Germany and got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2014 when I was just 22 back in college. I tried to ignore it and worked my ass of because I thought I had to. Resulted in a major burnout in 2019 with depression and huge anxiety (connected to work and making mistakes) I can’t work since then and had full support from my government financially in different ways. I now get retirement money due to illness till the end of 2023 and have time and money to heal and figure everything out. Sometimes I don’t like living in germany but I know I’m so lucky to have that safety net. Don’t want to imagine, going trough this in America
IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
There is a better work life balance in Europe for sure, 5-6 weeks holiday and paid sick days in all of the EU with minor variations. Childcare costs a bit but most have subsidized childcare with you paying a small sum per child. Maternity and paternity leave is 12-18 months in most countries as well, in many the culture is that fathers are expected to take at least 40% of that time off to stay at home with your new child. Education is free in many countries and most have a comprehensive safety net so you can take risks following your dream with little risk, if you fail you are taken care of. All of EU have universal healthcare in some variation with you paying little to nothing when visiting a hospital or general practitioner. Laws protect the parents when taking parental leave so your employer can’t fire you for using your rights to take parental leave. Laws also protect you if your union calls for a strike, you can’t be fired for that reason. You have rights by law to form a union in any workplace and penalize or fire you for doing so is illegal.
There are Americans leaving the US. In Sweden in 2021 we got 1898 immigrants from the US, in 2020 (COVID year) we got 1587. And that is just Sweden, I promise most countries in Europe get American immigrants too. 2016 the American diaspora was about 9 million. According to a Gallup poll, 16% of Americans want to leave the US. 40% of women under 30 want to leave US 😆
hello! I'm from Hungary. We have SpongeBob also, and it's very popular here too! We have parental leave also, we have the first year on 100% pay, the second year on about 70% pay and we have the third year on 50% at max iirc, but you can go back to work and still get this third year money at the same time! (this system might have some minor changes to it, but it was like this a few years ago)
I’m English and work for the NHS. I get 25 days paid holiday a year, not including bank holidays. When I had my daughter I got 6 months full pay then 3 months at half pay, didn’t cost me a penny when she was born either.
As a Brit, I believe we have maximum hours that can be worked. Most employees here, if told to work 60+ hours (unless in the emergency services/ Hospital workers) would probably suggest their boss “goes forth and multiplies”. Even with double pay. Edit - regarding what divides us - Football.
In Italy the worst company that you can work for, gives you 4 paid weeks of vacation per year. Some give you 5 or 6 weeks, which pretty much means, like 3 weeks of summer vacations and 2 weeks in the winter holiday season.
I've spent 3 years in the US and it was a great experience from many points of view. But I'm glad that I didn't go there as a refugee and I could come back to my country, Romania. A country that is neither on the top, nor at the bottom. It sure has it's own problems, many problems in fact. But I would chose Romania over the US any day. Eleven years later I still don't regret a bit that I came back. Several things: education and health care are covered by my taxes.I personally studied my way up to a PhD without paying a single penny out of my pocket. I don't have to be afraid that if I get seriously sick I will go bankrupt and possibly homeless. I don't have to be afraid to allow my child to play by herself or to walk alone to school, because there are no guns, no active shooter drills, nothing like that. My wife is not allowed to drive due to some health issues, but I don't have to be afraid that if something happens to me she will be stuck in the house because there's no other way to get out and about than by car. When my daughter was born, we had a full year of fully paid parental leave. Sick days are unlimited because companies trust their workers and workers normally don't abuse this opportunity. Hitting children is illegal both at home and in schools. In the US most states allow it at home and 19 states allow it in schools. I could go on and on, but remember, this is only Romania, which isn't one of the leading countries in Europe, not even close. You mentioned the lack of unions. Well, thank that to Republicans who made sure that "union" became a swearword, and especially to Ronald Regan who gave a historic blow to any struggle for workers' rights when he fired all air traffic controllers when they went on strike. And the indoctrination of the people was so successful that most Americans developed a full Stockholm syndrome where they idolize the ultra rich, those who feed on their poverty and misery. They drank the absurd potion of "if you work hard you can also be a billionaire". Listen to the news: how many times can you hear every single day the words "hard working" when they want to praise someone? Sure, it's a good thing to be hard working, but there it became a mantra, a symptom of the American work fetish. I'm convinced that even if they offered the sick days, parental leaves, paid vacations and all those things that are normal elsewhere, many Americans would refuse them for fear of being seen as "not hard working". Dogmas with no reality to back them up, simplistic labels ("socialism" for example) to brush off any reasonable argument... And if we outsiders dare to faintly suggest that maybe... just maybe you could do things differently, so many Americans get offended right away. "If you don't like it go home" - that's the reaction. Very few people understand that if we speak about these things we do it because we care, not because we "hate America, the flag and our great freedoms" (for heck's sake, show me one single freedom that is solely American, a freedom that people in at least 150 other countries don't have!). Guys I love America and Americans. I have many friends, even relatives there. I care about them, I miss them. It's a beautiful country with wonderful people. I want them to have a better life, a life that decent human beings deserve.
IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
19:20 The currency of Denmark is the Danish Crown (DKK). USD 1 = DKK 7.44 (2022-09-15). The average cost of living in Denmark is 21% less expensive than in the US.
Australian minimum wage is 21.38/hr, or a little over 800/week. Average rent here is about 500/week in Sydney, down to 340 in Perth. The percentage of weekly salary for a median income to pay for the average rent is roughly 30% in Sydney and down to just under 20% in Perth. The minimum wage is indexed to cost of living increases and goes up automatically every year. The cost of living budgets a third of someone's income to accommodation, up to a half if it's a mortgaged home, because a home is considered an investment, so paying that off goes towards savings by increasing your asset ownership.
I really like this format you chose. I think i only know one other channel who does push the focus of his reaction videos to the podcast format, and it's an older guy who reacts to albums. But i really love it, sometimes its hard not to skip the intro when i really want to see your reactions to the video itself, but when i try tk think about it as a podcast instead, then its one of my favorite formats out in the middle of one of my other favorite kinds of format 😁 keep it up
Hi new here.... im from Denmark and yes you REALLY need more unions, we've had unions overhere since the 1840's and it is on the back of their struggle and the thing called the Danish model / scandinavian Model, where the Unions, the workers and to some degree the government negotiate and agrees on alery, vaction , aso aso, that we enjoy the benefits we have now.....
WHY ARE THERE 100,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS STATIONED IN EUROPE WHEN EUROPE IS AS RICH AS AMERICA IS??? IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
In Sweden the rules are very strict when it comes to work hours. If you go beyond your daily 8 hours the company is obligated to pay you +100% of your normal salary, which in most cases deters employers to ask for it. Our healthcare is free, our education is free. And to touch on cleanliness, our drinking water is the cleanest in the world. We drink straight out of the tap anywhere in the country.
Here in the UK full time hours are generally either 35hrs or 37.5hrs per week depending on your employer. If you are part time, employers are required to pay you the same wage rate as a full time employee and be entitled to the exact same benefits and opportunities. Additionally you are not allowed to work more than 48hrs a week on average over a 17 week period. You must also have at least 11hrs between the end of your last shift and the start of your next.
The big difference s most Western countries have employment laws. Guaranteed paid holidays, maximum working hours with some exceptions. In 1980 at 16 I started full time work, I had 20 days paid holidays. Over time I was entitled to more. I have family in Scandinavia, they turned 60 & got an extra week, now 62 and got another week. And don’t even start me on maternity & paternity leave
I have worked part-time in Denmark as a night watch, no degree required and only 3 days of training (at full pay), had some previous experience so wages ranged from $26.5 to $37.5 an hour depending on the day of the week and if it was on a holyday, you are still entitled to 5+1 weeks' paid vacation a year + holydays and a pension scheme, as for taxes, then in general the average income taxes are around 40%, but truth of the matter is that there are different brackets and deductions (in fact, union and unemployment insurance payments are automatically deducted) and the first around $6,300 you earn a year is totally tax free. So, working part time I was actually paying less than 30% income taxes, and obviously you need no health insurance because it's paid for through taxes and no need to save up money for an education either, because a higher education is free, including university college, in fact you even get paid to study (I think up to around $885 a month if you do not live at home with your parents, because then you only get up to around $380 a month).
Here in the Netherlands you MUST pay for health insurance. You can choose the cheapest option or the more expensive ones. If you however don’t earn a lot you get extra money from the government to pay for this health insurance. Most of the things we go to the doctors/hospitals for we don’t have to pay for. There’s a few small exceptions, like if you don’t include dental care in your insurance. And you have €385 a year of “your own risk” that you need to pay back to your health insurance if you use it all. You can also stay below that or if you go over it you never pay more than the 385. It’s a weird system that mixes the free health insurance with the free market somehow. As the places you take your health insurance from are companies who want to earn money. But they still have to abide by strict rules from the government.
I live in australia.I am a truck driver. My basic wage before overtime is 38 dollors a hour. My take home pay last week after tax was nearly 1,300 dollars and im not really well paid compared to some specialised areas of transport..Also free healthcare .The only problem i have in the part of the state where i work our roads are crap.
I'm in the UK and currently working through an agency. I get paid vacation, sick pay and pension as I'm employed full time. The government here stated that all employees must get minimum wage, annual leave sick and maternity/paternity pay for all full and part time employment. Plus we have the NHS and benefits to help the low paid
They have videos on all these pubs in England are being shut down because people in England cant afford them. Plus that people in England will fight over an apartment / flat that has mold in just to live in a certain city. A homeless person wanting to live like that could be an upgrade but they were not.
@@DanRaidersWarriorsSharksGiants er nope. Some pubs have closed as lease ended and are turning into apartments the rest a shed ton of money. The homeless you're talking about is a tiny amount as they actually get a benefit plus housing from government, I actually speak to them regularly and try to buy them food I'm told they are OK. Worry about yourselves as we hear you guys are spending all your cash on military and bankers and dint even get 1 days leave!
@@richardjohnson2026 I saw a video on it so you changing the subject doesn't change anything. Having high min wage can be bad in some ways and that is obvious.
@@DanRaidersWarriorsSharksGiants wow, you SAW A VIDEO!? I live here, I really think you should either check your source, watch a few more vids from other places, come here or shut up.
Paid vacation in Europe doesn't mean you still get paid your salary during vacation... it means you get paid your salary AND vacation, which is usually another salary. In Christmas you also get an extra salary just because it's Christmas. It's what we call a 14 month pay/year.
If you want to work in europe then learning the language of the country you want to work in is a crucial factor. There are different levels for how good you know the language and depending on that your opportunitys increase drastically. I only know this from a coworker from syria but he was a refugee so i dont know the hurdles you would need to overcome as non-refugees.
In Sweden, another big difference from the US is the cost of childcare. Here the county provides childcare and there is an income-based fees cap. We paid about 150 USD for two kids per month.
The channel: Not Just Bikes, would be interesting to you! Or Jovie’s home, Hayley Alexis. They give great information and an outside view of USA If you want to move! Look in to the DAFT treaty (Dutch American Friendship Treaty) It will give you an opportunity to emigrate to the Netherland, as a gateway to Europe.
Hello from the UK As full time employee I'm contracted to 37 hour week anything over that is classed as overtime but due to labour laws this cannot exceed past 48 hours unless YOU give written consent to op out of the 48 hour limit I'm also entitled to 30 paid days holiday plus national holidays, 16 weeks full sick pay which if due to long term illness will reduce to 75% of full pay for a further 12 weeks I also get paid to attend doctor and dentist appointments. We also are allowed a reasonable time off with pay if there is a bereavement within immediate family Plus the cherry on top we have access to free health care
Dane here. I'm currently 30 years old and I have never had a job, only attended internships (to see what kinda job could suit me). I have never struggled with rent or food, I've even been able to splurge a little each month if I wanted to treat myself. Now that I'm early retired (yes, that's a thing here), I'm even better off now than I was before. I still haven't worked a single job. Yet I'm capable of now living a retired life. This is what it means to be taken care of by your government. I hope America will realize that one day.
I live in Sweden and I don't know anyone, nor ever heard of anyone who has been working two jobs. The need to have two or more jobs just to survive is purely an American thing.
I live in Switzerland and started an apprenticeship at 17 (usually we start at 15/16) got paid around 750CHF (first year) and 850CHF (second year) I didn't finish but now I make around 4000CHF (low wage for a working adult) and I can live my life, have 4 to 5 weeks vacation if I have an accident it's covered by my work insurance and take as much sick leaves as I need. And it's crazy how US citizens are treated fr
In Australia we don't really have any divisions. Politics are stable and religion is not huge. We work 38 hour weeks with min wage of about $26 hour and get 4 weeks annual leave and 10 sick days a year. I do agree that Americans don't seem to know much outside of their own country and seem to think they live in the best place when to the rest of the western world it seems like the place is falling apart and we definitely do not understand your need for guns, just bizarre!
10 SICK days??? What do people, needing a new hip, having cancer....? Sick days are UNLIMITED here in Austria, so glad, that AUSTRIA is NOT AUSTRALIA!!!
You're totally right, it is very bizarre here once you realize how other first world countries are doing things MUCH better. Brian's sister lived in Australia for a couple years and said she can feel the difference in stress levels amongst her peers over there vs in America. You guys are doing something right !! Thanks for sharing
As a Belgian I want to mention that "unpaid time off"...isn't really a thing here under normal circumstances. I'm not a construction worker, I'm at the office directing them, but let's talk about them. Too hot? They stay home and get paid. Too cold? They stay home and get paid. Sick? They stay home and get paid. Not enough work at the business they work for? They stay home and get paid. Transport to and from work? Compensated. etc. etc. And these are basic construction workers. To have unpaid time off you basically have to go out of your way to stay home, already have spend all of your vacation days.(32+whatever you earn by doing overtime. One hour overtime is one hour of vacation, once you reach 8 you can take a day off, so 8 hours of overtime every 2 weeks gives you an additional 24 days or almost 5 weeks on top of the 32 days of vacation) AND stay home for basically no valid reason. Certainly possible but that just doesn't realistically happen. And frankly, most reasons ARE valid. More than most employees would expect. I spend 2 of my holidays on moving home this year and only later found out that apparently you can get time off, paid, to move house. Living here it's very simple. If it's YOUR fault you could be on the hook for it. But you're not going to be punished because the weather was crap or because your employer can't find work for you for a few days. That's not your fault or your responsibility so you shouldn't be punished for it.
wooooow! this is unheard of here. Many times even when we are sick we fight through it to go to work because most can't afford a day off or if we do take the day off, we get the cold shoulder from our boss the next day and questioned about how "sick" we really are . It's terrible
@@loners4life So you have a cold. Go into work infect everybody, very kind of you? Look at Covid? Your not feeling well, don't want to go to the Doctor's. Go to work. Next day you feel so bad, you have to go to the Docto'rs You find out that you have German measles, a young newly married girl has just found out that she's pregnant. You spent the previous day, working next to this young Mother to be. The last time that I heard of something like this happening, which was many years ago, the baby was born partially deaf and had very poor eyesight.
Swede here. When I was young and stupid, I also looked a little bit down on McDonald's workers like "Can't you get a real job" Nowadays, I work at a company called Jysk. It's like the danish version of Ikea. And when I sit with my boss looking at new hires, a McDonald's worker looks good because it shows that you can handle a stressful environment. "That is if you have worked there for some years." I feel sorry for you, americans, when you citizens just get seen as numbers on a board instead of human beings. I know there are some few company's that actually care about their workers and hats of to you guys. I hope things like that will change for you guys in the future.
Regarding paid days off in Austria, the number one in the chart you show. Yes, the number of days mentioned applies to everyone who works here (posting from Vienna, Austria). I'd have to look it up in detail, but I know that my mum and my step-mum got 5 days extra when they were older, like 55 or so. Parental leave if kinda up to what you choose. 6 Months is the minimum, up to 3 years. And it's possible to share/split this time between the mum and dad except for the first 6 months. And yes, giving birth in a hospital is free of charge. In my opinion the biggest issue not even mentioned is medical care. Everyone here can get "free"/state medical insurance which is paid for via tax revenues. Take me as an example: I was diagnosed with an incurable neurological disorder when I still in school in 2007. Since then I had to spend like 12 weeks in hospital care, did several physical therapies (can't remember how many, but at least 10). Also three physical rehab stints of 6 weeks each. The medication I take/took and which was mostly paid for by the "free" medical insurance was worth approximately 250.000$. For all that I had to pay a total of around 1000$ extra out of pocket from 2007 until 2020. Since then there will be no cost added because in that year I got my disability recognized and instead of having to pay for any medical expenses I get all of them for "free" and receive an extra 160$ per month.
Many similarities to Canada. I find many Americans fear "socialism". It goes against their independence and ideals of individual freedoms. They are sceptical of government and what they would consider intrusion in their lives. They miss out on the benefits it can bring society as well.
Water ? You would be surprised to learn that Canada 🇨🇦 has 20% of the Worlds fresh water ! And all those other points (Labour laws, Holidays, Sick leave, Free Healthcare) are all right here !
In the UK the leave days started at 28 days. These 28 days are used based on a 5 day working week, which means the 28 days translates into 5 full weeks and 3 days, NOT including Statutory holidays. i.e. Christmas, Easter and Bank holidays. We were on holiday from the UK in Florida (pre trump). During our visit to Disney, my wife fainted from dehydration, and they called in paramedics/ambulance (required by Park procedures) The paramedics dealt with my wife, the costs being covered by Disney's insurance. The lead Medic warned us that if my wife fainted again, the total cost would be on 'us' - possibly as much as $10000. Needless to say my wife said that if she did faint again, just carry her back to our car. At that point I realised the absolute chronic healthcare available to US citizens, and the disgusting corporate corruption inflicted (willingly it seems) on the general population !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gran video! Refleja bastante bien la realidad si excluimos el contexto en el que estamos en Europa en Sept. 22. Yo soy de Pamplona, Norte de España, y no sé por qué pero tengo la sensación de que encajarían muy bien aquí😉. Es un país que disfruta de las pequeñas cosas de la vida, y prioriza las relaciones sociales. Y eso que somos de los países del sur de Europa, que muchas veces se considera "de los pobres". Me gusta informarme como vosotros sobre la vida en otros países, y por nada cambiaría el lugar donde vivo. Difícil que seas rico aquí, pero posiblemente más feliz. Ojalá podáis ver algún video sobre España, creo que os sorprenderá. No somos solo toros y flamenco.
From Germany - i remember, one year around August i was called into the office of my direct boss, and he told me, i had to hand in a list with times for my holiday because i still had 30 days left, and the company didn't want their staff to transport too much holiday into the following year. That year i already had 2 weeks paid holiday from the year before.
Just a note, Queen Elizabeth II wasn't in hospital. She was at her Scottish home, Balmoral, but had her doctor(s) there. She was failing in health, but was still mobile. She took a fairly sudden turn for the worse on the day she died. With regard to the video, I have seen umpteen RUclips reviewers watch this particular video by Second Thought. I almost know it word for word by now! Thank you for adding your pen unique snd knowledgeable twist to it.
I know this is 3 months old but next year I'm traveling from Australia (home) to England for a month. During my trip I have enough annual leave that I will continue to get my weekly pay every week while away. Also I don't have big high job either. I'm a fork driver on the walk in rate of $32 an hour.
I work for an American company in Lithuania and enjoy all the benefits of Lithuanian law, meaning - high quality almost free medicine (yes, I pay taxes), 25 days of holidays, 8 hours a day work (and we're encouraged to work only in our work hours - the lower results should signalise our management that we're short on stuff). As for maternity leave, the data is very accurate for Lithuania
Same situation, first in Romania and now in Belgium, still working for the same US company. In both countries the law mandated what they had to follow - the minimum. Fun fact is that we also get extra benefits: private pension, worker comp insurance, hospitalization comp, meal vouchers, I also get 6 extra days of PTO, this in Belgium. In Romania I got extra: 2 more days of PTO, health subscription at a private clinic/hospital (stuff like blood tests, eye tests, etc.), gym membership paid, they covered either public transport card every month or parking permit in the area where we worked, international woman’s day gift card for all the ladies (it’s kinda of a big thing in my home country and all employers I’ve had did something on this day - usually at Sephora), annual team building weekend where we all go to a cabin in the mountains and drink and bbq on the company’s dime - no stupid bonding activities). Same company, my colleagues in the US get none of that. My colleagues in Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, all get the minimum mandated by law in their countries and whatever extra they negotiate as well. The only ones screwed are the ones in the US. And all of us on the international side have to keep reminding our american managers that some of their “ideas” regarding employment are illegal elsewhere.
EDIT: Feels dumb talking about this now that i have seen the whole video, i wrote this when you asked in the beginning. Feel so somber now so talking about cartoons seem so stupid now. But i wrote this before watching it all. I was a child in the mid 90s to early 2000s so i had some insane Cartoons! Like, the 90s were the craziest time for Cartoons and children's shows! He-Man, Thundercats, Battle Masks (Or whatever it was called) and sooo much more! The Nintendo show with a live-action Super Mario show and the Zelda and Mario cartoons! DC's Batman, Superman, Justice League! Marvel's Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and "Super Friends" (or Something like that) Ofc, i watched Spongebob too, but that came when i was a bit older. I lived in Sweden btw, we got everything from America. So it was the same Cartoons.
A sweede here who have worked as both a "low skilled worker" and now management. The quality of life has always been high and at my current work I have very flexible hours and are not expected to spend more time then we have to in the office, and our boss will definitely send us home if we don't use our vacation time or work overtime.
AND NOW SWEDEN IS RUNNING INTO THE SAFETY OF AMERICA'S ARMS AS RUSSIA THREATENS YOU. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
I live in Canada and it's definitely true here that government does do efforts to maintain its citizens work/off time well balanced and does treat employees fairly.
16:05 You don't always need high unionization rate to have powerful unions and ensure good workers' rights; it depends on the labor laws. For example, France has one of the lowest unionization rates in Europe, however we have a generous welfare state and good workers' rights (even though neoliberal governments have been trying to chip at them for 30 years). This is because labor unions have the power of collective bargaining, and are considered "representative" of all workers as long as they have over 8-11% of seats in works council (employees' representative bodies inside the company). Agreements made between the government, business organizations and unions apply to all branches and companies, regardless of unionization.
Getting more political parties: You guys need preferential voting, where you number the parties based on your preferences. Number one for who you actually want to win down to the highest number for the group you think would set the place on fire if they were left in charge. This works by counting all the number ones for each party. If there's still no winner, take the votes for the party coming last and look at their second preference. If there's still no winner, do the same thing again, take the party coming last and check their second preference, or third if they were people whose first preference was removed the first time around. Keep doing this until there's a majority. Then you have a winner and know the percentages of people who voted for the other parties, which get seats based on these percentages. The feature of this is that politicians aren't just after people who will put a first preference next to their name. They can't win with just first preferences, so they need to appeal to other kinds of people in the hopes that they put them as second, third, fourth, etc, as long as they put them ahead of their main opponent. This means that there's much less "vote for me or that guy wins." It tends to be much more policy based to try and convince a wider array of people to put them higher in their preferences.
In Germany, parental leave goes up to 3 years at 65% salary. But you can do a small job on the side to earn extra money. Vacation is also between 25 and 30 days. It is so sad how badly the super rich exploit the population. It's not like this is only so bad in the USA. There are problems in other countries too and not all of them are that great. Of course, people are basically treated better for now, but not everything is as smooth as you might think. American investors are buying in everywhere and everything is being privatized. Wages don't rise to the same extent as the cost of living does, and so the gap between rich and poor is being pushed forward in other countries as well. Capitalism has arrived everywhere and unfortunately US companies or investors are often responsible for it. Translated with DeepL
44:00 - In my country a mother can leave for her maternal leave six to eight weeks before her term - she can select when to start her leave in this period. Maternal leave is 28 weeks if one child is born, 37 weeks if more children are born (twins, triplets etc.). During that time employer can hire someone on the mother's position to cover it but let the mother take her position back after she returns. Employer is not allowed to cancel the position due some reorganisation. During maternal leave the mother is getting social financial support from the state, it's 70% (generally, the percentage gets smaller for high incomes) of her income in the 12 months prior to the start of the maternal leave. Maternal leave is (obviously) only for mothers and as far as I know, mothers can't say "I don't want it, I want to work", they are explicitly forbidden to work (but not sure of that 100 %). To receive the pay from the state the mother must fulfill both these conditions: 1) During the two years preceding the start of maternal leave the mother was for at least 270 days paying her health insurance (which is paid automatically by the employer by deducting 4,5 % from employee's salary every month, there's no way to not pay health insurance when you're employed). 2) The mother was employed at the time of start of maternal leave or at most 180 days prior to that. Maternal leave can be followed by parental leave, if the parents want to. Only one parent can take the parental leave. Either mother of the child, father or mother's husband if he's not the child's biological father. The parent decides how long the parental leave shall be, it can't be declined by the employer and can last to up to the child's third birthday. The parent taking the parental leave can ask for parental pay from the state for up to four years. The monthly amount depends on how long the pay is taken, longer time means lower monthly income. You get some fixed amount based on your income in the 12 months prior to the start of maternal leave and that's distributed to you monthly in the same amounts. In addition, every father gets three paid days off after his child is born. So a mother can stay at home for three years and eight weeks maximum with her child if she wants to and is paid, even though not very much if the leave is this long.
sixty hours.... i'm belgian. we work 37.in a week. 40 would mean 12 paid vacation days ( on top of the 20 mandatory). i dont even think 60 is legal, unless you get the next week off.....
Canadian here and I can tell you, having lived here and elsewhere, that this is real. Healthcare is a right in Canada and Parental Leave is guaranteed to both mothers and fathers (variances exists but it's pretty much across the board). Also, we have a safety net to ensure those who have lost work or can no longer work are not disposable. Then there's our post-Secondary Education (what you call College/University), while we still pay for it, the cost is significantly lower than the US, in some cases by 60%. Work life balance is not just mentally health but physically as well. In the US, one of the biggest causes of death is from stress related disease; imagine not having that stress knowing should anything happen you'll be taken care of. I've visited the US several times and even lived there for 2 years for work and it was a nightmare. While Canada does have its problems, no nation is perfect, I can say I would not want to live in the US ever again. That all said, I'm heartened to see many of my US cousins learning about the way other nations treat their citizens and realize how they're being treated with disdain by those in power. Respects from Canada
You would think America would take some notes from a country such as Canada but it seems money is more important than the greater good. smh. Really wish our parents were Canadians right about now aha
@@loners4life I'm a Canadian as well. Yes, we do have a lot of things that seem better, like universal healthcare, lower education costs, many different benefits/grants etc. I don't see the states as "prioritizing" money over the people. What it mainly comes down to, is how much the American people are willing to be taxed. I live in Toronto, I'm a low income earner, that places me in the lowest provincial and federal income tax bracket. Combined, my income tax rate is 20.05%. Then combine that with our 13% sales tax that's applied to all my daily purchases. My parents total income tax rate is 42%(their income bracket) and again, add the 13% sales tax lol almost 50% of their gross yearly income is spent on taxes when adding it all up. Ya there are some deductions and reimbursements here and there, but it is crazy regardless haha With America, with my equivalent income, say I choose to live in Wyoming. There is no state income tax, so I'd only pay federal income tax at 12%. Wyoming sales tax is only 4%. That is roughly 40% less income tax and almost 70% less sales tax compared to what I'm paying up here. Basically you have to weigh your options. What keeps me here is the healthcare system. My mother just had a malignant tumor removed from her kidney on Tuesday, and will be coming home on Friday or Saturday depending. Her stay and all medication administered by the hospital is completely free. The surgery itself was almost fully covered by OHIP(our healthcare), and our cost is about $500. She has health benefits from work, so that bill will get covered. In the states, if a person had no health insurance, that would probably be a $30k or higher bill. Years ago, I fractured and dislocated my knee. I spent a night in the hospital, had multiple x-rays, had an MRI, and was given medication. When I got discharged, I only had to pay $30 for the full leg brace, everything else was covered by our standard healthcare. High taxes, almost free healthcare in Canada(possibility you may rarely need it, so you're paying into something and getting nothing back, on the other hand, it is a great safety net if/when you do need it). Also, a lot of tax you pay goes into all the other government benefits/grants/programs that you may rarely or never use, or you're not even eligible to receive Vs. Low taxes, pay for a premium health insurance plan if you don't have benefits from your job. Little or no government benefits/programs/grants, but you're not paying into ones that you rarely/never or ineligible to use. I can't say which of us has it better. Everyone's situation is different. Canada is great if you're able to take advantage of many of its benefits, but depending on your situation, you may never use them or not eligible, which would make the US the better option. Sorry for the essay haha my main point, nothing is free. I saw some other comments saying they have free healthcare, which is wrong lol it's paid through higher tax rates. Pay the government for a decent life in Canada, or pay private companies for the equivalent life in the US haha
Amsterdam - The Netherlands here, we definitely have allot of laws that protect it's citizens when they come down on their luck : unemployment, mental or physical health issues, homelessness etc. we have a collective health care system which means that everyone is covered even those who can't afford it them selves. there are also government systems setup to help people with low income or single parents that can't work cause of it that will give them extra rent or child support fees to help them have enough to make meets end. (not like it's luxurious or anything) but it basically keeps away that people are dying cause of not being able to buy food cause they had to pay rent for example also all tap water in The Netherlands is drinkable
That issue with clean water really got me. I'm so sorry to hear that, I hope it'll get better. 😔 And no paid leave or maternal leave? Here people complain that it is too short lol. 🤦♀️ the world is just so sad place
I am British and work just 15 hours a week for £9.50 per hour and the govt top it up to just under £700 per month. I get 20 days holiday plus national holidays and get paid sick pay for however long I'm ill even if it's years. I live in a 1 bedroom apt which suits me.
Often, saying "like" is a way to fill in awkward pauses in speech or to buy yourself some time while you think of what to say, but sometimes not saying anything at all can be a better move. Each time you can feel yourself saying "like," pause instead and give yourself a minute to think. Ps Great reaction.
All languages when spoken casually have their own ways of interspersing thoughts with perhaps unnecessary words or paralanguage; that is the nature of speech. Thus, it is entirely fatuous and snippety and, frankly, up your arse, of you to make this comment.
Sweden here. Pretty much the same as Denmark. As students we get a monthly fee payed out to us, when going to high school. When I went it was 150$, now it's surely more. When we go to College level education, we get 300$ monthly, entitled to 7-800$ more in student loans. Loans that don't have interests rates & can be payed off over decades a little at a time, amount will be depending on what you earn. Which also means it's possible to just take 300$ & work part time & not take loans if that is what you want.
In the UK a typical full time job is usually 35-40 hours. I've been working my current 35 hour job for just under 2 years and I get 36 days leave and 12 months of full sick pay a year (Which Im currently using after a free knee operation last month)... I don't get why the public hasn't pushed for more rights in the states :(
In Finland we have representatives from 10 different parties in our parliament. Government consists of 5 parties, meaning that we have ministers from those.
The American concept of "sick days" I also find funny. I mean: losing your vacation days if you are sick for too long. Something like: "Mind you, we can't accept you having covid for more than three days!" That works different in my country (the Netherlands). I have a full time job (that's a union-established 36 hours). I get paid on every single day of the year, no matter wether I'm working, sick, or on vacation. In fact, when I'm on holiday and I get sick, I call the office, let my boss know that I'm sick, and then my paid vacation day turns into a paid sick day and I retain that vacation day for another time. (And Dutch economy is doing just fine)
42:53 - Ever since I discovered videos of Americans talking about how they were treated in other countries' health systems, I've been watching videos of Americans reacting to other countries' health systems and comparison videos like these. The reactions of you and other RUclipsrs made me understand why so many books, films and series produced in your country deal with dystopias. It's because you live in one. It is a consensus that dystopias basically deal with growth, the passage from adolescence to adulthood. But, looking at these videos, dystopia seems to be USA's natural state of existence. What these videos report are dystopias in real life. It is scary. And I live in a poor country. We face difficult situations, but not on a level that prevents people from living.
I grew up in NZ and currently live in the UK, 5 years ago I had a personal blow, lost my job and had a mental health crisis. I ended up being unable to to complete basic tasks and ended up homeless. I spent months sleeping in a night shelter, while being practically unemployable. Local council workers helped me get housed again with rent being paid from public benefits. A government department helped me to retrain and regain my confidence. I am now employed full time by a multi national company. I feel eternally greatful that I don't live in a country like the US, where I feel there would have been no safety net for me and I would have been essentailly written off the moment I was unable to work.
Glad you’re doing better now mate
Be strong and I’m glad the uk and good people was there to help you I hope everything gets better for you soon 👍🙏
I am so glad that you were able to pull yourself up and start over. I'm also glad that in your country there are organizations that help the homeless. But please do not think the US does not care. I have to admit that our democratic party only uses peoples misfortune for their own political gain and then forgets all about them. However, there are so many organizations and government funding to help homeless people lift themselves up but here in the states you will find that these people want to be homeless. They don't mind something like food stamps and health insurance but they do not want to get a job, go to school to learn a trade, etc. They just want to be left alone. I volunteer with my church once a week to help the homeless and I know that they do not want to be pressured into starting over and they will actually get very angry at someone for trying to help. For instance, in California, a democratic run state, there are more homeless then there are in the entire US. These state politicians are doing nothing for them and most of them are addicted to drugs and do not wish to move away from that life. These democrats made it legal for them to do drugs, to defecate on city sidewalks, etc. The police are told to leave them alone when they commit a crime and it is actually illegal to feed the homeless. This does not represent the United States. I lived in Calif. I know this for a fact. Do we have a problem with the homeless here, yes we do but California is not an example of this great country. Please do not think that. We are a good people. Do not trust the media.
We’re so glad to hear you pulled yourself out of that situation. It’s also awesome that you had the support of your government. That shows a lot! I think the US fails to accept that if they put the effort into helping their citizens we will be grateful towards them in the long run. Thank you very much for your comment! ✌️
@@loners4life it always makes me laugh when people like you attack America... The country that accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world!.... America is so bad that people risk everything to get there!!!!!.... Its so easy to attack America but not so easy to praise is it???? The world would crumble if America didn't exist! It would be total chaos!!!!
As a person from norway i can tell u that it is possible to be a rich and fair country
As a dane, I have to agree. I wouldn't agree if you where Swedish, just because..yeah you know.
😆 yes we know. as a mouintain ape I would to live in DK ❤@@Dannyboy314
Same, Greetz from the Netherlands
(If you have a metric f*ckton of oil)
Are you 100% sure that you would be able to say the same if Norway didn't have huge oil and natural gas deposits? ;)
Sweden here, and I just wanted to confirm what my swedish fellows below said.
Its mindblowing to me that US wont mandate paid vacation, that you have a set number of sickdays and no parental leave. however what most disturbing to me is that it seems so common over there to be forced to have more then one job just to make ends met.
I feel sorry for you over there. I really do.
It’s mind blowing to us as well! Looking back we now feel like we aren’t crazy for feeling like we shouldn’t have to be pressured to do way more than we were being paid for and also feeling guilty for making it a point that we want vacation time. But thank you for taking the time to comment! We appreciate your input very much. We hope to visit Sweden sometime in the future as we hear a lot of great things ✌️
Yeah, same. Totally feel the same way. Finnishmama
Väldigt sant...
"Mind-blowing" is the right word. The richest nation in all of human history should have the greatest lives out of everyone in all of human history too!
That it is like this is mind-blowing, it doesn't make any sense.
Yeah, having more than one job is unheard of here. It would only be those that have few hours.
@@loners4life Make sure to not make the mistake of just going to the expensive areas like Stockholm. I live in a smaller city and as a Swede I find Stockholm considerably more expensive.
A a Dane who has tried being a "low skill" worker before - I can tell you this: I could easily pay rent and food - and oh yeah we have free healthcare here which is pay for through our tax system. Also I had a car and my hobby is computers which I could afford - and good internet. And still I had enough money for everything else I wanted - within reason.
That is insane to hear! I wish we could have a system where even the lower wage workers here could feel less stressed out and afford things they need and even some things they want without having to work multiple jobs. Thanks so much for putting in your perspective! We appreciate it ✌️
@@loners4life Most of USA tax money goes into military and most of the money that the companies make, is just for the owner to get stinking rich and the rest suffers
@@loners4life yes indeed. And when that is all in place, it potentially has another side effect. If people do not need multiple jobs, then more people can work, so unemployment would go down. With more people working, less people would be needing to live on the streets. More people working would mean more people have enough money to live, which in turn would potentially lower crime rates. More people working and buying would mean more tax income, in which could be used for social project or healthcare.
And if you can't, you'll get help to pay for it.
Same, I moved to Denmark from Latvia (because I got together with Dane) and even being able to work only low lvl job as I didn't have the language i earned enough to have a comfortable life and save up for trips. Had enough leftover in my account after every month was over to afford moving once a year and buy new furniture and still have saving for "just in case"
In Sweden we have 480 days to share between the mother and father in paternity leave those are payed days, we have 5 weeks of payed vacation. Unlimited sick days. I had a back injury and had to take 1 year of sick leave and it was payed and I still had my job when I returned. School is free, education is a right.
Just to clarify a bit:
90 of those 480 days are designated to the father and can't be shared with the mother at all.
The remaining days can be split however the couple like.
We have a _minimum_ of 25 days paid vacation but it can be higher depending on your contract/agreement.
We also have the paid holidays which I believe averages out at ~9 days per year under a five year period. It's something like 7 - 11 days depending on the year.
So the data in the video showing that Swede's have no paid holidays is incorrect.
I'd say the data for our neighbouring countries regarding this matter is incorrect as well. =P
So all in all Swedes do on _average_ have 34 days of paid vacation per year.
In my case it's ~43 days just because of the union I belong to (arbetstidsförkortning).
I'm curious, does the government or the company you work for cover the costs of the leave?
@@mremtb7689 the first 14 days comes from the company than if it's longer the insurance fund takes over. So both but in that I would say 3 parts. First the company than the government but it's taken from the taxes I have paid on my salary of all the years I have worked. So we all help each other you can say. But if you mean parental leave it's the government who pays. They even pays an allowance too to all parents every month from the first month of the baby to it's 16 years of age but it can go up to 20 years if you keep on studying. The allowance is about 120 dollars a month per child.
@@justmaria thanks for answering. Yes, I was referring to parental leave. Certainly an impressive system
@@mremtb7689 no worries 😁 I was just happy I could help 😊
I love watching American Reacts videos because the more Americans that learn about the rest of the world and just how great America isn't (not having a dig), then the more Americans there will be who want to make changes in America. I feel for Americans, especially regarding your healthcare. I cannot imagine being denied medical services because you don't have insurance or can't afford it. I am in Australia and it is unimaginable to think that you would not be looked after by your government ... and then there is the costs of medications ... it is so cruel to make things like insulin and epi pens so expensive - these are life saving needs. Anyway, I look forward to watching you learn more 🙂
True. I felt sorry for the Americans missing a universal care. I heard lots of homeless interviewed and it was because they were destroyed by unpaid hospital bills or divorces. Very sad situation. Zero quality of life.
@@marierocher4422
That's your problem right there. Interviews get cherry picked to push ideologies. Most of our homelessness actually comes from people that choose to be homeless, because we have many systems that highly benefit homelessness. It's why a common sight around here is someone that sleeps in a tent at a park, but wears nice watches, has the newest phones, and so on.
Additionally, high hospital bills almost exclusively come from two problems. Government subsidized healthcare, which encourages hospitals to charge whatever they want, because they know no matter how high the cost big daddy government is obligated to pay it, and the AMA, which is the association that more or less decides whether or not someone gets to be a doctor. They deliberately make sure to not license many doctors so as to keep demand high, thus higher paychecks, which obviously come at the expense of the patient and the taxpayers money.
@@Sin_Alder i agrée with you in some point. There are those really who choose to stay in tents free of charge from taxes, rentals, electricity etc. But there are some who ended up because of divorces, and mostly hospital bills. I found it more on the system not other people riding for free. How it works in Europe. Not saying Europe is good as it has different system yet it’s still universal health care. Somewhere there should be a system that gives everyone a security in healthcares. Is it not an early prevention saves cost on both? Rather than people are afraid due the costs until it’s too late?
@@Sin_Alder As an Aussie, reading this, all I can say is thank you America for doing your bit to reduce the world population ... however, don't think we'd let the like of you in here when you run out of poor, poverty stricken workers.
@@marierocher4422 Poverty and homelessness aren't exclusively an American thing. The world has the same problems, yet they deal with it in a way that is far more humane than America's calousness. Remember French history, if you tell the poor to 'eat cake', eventually they'll rise up and take over.
As an employer in Australia, I can confirm having McDonald's on your resume is a good thing. It means you have worked in a team environment where you are required to follow systems, have thorough performance reviews and work various duties.
....and desperate enough to work for a low wage?
@@douglasbrown5692 its not too bad everywhere. Depends on the country!
Young people have to start somewhere too, to kickstart it. Not everyone gets a dreamjob straight out of high school
@@mar97216 You caught me in a cynical mood.
Yep, guess I'm thinking of the pay rate in the USA. I figure if you can't pay your rent, bills, food etc., and have a little left over, there's something wrong with the national pay structure. What's the situation in Oz?
@@douglasbrown5692 Im in Norway and I dont work at mcdonalds but we have a fairly good minimum pay, plus theres always extra after certain hours. Extra per hour starts at certain times and a lot of it is regulated. And because of unions we have negotiated the pay and they have to follow the set rules by the government. The hourly pay for waiters in the US terrifies me, just to compare. I have worked at the supermarked when I was younger and I got a pay I could live off, although I just worked part time while studying. ( I mean if I worked full time I could live off it).
Waiters also gets a set hourly wage and they are not dependent on tips, actually tipping here is not really expected unless you go to a really fancy place and spend a lot of money. Tipping is just a bonus but people dont regulary tip like 20 %. Thats a lot.
@@douglasbrown5692 no, usually worked there as a kid while going to school before attending university and we have min wage here of about $26 hour for an adult. As per Norway we don't tip either unless you feel you received exceptional service usually in a fine dining environment
I never understood the idea of treating food workers like crap. These people literally hold my health in their hands because they are preparing food. I want them paid enough to care to make it right, especially if I have a food requirement.
If people treat workers like servants gives a fake sense of being rich.
Hi, I lived 16 y in the USA and moved back to Germany w my American wife end of 2017. Even though we worked for Fortune 500 companies (in the Silicon Valley) our quality of life here in Germany is on a whole other level. One thing that I always heard from Americans is "but you guys pay so much in taxes" ... honestly, after hearing that for almost two decades, I wanted to punch them out. My goodness, how come they do not factor in a) real estate tax (which can be insane where we lived in the USA), b) public infrastructure and transportation, c) school and university education (yes, university is free for foreigners too in Germany and some other EU countries) , d) vacation, e) health care & sick leave, f) living standards, g) environmental protection, h) parental leave ... etc etc ... the list goes actually on an on. Bottom line, live is better for the vast majority of people here, and that can be said about a lot of EU and also other European countries. Best remedy, get a f&%* passport and check it out for 3 months (tourist visa, but do not overstay, otherwise they'll lock you out next time - just saying, because I have a feeling you'd wanna stay).
Clean water?
The u should move to Sweden.
We drink it from the tap everywhere here.
And it's really good and refreshing aswell.
I'm a Brit. I had a bad accident, although not life threatening it could have been life changing. I had 8 operations, all the aftercare needed like physio to help strengthen up. I got money for being classed as partly disabled to help pay for extras things it might involve.
Glad to say although I suffer neurological nerve damage, I can do full physical exercise and I am quite healthy.
Dread to think where I would be if I was an American.
Skid row pal like many thousands of others and still have a massive health bill tied around your neck. America, the land of freedom.
YOUR ENLGISH POUND CRASHED THIS WEEK AND YOU BRITS ARE IN FOR A TERRIBLE ECONOMIC SHOCK IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
U would be 6 feet below.
Hi, as a french worker we normaly work between 35 to 40 hours a week with 2 days off. If we do more hours we get two types of compensations : money based on how many more hours we did, or more days off. Sometimes the company let us choose between the two of them.
Same in Canada with full time work.
Same in Belgium
In Poland the father gets 14 days paid paternity leave and the mother 52 weeks plus.
the big difference between the USA and the rest of the world: what you call advantage/chance, here (France/EU) we call it a "right". USA live to work, others work to live
you're spot on!
sums it up perfectlyin an very simple Manner, nice one.
Here in Europe, we have something called "Solidarity"
In Germany, you have at least 4 weeks of holidays, and your employer will make you take it, because they are legally obliged to. If you come to work sick, your boss will send you home. Sick days do not deduct from your holidays, you have an extra 6 weeks sick leave budget (your doctor will tell you how long to stay home). When your child is sick, you can stay home on sick leave. Two parents have together up to 3 years of parental leave paid 70% by government after which you are guaranteed to return to your job.
Also we have public healthcare, free universities, and security. children walk or bike to school by themselves. it's safe in Germany. you can go everywhere by public transport.
The same reasons apply to Tipping. I'm from New Zealand and, like Australia, England and most of Europe, we DO NOT TIP as part of normal transactions. In all these places, by Law, minimum pay levels are in place EG That McDonalds in Norway that you heard paid $22 per hour. In restaurants /bars etc the staff are paid good wages for the work and do NOT have to fawn and grovel in demeaning ways just so that they get tips!
It's a disgusting way to make staff earn their wages/salary. Just increase the price of the meals and drinks to their correct levels to cover the increased wages. The goods/services must be priced to cover the actual cost of wages. Then to see that often a "Tip" gets added to the Bill is a shock. It means that the meal/service cost was misleading. Here, it is illegal to mislead on costs/prices. The price advertised is the price you pay. NO OTHER ADDED COSTS ARE ALLOWED.
so true!!! although we tip everywhere we go, because we know it isn't the workers fault for their shitty wage...it still blows our mind that employers pay employees terribly knowing they will be receiving tips. so unfair. Brian used to work as a waiter for $2 an hour when he lived in Texas because they knew tips would make up the rest. smh
NEW ZEALAND REFUSES TO JOIN ANY BINDING MILITARY DEFENSE TREATY WITH THE FREE WORLD. YOU PARASITE OFF OF THE STABILITY AMERICA GUARANTEES FOR YOU. AND CHINA HAS BIG PLANS FOR NEW ZEALAND SHOULD AMERICA STOP PROTECTING NZ. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR NEW ZEALAND'S, EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Tipping is common in Canada even though minimum wage ranges for $13 to almost $16 Cdn an hour provincially. If working for a federally regulated industry such as banking, interprovincial transportation, the postal service, etc, the wage is now over $22 Cdn and hour. People can decide to tip or skip the tip. Most common tips are 10 to 15 % of the total bill. Serving food and drink can be a pretty lucrative job in the right setting when tips are included.
@@loners4life German here, US tipping is at average 22%.
• Restaurant prices vs Germany are *22% higher* in the US.
>> Conclution: As a US costumer, BEFORE even having your meal, you pay 22% more as over here. Additional, you are *made to think YOU have a responsibility* for the waiter beeing payed fair. No.
*Here is why:*
>> Free "Tape-water" is in the US *no Mineralwater* like in Germany. Huge difference. The *onlyone* getting "this" water free in the US is *the owner!*
Why? >> Bc the 3cents costs of this "blant" water is *already included into your overpriced meal.* (lower quality in base products used as well, for high costs)
>> The R. owner in the US pays a waitrees arround 2,45-4$/h.
*But wait,...minimum wage is 7,25+$/houre!?*
>> What you miss to see, the owner *expects AND transfers HIS OWN costs* on the costumer bc the burnt in "we need to tipp"* mentality opens him the gates to it.
>> ONLY if after the day, the tipps will not make up to the minimum per houre wage, the owner is "forced" to pay full minimum wage.
• See what is happening?
Costumers & waitrees are getting forced to do smt, the owner should do.
>> The tipps SHOULD only belong to the waitrees and the owner should not know how much extra she/he made. Period. None of his buissness. He is NOT paying full out of HIS pocket but only arround 25-50% of the per/h payment, rest is transfered over to the customer paying a total of:
22%+21% = *43% ON TOP OF THE COSTS vs Germany*
///
• *Consumer Prices* in Germany are *12.5% lower* than in United States (without rent)
• *Consumer Prices* Including Rent in Germany are *24.5% lower* than in United States
• *Rent Prices* in Germany are *44.5% lower* than in United States
• *Restaurant Prices* in Germany are *21.1% lower* than in United States
• *Groceries Prices* in Germany are *27.8% lower* than in United States !!!!!
*Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child*
*US:* 1,164.71$ vs *Ger:* 373.06$
1,084.43€ 347.35€
....
///
A lot of lies are told by US politicans like "US has low taxes" NO.
>> The use a trick comparing aples with oranges bc you dun understand the numbers.
*Look:*
At average *Income Tax* in the US is *22%*
At average *Income Tax* in Germany is *19%*
*Wait?!*
_>> It says average Tax is _*_38%_*_ in Germany?_
True!
• Wtf is it now!
>> The average 38% Tax, includes:
• With 7% *buys* a German worker his 100% premium HC *Insurance.* Nationwide & EUwide, inc. transport home. Hospital costs 10€/day. Can not be denied by law!
• With 12% *buys* a German worker *State-Retirement-Insurance* after 40years paying in, global-wide monthly payed out by Germany.
7+12= *19%*
>> *with 19% buys* a German worker "now & then" security/freedom.
>> Remember above average *Income Tax* in Germany is... *also 19%*
19% Insurances bought
19% Income Tax
= Give 50/50 Take
*>> Pre Covid19, Germanys Healthcare System made 22 Billion Surplus!*
• Money can only be used for HC related points and is meanwhile put into a state-stock pot, to further increase money slow but steady. A pool for SOS times, to catch germans if smt wrong happens... and it did...
*BionTech* the 1st vaccine finders, sponsered by Germanys HC pool money.
NOT Pfizer, pfizer is JUST a Distributer for BionTech.
>> Contradicting, with this 22 Billion surplus, a HC4ALL System like the inventors of it, the Germans, by a German *conservativ,* would cost to much...
• Eeeh as Germany WITH ALL it gives, including months long Spa paying (btw. Every German townname starting with *"Bad-"* like *Bad Cannstadt* has a Spa! "Bad" is a title for german towns, like for people is the Doctor title) this HC-System is not only paying itself, but on top generating surplus, into a growing pool for bad times, if the targeted surplus of 30-50Bil is reached, every monthly HC costs (7%) would be lowered bc of no true need to stock up more for bad times bc the collective power already reached the savty-net goal & from now on, everyone benefits to lower the costs bc of it, like a reward for the collective population.
Way more to it, but i broke already my limit of typing a wall of words.
>> If you made it this far & could follow through the points, you see...
Germany Tax 38% is with 2 insurances
>> average US Income Tax is 22% without 2 insuances.
>> Ger Income Tax is 19% without 2 insurances
Cheers
*Edit:*
With the *3%* less average German Income Tax, is the German worker almost paying half of his 100% premium HC of 7% total. While the US worker, gets nothing =(
>> *Also,* a german worker *can not be fired today!*
There is a *minimum* of 4weeks/1 month *payed delay* before it can be taken into effect.
The longer you work in a comp. the longer the delay grows. So the worker has time to find another job, while the comp. has time to find a replacment & let the going out worker, transfer work-knowledge over to the new guy.
All benefits.
Minimum payed holidays are 22 +13 = 35days *as a right,* also job changing will not take those away from you!
>> If you get sick WHILE in holiday as soon you get a Dr.'s notice, your holidays planed but not used are back. Bc holidays are ment to relax. While sick you can't. German Worker rights.
>> *Ellon Musk* got his 4ss handed down by the 1st Tesla Union in his new german Giga Plant. Even the richest (well not anymore lmao this guy...) can not do what he wants here in Germany.
Cheers²
@@aw3s0me12 This article or comment is really well explained. Americans should read it and realize how they are basically being screwed and exploited. Slavery in this day and age.
☺️I'm danish ... ☺️ ... I get payed sick days, payed vacation (6 week) up to 11 weeks payed paternaty leave, free health care at the point of service, affordle medicin, 37 hours a week is considered full time, free at the point of service college and university.... Thanks unions and social democrats☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️
I pay 36% in tax
UK here: when I was pregnant I had a lot of complications and had to stop working at 4 mths all my medical care was free I also got paid my full wage for the remainder of my pregnancy 6 mths, then I had a year off on maternity leave this has staggered pay of 3 mth full pay then 3 mths 80% 3 mths 60% and then 3 mths government maternity pay my company evened it out over the year so I had the same pay each mths for the whole year, while I was off over those nearly 2 years I accrued all my paid leave and also then had my full year paid leave for the upcoming year this enabled me to return to work for the first year as part time but still get paid a full time wage. I don't know how anyone in the US has children affording the care for is ridiculous and then not being able to spend any time with your child afterwards is horrific 😢
YOU ARE CORRECT. THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ALL OF EUROPE IS EXTREMELY GUILTY. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Easy, we just pump our politics with anti-choice legislation, see the predictable rise in crime rates, pump up the authoritarian sentiments in the public, overfund the police, reduce training expectations, get rid of safety nets and force hyperindividualist cultures down each other's throats until they forget who they are and who their neighbors are.
I live in Japan and while some small signs of the historically unhealthy work culture still remain, more and more companies are enforcing the breaks and time off rules. In fact, it’s more common now for companies to enforce time off. For one, at my current job, they will call you out if you don’t properly take the required break time (like if you go back to work early after lunch.) Also, your paid vacation days accumulate per year. And my dad accumulated 40+ days of paid time off. So, he was called to the office and told not to come to work for a month and ten days so they can keep adding paid days off (cause he was maxed out, and if he didn’t use them, the company couldn’t add any more.) So, yeah, work-life balance is given importance here. 👍🏼
wow! We can't even imagine being told to go on leave haha We are curious if your dad did anything exciting on his time off? Also, thanks for your comment, we have heard very mixed things about work life in Japan.
@@loners4life he caught up on sleep and worked on his bike. I don’t know what else he did, because it was Covid time, so he didn’t want to go to crowded places. But by the third week he was bored out of his skull and wanted to go back to work. 🤣 Yeah, I understand the mixed feelings because traditionally, Japanese people work themselves to death. But in recent years, they have been working on changing the work culture - improving laws and regulations on companies. And you have to hand it to Japan, when they say they’ll change something, they get on it and make significant changes quickly. Now, overtime hours are capped, they created a “childcare leave” system for when a parent needs to take time off when a child is sick or something, companies are monitored for worker’s compensations and hours, etc. Plus the term “work-life balance” is thrown around so much that people can’t help but change their minds about how they work. So, I think it’s miles better now that when I first came here just fifteen years ago. Plus, because of Covid, a lot of companies are keeping their remote work and flex time systems for good.
SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT AMERICA SHOULD NOT DEFEND JAPAN AGAINST CHINA? Wow, and China has some very serious debts to repay Japan from WW2 as well. Best of luck Japan!
@@drServitis huh? Totally off-topic 🤯
@@cbtowers4841 But do you feel that America should defend Japan if China attacks Japan?
Nope its like that.. hey a dane here and that Means i am from denmark.. sorry for my spelling i speak english bether then I write.. lets just say that I would never move or visite the usa i would rather go to another country.. as for transport.. here we mostly use bicykles, busses or trains.. you should check out here on youtube vids from tictoc news.. americans living abroad: first time you realized america really messed you up.. Hope you check it out😜😘
From my german perspective it is mindblowing, that you call "benefits" what we call "rights".
Maybe another great video to reacht to would be: "How The U.S. Ruined Bread"
Absolutely true. I am not German (Italian/Croatian), but I like Hayley Alexis videos, she is in Germany but a lot of what she is saying applies to most Europeans.
But they are benefits if you think about it. Most things such as food, shelter, work, etc. are benefits that are the result of people building up countries and civilizations. Suppose that rule of law and civilization would collapse tomorrow. It won't matter what your country or my country have written in their constitution. All the things that we consider rights would be gone.
@@MrHellweasel that's a straw man. Humans are living in civilisations and societies for around 10000 years. And if we don't completely fuck it up with climate crisis or a nuclear holocaust we will live like that another 10000 years. And as long as we have societies, societies will have laws and can decide what they consider as a right or a benefit. If you argue against that you argue against any law and we can start to do whatever we want. But if you consider laws are a thing, you should asked for the reason, why one society calls something a benefit and another a right.
@@pixelbartus If you think that is a strawman, look no further than the USSR or Nazi Germany. Goerge Carlin said it best when he said that rights aren't rights when someone can take them away. They are temporary privileges.
I am not arguing against having them. I am arguing against the term right and the way it is used today. As if it is something set in stone and will always be available to us.
benefits/rights = tomato/tomahto. If you have a right to a benefit. If you don't, then you have no benefit.
44:00 and in most of these countries, they can't fire you for taking maternal or paternal leave, they are required to give you your job back. Not that it's really an issue, because it's the norm, most wouldn't even consider it.
This doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’m an American, and I grew up overseas, and one thing I noticed was how much worse I was treated back here than I was in the places I lived and visited. I had always said that if I could afford to. I would move back to this place as I grew up in and leave the United States. I am autistic with mental disabilities, and they treat us like shit here I mean like shit plus the services for adults on the spectrum is horrible the only thing that stops me really is money.
Hi I live in the Netherlands and we have a strikt 36 hour work week, 24 days mandatory paid vacation days, 50 political parties, 35000 KM bike infrastructure, working public transport and we are one of the happiest people in the world. And this not only in Amsterdam but all over our country.
Fast food work is often viewed as good work training for our youth here in Australia, because as you said, it's fast paced and stressful. It teaches the young people how to handle these situations.
It's a shame they are looked down on in the USA.
I (Austrian) only watch videos like this to comfort myself, because the optimal condition looks completely different here too. There are countries where it is MUCH worse. America is always the best example. In Austria you have to work really hard to fall through the safety net. Here you always have health insurance. it doesn't matter if you work or not. But, in order not to create any illusions: racism, poverty, underpaid workers, social divisions are also here (the bad English made google)
My favourite saying I've heard time and again is: "Americans live to work, the rest of the World works to live". And you can see this clearly any time you ask a person questions about who they are. Most people will say stuff like "oh yeah here are my hobbies, this is the music I like, these are my favourite comedians, this is my favourite memory, here's where I've been in the world .... oh and I work at this place doing this" .... whereas an American will start off that same conversation with "I work at this place, doing this job" ... it's the _first_ thing they say. And often a large portion of the entire conversation revolves around their job. Almost like they identify themselves based off the type of job they do and what company they work for, the rest of who they _actually_ are - their likes, dislikes and personality - are secondary rather than primary. That is _not_ a healthy attitude or way to exist. Your job shouldn't define _who_ you are as a person. It definitely shouldn't define your _worth_ as a person. Yet in the USA this seems all too commonplace, and it's rather sad to witness.
Well said...
Seriously, the more of these I watch the more I know how well off I am in the Uk
Same
In Germany you have to get a break of at least eleven hours between one working day and the next. It's called 'Ruhezeit' and it means if you finished work at 10 pm, your boss must not order you to work again before 9 am the next day.
Germany might become a member of NATO very soon.
Same here in Denmark, a minimum of 11 hours from leaving work until next shift can start.
Standard full time job is 37 hours a week.
@@mikeyb2932 Europeans have become weak.
@@drServitis A little bit late Germany joined NATO/OTAN 67 years ago.
@@DSP16569 Germany caused Russia to invade Ukraine by refusing to heed America's warnings not to do Russia's bidding in building the Nordstream 2 pipeline. America time and again warned Germany it was a threat to European security, but Germany sided with Russia to the end. Russia was certain that European dependence on Russian petroleum meant that Europe would not react to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Germany also refused to spend even the paltry minimum on military defense required by NATO for all members. On February 25, 2022, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine in full, Olaf Scholz made an emergency trip to Washington to inform Washington that Germany would now take heed to America's warnings and both develop Germany's military and ween Germany off of Russian petroleum, admitting that America had been completely correct in the years prior warning Germany about the severe Russian danger.
I worked in Switzerland and it is really so, that you are respected, well paid, and receive benefits, AND life outside the workspace has NONE of the ingredients that make life in the US a permanent stress... I had the chance to study in Harvard and thought for a while about doing it (was living in Boston) but now I do not regret to have ended studying in Latinamerica and Europe! (which was paid almost entirely by the State!) YOU Loners are still young, do not waste your time! leave now, life is short... AND there are so many places where you cannot only work but you can also make the transit to entrepreneurship, Canada, NZ, Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Portugal, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, Malaysia, etc, etc, there are lots of opportunities out there, do not waste your time in the US, where the next shooting can also be right around the corner...
My daughter work at McD in Denmark.
We pay some of the highest incometaxes here and the highest taxes on vehicles. And yet she can afford to rent a home close to city center, drives a modern citycar and live a comfortable life with everything one would need. 5 weeks payed vacation, unlimited payed sickleave and free healthcare.
I‘m living in Germany and got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2014 when I was just 22 back in college. I tried to ignore it and worked my ass of because I thought I had to. Resulted in a major burnout in 2019 with depression and huge anxiety (connected to work and making mistakes) I can’t work since then and had full support from my government financially in different ways. I now get retirement money due to illness till the end of 2023 and have time and money to heal and figure everything out. Sometimes I don’t like living in germany but I know I’m so lucky to have that safety net. Don’t want to imagine, going trough this in America
IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
You'd probably be dead by now in the US
There is a better work life balance in Europe for sure, 5-6 weeks holiday and paid sick days in all of the EU with minor variations. Childcare costs a bit but most have subsidized childcare with you paying a small sum per child. Maternity and paternity leave is 12-18 months in most countries as well, in many the culture is that fathers are expected to take at least 40% of that time off to stay at home with your new child. Education is free in many countries and most have a comprehensive safety net so you can take risks following your dream with little risk, if you fail you are taken care of.
All of EU have universal healthcare in some variation with you paying little to nothing when visiting a hospital or general practitioner.
Laws protect the parents when taking parental leave so your employer can’t fire you for using your rights to take parental leave.
Laws also protect you if your union calls for a strike, you can’t be fired for that reason. You have rights by law to form a union in any workplace and penalize or fire you for doing so is illegal.
There are Americans leaving the US. In Sweden in 2021 we got 1898 immigrants from the US, in 2020 (COVID year) we got 1587. And that is just Sweden, I promise most countries in Europe get American immigrants too. 2016 the American diaspora was about 9 million. According to a Gallup poll, 16% of Americans want to leave the US. 40% of women under 30 want to leave US 😆
Portugal its a hotspot for them. the sun helps i think
Portugal its a hotspot for them. the sun helps i think
hello! I'm from Hungary. We have SpongeBob also, and it's very popular here too! We have parental leave also, we have the first year on 100% pay, the second year on about 70% pay and we have the third year on 50% at max iirc, but you can go back to work and still get this third year money at the same time! (this system might have some minor changes to it, but it was like this a few years ago)
I’m English and work for the NHS. I get 25 days paid holiday a year, not including bank holidays. When I had my daughter I got 6 months full pay then 3 months at half pay, didn’t cost me a penny when she was born either.
Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth 11, died peacefully in her home at her Scottish home Balmoral.
As a Brit, I believe we have maximum hours that can be worked. Most employees here, if told to work 60+ hours (unless in the emergency services/ Hospital workers) would probably suggest their boss “goes forth and multiplies”. Even with double pay.
Edit - regarding what divides us - Football.
In Italy the worst company that you can work for, gives you 4 paid weeks of vacation per year. Some give you 5 or 6 weeks, which pretty much means, like 3 weeks of summer vacations and 2 weeks in the winter holiday season.
I've spent 3 years in the US and it was a great experience from many points of view. But I'm glad that I didn't go there as a refugee and I could come back to my country, Romania. A country that is neither on the top, nor at the bottom. It sure has it's own problems, many problems in fact. But I would chose Romania over the US any day. Eleven years later I still don't regret a bit that I came back. Several things: education and health care are covered by my taxes.I personally studied my way up to a PhD without paying a single penny out of my pocket. I don't have to be afraid that if I get seriously sick I will go bankrupt and possibly homeless. I don't have to be afraid to allow my child to play by herself or to walk alone to school, because there are no guns, no active shooter drills, nothing like that. My wife is not allowed to drive due to some health issues, but I don't have to be afraid that if something happens to me she will be stuck in the house because there's no other way to get out and about than by car. When my daughter was born, we had a full year of fully paid parental leave. Sick days are unlimited because companies trust their workers and workers normally don't abuse this opportunity. Hitting children is illegal both at home and in schools. In the US most states allow it at home and 19 states allow it in schools. I could go on and on, but remember, this is only Romania, which isn't one of the leading countries in Europe, not even close. You mentioned the lack of unions. Well, thank that to Republicans who made sure that "union" became a swearword, and especially to Ronald Regan who gave a historic blow to any struggle for workers' rights when he fired all air traffic controllers when they went on strike. And the indoctrination of the people was so successful that most Americans developed a full Stockholm syndrome where they idolize the ultra rich, those who feed on their poverty and misery. They drank the absurd potion of "if you work hard you can also be a billionaire". Listen to the news: how many times can you hear every single day the words "hard working" when they want to praise someone? Sure, it's a good thing to be hard working, but there it became a mantra, a symptom of the American work fetish. I'm convinced that even if they offered the sick days, parental leaves, paid vacations and all those things that are normal elsewhere, many Americans would refuse them for fear of being seen as "not hard working". Dogmas with no reality to back them up, simplistic labels ("socialism" for example) to brush off any reasonable argument... And if we outsiders dare to faintly suggest that maybe... just maybe you could do things differently, so many Americans get offended right away. "If you don't like it go home" - that's the reaction. Very few people understand that if we speak about these things we do it because we care, not because we "hate America, the flag and our great freedoms" (for heck's sake, show me one single freedom that is solely American, a freedom that people in at least 150 other countries don't have!). Guys I love America and Americans. I have many friends, even relatives there. I care about them, I miss them. It's a beautiful country with wonderful people. I want them to have a better life, a life that decent human beings deserve.
IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
You present very good summary.
19:20 The currency of Denmark is the Danish Crown (DKK). USD 1 = DKK 7.44 (2022-09-15). The average cost of living in Denmark is 21% less expensive than in the US.
You guys deserves way more subs !!!!!!!!!! Great podcast !
Australian minimum wage is 21.38/hr, or a little over 800/week. Average rent here is about 500/week in Sydney, down to 340 in Perth. The percentage of weekly salary for a median income to pay for the average rent is roughly 30% in Sydney and down to just under 20% in Perth. The minimum wage is indexed to cost of living increases and goes up automatically every year. The cost of living budgets a third of someone's income to accommodation, up to a half if it's a mortgaged home, because a home is considered an investment, so paying that off goes towards savings by increasing your asset ownership.
I really like this format you chose. I think i only know one other channel who does push the focus of his reaction videos to the podcast format, and it's an older guy who reacts to albums. But i really love it, sometimes its hard not to skip the intro when i really want to see your reactions to the video itself, but when i try tk think about it as a podcast instead, then its one of my favorite formats out in the middle of one of my other favorite kinds of format 😁 keep it up
"Why Europe Is Insanely Well Designed" by OBF :)
" Americans Living Abroad: First Time U Realized America Really Messed You Up" :)
thank you!!!
Hi new here.... im from Denmark and yes you REALLY need more unions, we've had unions overhere since the 1840's and it is on the back of their struggle and the thing called the Danish model / scandinavian Model, where the Unions, the workers and to some degree the government negotiate and agrees on alery, vaction , aso aso, that we enjoy the benefits we have now.....
us businesses lobby hard to keep unions weak and their workers stupid
WHY ARE THERE 100,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS STATIONED IN EUROPE WHEN EUROPE IS AS RICH AS AMERICA IS??? IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
Danish model? It is always called the Scandinavian model because Denmark was not the first with it.
@@kingwacky184 I'm sure each country varies. Did you have a point?
@@kingwacky184 you do se that i name both right, so don't be that pedantic
In Sweden the rules are very strict when it comes to work hours. If you go beyond your daily 8 hours the company is obligated to pay you +100% of your normal salary, which in most cases deters employers to ask for it.
Our healthcare is free, our education is free. And to touch on cleanliness, our drinking water is the cleanest in the world. We drink straight out of the tap anywhere in the country.
Here in the UK full time hours are generally either 35hrs or 37.5hrs per week depending on your employer. If you are part time, employers are required to pay you the same wage rate as a full time employee and be entitled to the exact same benefits and opportunities. Additionally you are not allowed to work more than 48hrs a week on average over a 17 week period. You must also have at least 11hrs between the end of your last shift and the start of your next.
The big difference s most Western countries have employment laws. Guaranteed paid holidays, maximum working hours with some exceptions. In 1980 at 16 I started full time work, I had 20 days paid holidays. Over time I was entitled to more. I have family in Scandinavia, they turned 60 & got an extra week, now 62 and got another week. And don’t even start me on maternity & paternity leave
I have worked part-time in Denmark as a night watch, no degree required and only 3 days of training (at full pay), had some previous experience so wages ranged from $26.5 to $37.5 an hour depending on the day of the week and if it was on a holyday, you are still entitled to 5+1 weeks' paid vacation a year + holydays and a pension scheme, as for taxes, then in general the average income taxes are around 40%, but truth of the matter is that there are different brackets and deductions (in fact, union and unemployment insurance payments are automatically deducted) and the first around $6,300 you earn a year is totally tax free. So, working part time I was actually paying less than 30% income taxes, and obviously you need no health insurance because it's paid for through taxes and no need to save up money for an education either, because a higher education is free, including university college, in fact you even get paid to study (I think up to around $885 a month if you do not live at home with your parents, because then you only get up to around $380 a month).
Here in the Netherlands you MUST pay for health insurance. You can choose the cheapest option or the more expensive ones.
If you however don’t earn a lot you get extra money from the government to pay for this health insurance.
Most of the things we go to the doctors/hospitals for we don’t have to pay for. There’s a few small exceptions, like if you don’t include dental care in your insurance. And you have €385 a year of “your own risk” that you need to pay back to your health insurance if you use it all. You can also stay below that or if you go over it you never pay more than the 385.
It’s a weird system that mixes the free health insurance with the free market somehow. As the places you take your health insurance from are companies who want to earn money. But they still have to abide by strict rules from the government.
I live in australia.I am a truck driver. My basic wage before overtime is 38 dollors a hour. My take home pay last week after tax was nearly 1,300 dollars and im not really well paid compared to some specialised areas of transport..Also free healthcare .The only problem i have in the part of the state where i work our roads are crap.
I'm in the UK and currently working through an agency. I get paid vacation, sick pay and pension as I'm employed full time. The government here stated that all employees must get minimum wage, annual leave sick and maternity/paternity pay for all full and part time employment. Plus we have the NHS and benefits to help the low paid
They have videos on all these pubs in England are being shut down because people in England cant afford them.
Plus that people in England will fight over an apartment / flat that has mold in just to live in a certain city. A homeless person wanting to live like that could be an upgrade but they were not.
@@DanRaidersWarriorsSharksGiants er nope. Some pubs have closed as lease ended and are turning into apartments the rest a shed ton of money. The homeless you're talking about is a tiny amount as they actually get a benefit plus housing from government, I actually speak to them regularly and try to buy them food I'm told they are OK. Worry about yourselves as we hear you guys are spending all your cash on military and bankers and dint even get 1 days leave!
@@richardjohnson2026 I saw a video on it so you changing the subject doesn't change anything.
Having high min wage can be bad in some ways and that is obvious.
@@DanRaidersWarriorsSharksGiants wow, you SAW A VIDEO!? I live here, I really think you should either check your source, watch a few more vids from other places, come here or shut up.
@@richardjohnson2026 You just change the subject again. Imagine thinking you know everything about your own country. Imagine an ego being that big.
Paid vacation in Europe doesn't mean you still get paid your salary during vacation... it means you get paid your salary AND vacation, which is usually another salary. In Christmas you also get an extra salary just because it's Christmas. It's what we call a 14 month pay/year.
Wow thanx I didn't know your holiday pay is extra extra.
Basic wage in Australia is approximatley $ 22 per hour, more for shift work / casual employment.
If you want to work in europe then learning the language of the country you want to work in is a crucial factor. There are different levels for how good you know the language and depending on that your opportunitys increase drastically. I only know this from a coworker from syria but he was a refugee so i dont know the hurdles you would need to overcome as non-refugees.
In Holland you can get around with just English... Most of us know
Righteous. Great video. I am now subscribed
RUclips suggested your videos to me and I really enjoyed your reaction videos, I subscribed! Greetings from Switzerland :]
In Sweden, another big difference from the US is the cost of childcare. Here the county provides childcare and there is an income-based fees cap. We paid about 150 USD for two kids per month.
The channel: Not Just Bikes, would be interesting to you! Or Jovie’s home, Hayley Alexis. They give great information and an outside view of USA
If you want to move! Look in to the DAFT treaty (Dutch American Friendship Treaty) It will give you an opportunity to emigrate to the Netherland, as a gateway to Europe.
2 BILLION of McDonald's 21 billion would be enough to DOUBLE the wages of all 200,000 workers in USA.
Hello from the UK
As full time employee I'm contracted to 37 hour week anything over that is classed as overtime but due to labour laws this cannot exceed past 48 hours unless YOU give written consent to op out of the 48 hour limit
I'm also entitled to 30 paid days holiday plus national holidays, 16 weeks full sick pay which if due to long term illness will reduce to 75% of full pay for a further 12 weeks
I also get paid to attend doctor and dentist appointments. We also are allowed a reasonable time off with pay if there is a bereavement within immediate family
Plus the cherry on top we have access to free health care
Dane here. I'm currently 30 years old and I have never had a job, only attended internships (to see what kinda job could suit me). I have never struggled with rent or food, I've even been able to splurge a little each month if I wanted to treat myself. Now that I'm early retired (yes, that's a thing here), I'm even better off now than I was before.
I still haven't worked a single job. Yet I'm capable of now living a retired life.
This is what it means to be taken care of by your government. I hope America will realize that one day.
In france, the work week is 35 hours, we have 25 vacation days per year + holidays
UK's minimum wage is £9.50 or $11.49. Plus 4 weeks holiday a year
I live in Sweden and I don't know anyone, nor ever heard of anyone who has been working two jobs. The need to have two or more jobs just to survive is purely an American thing.
what is even crazier is that people will think it's a flex to say you have a side gig or second job like it's honorable or something. INSANE
I live in Switzerland and started an apprenticeship at 17 (usually we start at 15/16) got paid around 750CHF (first year) and 850CHF (second year) I didn't finish but now I make around 4000CHF (low wage for a working adult) and I can live my life, have 4 to 5 weeks vacation if I have an accident it's covered by my work insurance and take as much sick leaves as I need. And it's crazy how US citizens are treated fr
In Australia we don't really have any divisions. Politics are stable and religion is not huge. We work 38 hour weeks with min wage of about $26 hour and get 4 weeks annual leave and 10 sick days a year.
I do agree that Americans don't seem to know much outside of their own country and seem to think they live in the best place when to the rest of the western world it seems like the place is falling apart and we definitely do not understand your need for guns, just bizarre!
What? You don't have unlimited sick days?
10 SICK days??? What do people, needing a new hip, having cancer....? Sick days are UNLIMITED here in Austria, so glad, that AUSTRIA is NOT AUSTRALIA!!!
You're totally right, it is very bizarre here once you realize how other first world countries are doing things MUCH better. Brian's sister lived in Australia for a couple years and said she can feel the difference in stress levels amongst her peers over there vs in America. You guys are doing something right !! Thanks for sharing
in spain, 40 h./week = 1300€/month. *
holiday (vacation)= 22 + 6 fiesta. 14 wage year (extra sumer + christmas)
*with public health included
As a Belgian I want to mention that "unpaid time off"...isn't really a thing here under normal circumstances.
I'm not a construction worker, I'm at the office directing them, but let's talk about them.
Too hot? They stay home and get paid.
Too cold? They stay home and get paid.
Sick? They stay home and get paid.
Not enough work at the business they work for? They stay home and get paid.
Transport to and from work? Compensated.
etc. etc.
And these are basic construction workers.
To have unpaid time off you basically have to go out of your way to stay home, already have spend all of your vacation days.(32+whatever you earn by doing overtime. One hour overtime is one hour of vacation, once you reach 8 you can take a day off, so 8 hours of overtime every 2 weeks gives you an additional 24 days or almost 5 weeks on top of the 32 days of vacation) AND stay home for basically no valid reason. Certainly possible but that just doesn't realistically happen.
And frankly, most reasons ARE valid. More than most employees would expect.
I spend 2 of my holidays on moving home this year and only later found out that apparently you can get time off, paid, to move house.
Living here it's very simple. If it's YOUR fault you could be on the hook for it. But you're not going to be punished because the weather was crap or because your employer can't find work for you for a few days. That's not your fault or your responsibility so you shouldn't be punished for it.
wooooow! this is unheard of here. Many times even when we are sick we fight through it to go to work because most can't afford a day off or if we do take the day off, we get the cold shoulder from our boss the next day and questioned about how "sick" we really are . It's terrible
@@loners4life So you have a cold. Go into work infect everybody, very kind of you? Look at Covid? Your not feeling well, don't want to go to the Doctor's. Go to work. Next day you feel so bad, you have to go to the Docto'rs You find out that you have German measles, a young newly married girl has just found out that she's pregnant. You spent the previous day, working next to this young Mother to be. The last time that I heard of something like this happening, which was many years ago, the baby was born partially deaf and had very poor eyesight.
Swede here.
When I was young and stupid, I also looked a little bit down on McDonald's workers like "Can't you get a real job"
Nowadays, I work at a company called Jysk. It's like the danish version of Ikea. And when I sit with my boss looking at new hires, a McDonald's worker looks good because it shows that you can handle a stressful environment. "That is if you have worked there for some years."
I feel sorry for you, americans, when you citizens just get seen as numbers on a board instead of human beings. I know there are some few company's that actually care about their workers and hats of to you guys.
I hope things like that will change for you guys in the future.
Regarding paid days off in Austria, the number one in the chart you show. Yes, the number of days mentioned applies to everyone who works here (posting from Vienna, Austria). I'd have to look it up in detail, but I know that my mum and my step-mum got 5 days extra when they were older, like 55 or so.
Parental leave if kinda up to what you choose. 6 Months is the minimum, up to 3 years. And it's possible to share/split this time between the mum and dad except for the first 6 months. And yes, giving birth in a hospital is free of charge.
In my opinion the biggest issue not even mentioned is medical care. Everyone here can get "free"/state medical insurance which is paid for via tax revenues.
Take me as an example: I was diagnosed with an incurable neurological disorder when I still in school in 2007. Since then I had to spend like 12 weeks in hospital care, did several physical therapies (can't remember how many, but at least 10). Also three physical rehab stints of 6 weeks each. The medication I take/took and which was mostly paid for by the "free" medical insurance was worth approximately 250.000$.
For all that I had to pay a total of around 1000$ extra out of pocket from 2007 until 2020. Since then there will be no cost added because in that year I got my disability recognized and instead of having to pay for any medical expenses I get all of them for "free" and receive an extra 160$ per month.
Many similarities to Canada. I find many Americans fear "socialism". It goes against their independence and ideals of individual freedoms. They are sceptical of government and what they would consider intrusion in their lives. They miss out on the benefits it can bring society as well.
Water ? You would be surprised to learn that Canada 🇨🇦 has 20% of the Worlds fresh water ! And all those other points (Labour laws, Holidays, Sick leave, Free Healthcare) are all right here !
In the UK the leave days started at 28 days. These 28 days are used based on a 5 day working week, which means the 28 days translates into 5 full weeks and 3 days, NOT including Statutory holidays. i.e. Christmas, Easter and Bank holidays.
We were on holiday from the UK in Florida (pre trump).
During our visit to Disney, my wife fainted from dehydration, and they called in paramedics/ambulance (required by Park procedures)
The paramedics dealt with my wife, the costs being covered by Disney's insurance.
The lead Medic warned us that if my wife fainted again, the total cost would be on 'us' - possibly as much as $10000. Needless to say my wife said that if she did faint again, just carry her back to our car.
At that point I realised the absolute chronic healthcare available to US citizens, and the disgusting corporate corruption inflicted (willingly it seems) on the general population !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Danish person here I worked at MCD when i was 18, i had no trouble paying my bills. I stopped because i had to go back to school
Gran video! Refleja bastante bien la realidad si excluimos el contexto en el que estamos en Europa en Sept. 22. Yo soy de Pamplona, Norte de España, y no sé por qué pero tengo la sensación de que encajarían muy bien aquí😉. Es un país que disfruta de las pequeñas cosas de la vida, y prioriza las relaciones sociales. Y eso que somos de los países del sur de Europa, que muchas veces se considera "de los pobres". Me gusta informarme como vosotros sobre la vida en otros países, y por nada cambiaría el lugar donde vivo. Difícil que seas rico aquí, pero posiblemente más feliz. Ojalá podáis ver algún video sobre España, creo que os sorprenderá. No somos solo toros y flamenco.
From Germany - i remember, one year around August i was called into the office of my direct boss, and he told me, i had to hand in a list with times for my holiday because i still had 30 days left, and the company didn't want their staff to transport too much holiday into the following year. That year i already had 2 weeks paid holiday from the year before.
Just a note, Queen Elizabeth II wasn't in hospital. She was at her Scottish home, Balmoral, but had her doctor(s) there. She was failing in health, but was still mobile. She took a fairly sudden turn for the worse on the day she died.
With regard to the video, I have seen umpteen RUclips reviewers watch this particular video by Second Thought. I almost know it word for word by now! Thank you for adding your pen unique snd knowledgeable twist to it.
I know this is 3 months old but next year I'm traveling from Australia (home) to England for a month. During my trip I have enough annual leave that I will continue to get my weekly pay every week while away. Also I don't have big high job either. I'm a fork driver on the walk in rate of $32 an hour.
I work for an American company in Lithuania and enjoy all the benefits of Lithuanian law, meaning - high quality almost free medicine (yes, I pay taxes), 25 days of holidays, 8 hours a day work (and we're encouraged to work only in our work hours - the lower results should signalise our management that we're short on stuff). As for maternity leave, the data is very accurate for Lithuania
Same situation, first in Romania and now in Belgium, still working for the same US company. In both countries the law mandated what they had to follow - the minimum. Fun fact is that we also get extra benefits: private pension, worker comp insurance, hospitalization comp, meal vouchers, I also get 6 extra days of PTO, this in Belgium.
In Romania I got extra: 2 more days of PTO, health subscription at a private clinic/hospital (stuff like blood tests, eye tests, etc.), gym membership paid, they covered either public transport card every month or parking permit in the area where we worked, international woman’s day gift card for all the ladies (it’s kinda of a big thing in my home country and all employers I’ve had did something on this day - usually at Sephora), annual team building weekend where we all go to a cabin in the mountains and drink and bbq on the company’s dime - no stupid bonding activities).
Same company, my colleagues in the US get none of that.
My colleagues in Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, all get the minimum mandated by law in their countries and whatever extra they negotiate as well.
The only ones screwed are the ones in the US.
And all of us on the international side have to keep reminding our american managers that some of their “ideas” regarding employment are illegal elsewhere.
EDIT: Feels dumb talking about this now that i have seen the whole video, i wrote this when you asked in the beginning. Feel so somber now so talking about cartoons seem so stupid now. But i wrote this before watching it all.
I was a child in the mid 90s to early 2000s so i had some insane Cartoons!
Like, the 90s were the craziest time for Cartoons and children's shows!
He-Man, Thundercats, Battle Masks (Or whatever it was called) and sooo much more!
The Nintendo show with a live-action Super Mario show and the Zelda and Mario cartoons!
DC's Batman, Superman, Justice League!
Marvel's Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and "Super Friends" (or Something like that)
Ofc, i watched Spongebob too, but that came when i was a bit older.
I lived in Sweden btw, we got everything from America. So it was the same Cartoons.
A sweede here who have worked as both a "low skilled worker" and now management. The quality of life has always been high and at my current work I have very flexible hours and are not expected to spend more time then we have to in the office, and our boss will definitely send us home if we don't use our vacation time or work overtime.
That sounds nice! We definitely plan to go visit Sweden sometime in the future. Thanks for your input we appreciate it! ✌️
AND NOW SWEDEN IS RUNNING INTO THE SAFETY OF AMERICA'S ARMS AS RUSSIA THREATENS YOU. IF AMERICA WAS NOT HELPING EUROPEAN UKRAINE RUSSIA WOULD HAVE RE-ESTABLISHED THE SOVIET UNION BY NOW. AMERICA PAYS FOR EUROPE'S AND THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD'S MILITARY DEFENSE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD REFUSES TO DEFEND THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN. If you do the research, the amount America is forced to spend on the Free World's military defense is EQUAL to the amount Europe spends on social welfare, free health care etc. Think of what America could do for its citizens with all of that money if America were not forced by the rest of the Free World to give them Pax-Americana for free.
I live in Canada and it's definitely true here that government does do efforts to maintain its citizens work/off time well balanced and does treat employees fairly.
16:05 You don't always need high unionization rate to have powerful unions and ensure good workers' rights; it depends on the labor laws.
For example, France has one of the lowest unionization rates in Europe, however we have a generous welfare state and good workers' rights (even though neoliberal governments have been trying to chip at them for 30 years). This is because labor unions have the power of collective bargaining, and are considered "representative" of all workers as long as they have over 8-11% of seats in works council (employees' representative bodies inside the company). Agreements made between the government, business organizations and unions apply to all branches and companies, regardless of unionization.
Getting more political parties:
You guys need preferential voting, where you number the parties based on your preferences. Number one for who you actually want to win down to the highest number for the group you think would set the place on fire if they were left in charge. This works by counting all the number ones for each party. If there's still no winner, take the votes for the party coming last and look at their second preference. If there's still no winner, do the same thing again, take the party coming last and check their second preference, or third if they were people whose first preference was removed the first time around. Keep doing this until there's a majority. Then you have a winner and know the percentages of people who voted for the other parties, which get seats based on these percentages.
The feature of this is that politicians aren't just after people who will put a first preference next to their name. They can't win with just first preferences, so they need to appeal to other kinds of people in the hopes that they put them as second, third, fourth, etc, as long as they put them ahead of their main opponent. This means that there's much less "vote for me or that guy wins." It tends to be much more policy based to try and convince a wider array of people to put them higher in their preferences.
In Germany, parental leave goes up to 3 years at 65% salary. But you can do a small job on the side to earn extra money. Vacation is also between 25 and 30 days.
It is so sad how badly the super rich exploit the population. It's not like this is only so bad in the USA. There are problems in other countries too and not all of them are that great. Of course, people are basically treated better for now, but not everything is as smooth as you might think. American investors are buying in everywhere and everything is being privatized. Wages don't rise to the same extent as the cost of living does, and so the gap between rich and poor is being pushed forward in other countries as well.
Capitalism has arrived everywhere and unfortunately US companies or investors are often responsible for it.
Translated with DeepL
44:00 - In my country a mother can leave for her maternal leave six to eight weeks before her term - she can select when to start her leave in this period.
Maternal leave is 28 weeks if one child is born, 37 weeks if more children are born (twins, triplets etc.). During that time employer can hire someone on the mother's position to cover it but let the mother take her position back after she returns. Employer is not allowed to cancel the position due some reorganisation. During maternal leave the mother is getting social financial support from the state, it's 70% (generally, the percentage gets smaller for high incomes) of her income in the 12 months prior to the start of the maternal leave. Maternal leave is (obviously) only for mothers and as far as I know, mothers can't say "I don't want it, I want to work", they are explicitly forbidden to work (but not sure of that 100 %).
To receive the pay from the state the mother must fulfill both these conditions:
1) During the two years preceding the start of maternal leave the mother was for at least 270 days paying her health insurance (which is paid automatically by the employer by deducting 4,5 % from employee's salary every month, there's no way to not pay health insurance when you're employed).
2) The mother was employed at the time of start of maternal leave or at most 180 days prior to that.
Maternal leave can be followed by parental leave, if the parents want to. Only one parent can take the parental leave. Either mother of the child, father or mother's husband if he's not the child's biological father. The parent decides how long the parental leave shall be, it can't be declined by the employer and can last to up to the child's third birthday. The parent taking the parental leave can ask for parental pay from the state for up to four years. The monthly amount depends on how long the pay is taken, longer time means lower monthly income. You get some fixed amount based on your income in the 12 months prior to the start of maternal leave and that's distributed to you monthly in the same amounts.
In addition, every father gets three paid days off after his child is born. So a mother can stay at home for three years and eight weeks maximum with her child if she wants to and is paid, even though not very much if the leave is this long.
sixty hours.... i'm belgian. we work 37.in a week. 40 would mean 12 paid vacation days ( on top of the 20 mandatory). i dont even think 60 is legal, unless you get the next week off.....
And the funny thing is that we're still one of the most productive people in the world. Balans in live makes productive people.
Nice "real" couple. Would love to see more of you two. Thumbs up from over the pond / germany glad to know your channel and your thoughts!
Canadian here and I can tell you, having lived here and elsewhere, that this is real. Healthcare is a right in Canada and Parental Leave is guaranteed to both mothers and fathers (variances exists but it's pretty much across the board). Also, we have a safety net to ensure those who have lost work or can no longer work are not disposable. Then there's our post-Secondary Education (what you call College/University), while we still pay for it, the cost is significantly lower than the US, in some cases by 60%. Work life balance is not just mentally health but physically as well. In the US, one of the biggest causes of death is from stress related disease; imagine not having that stress knowing should anything happen you'll be taken care of. I've visited the US several times and even lived there for 2 years for work and it was a nightmare. While Canada does have its problems, no nation is perfect, I can say I would not want to live in the US ever again.
That all said, I'm heartened to see many of my US cousins learning about the way other nations treat their citizens and realize how they're being treated with disdain by those in power.
Respects from Canada
You would think America would take some notes from a country such as Canada but it seems money is more important than the greater good. smh. Really wish our parents were Canadians right about now aha
@@loners4life I'm a Canadian as well. Yes, we do have a lot of things that seem better, like universal healthcare, lower education costs, many different benefits/grants etc.
I don't see the states as "prioritizing" money over the people. What it mainly comes down to, is how much the American people are willing to be taxed.
I live in Toronto, I'm a low income earner, that places me in the lowest provincial and federal income tax bracket. Combined, my income tax rate is 20.05%. Then combine that with our 13% sales tax that's applied to all my daily purchases.
My parents total income tax rate is 42%(their income bracket) and again, add the 13% sales tax lol almost 50% of their gross yearly income is spent on taxes when adding it all up. Ya there are some deductions and reimbursements here and there, but it is crazy regardless haha
With America, with my equivalent income, say I choose to live in Wyoming. There is no state income tax, so I'd only pay federal income tax at 12%. Wyoming sales tax is only 4%. That is roughly 40% less income tax and almost 70% less sales tax compared to what I'm paying up here.
Basically you have to weigh your options.
What keeps me here is the healthcare system. My mother just had a malignant tumor removed from her kidney on Tuesday, and will be coming home on Friday or Saturday depending. Her stay and all medication administered by the hospital is completely free. The surgery itself was almost fully covered by OHIP(our healthcare), and our cost is about $500. She has health benefits from work, so that bill will get covered. In the states, if a person had no health insurance, that would probably be a $30k or higher bill.
Years ago, I fractured and dislocated my knee. I spent a night in the hospital, had multiple x-rays, had an MRI, and was given medication. When I got discharged, I only had to pay $30 for the full leg brace, everything else was covered by our standard healthcare.
High taxes, almost free healthcare in Canada(possibility you may rarely need it, so you're paying into something and getting nothing back, on the other hand, it is a great safety net if/when you do need it). Also, a lot of tax you pay goes into all the other government benefits/grants/programs that you may rarely or never use, or you're not even eligible to receive
Vs.
Low taxes, pay for a premium health insurance plan if you don't have benefits from your job. Little or no government benefits/programs/grants, but you're not paying into ones that you rarely/never or ineligible to use.
I can't say which of us has it better. Everyone's situation is different. Canada is great if you're able to take advantage of many of its benefits, but depending on your situation, you may never use them or not eligible, which would make the US the better option.
Sorry for the essay haha my main point, nothing is free. I saw some other comments saying they have free healthcare, which is wrong lol it's paid through higher tax rates. Pay the government for a decent life in Canada, or pay private companies for the equivalent life in the US haha
Amsterdam - The Netherlands here, we definitely have allot of laws that protect it's citizens when they come down on their luck : unemployment, mental or physical health issues, homelessness etc. we have a collective health care system which means that everyone is covered even those who can't afford it them selves.
there are also government systems setup to help people with low income or single parents that can't work cause of it that will give them extra rent or child support fees to help them have enough to make meets end. (not like it's luxurious or anything) but it basically keeps away that people are dying cause of not being able to buy food cause they had to pay rent for example
also all tap water in The Netherlands is drinkable
That issue with clean water really got me. I'm so sorry to hear that, I hope it'll get better. 😔 And no paid leave or maternal leave? Here people complain that it is too short lol. 🤦♀️ the world is just so sad place
I am British and work just 15 hours a week for £9.50 per hour and the govt top it up to just under £700 per month. I get 20 days holiday plus national holidays and get paid sick pay for however long I'm ill even if it's years. I live in a 1 bedroom apt which suits me.
Often, saying "like" is a way to fill in awkward pauses in speech or to buy yourself some time while you think of what to say, but sometimes not saying anything at all can be a better move. Each time you can feel yourself saying "like," pause instead and give yourself a minute to think. Ps Great reaction.
All languages when spoken casually have their own ways of interspersing thoughts with perhaps unnecessary words or paralanguage; that is the nature of speech. Thus, it is entirely fatuous and snippety and, frankly, up your arse, of you to make this comment.
Sweden here. Pretty much the same as Denmark.
As students we get a monthly fee payed out to us, when going to high school. When I went it was 150$, now it's surely more.
When we go to College level education, we get 300$ monthly, entitled to 7-800$ more in student loans.
Loans that don't have interests rates & can be payed off over decades a little at a time, amount will be depending on what you earn.
Which also means it's possible to just take 300$ & work part time & not take loans if that is what you want.
In the UK a typical full time job is usually 35-40 hours. I've been working my current 35 hour job for just under 2 years and I get 36 days leave and 12 months of full sick pay a year (Which Im currently using after a free knee operation last month)... I don't get why the public hasn't pushed for more rights in the states :(
In Finland we have representatives from 10 different parties in our parliament. Government consists of 5 parties, meaning that we have ministers from those.
The American concept of "sick days" I also find funny. I mean: losing your vacation days if you are sick for too long. Something like: "Mind you, we can't accept you having covid for more than three days!" That works different in my country (the Netherlands). I have a full time job (that's a union-established 36 hours). I get paid on every single day of the year, no matter wether I'm working, sick, or on vacation. In fact, when I'm on holiday and I get sick, I call the office, let my boss know that I'm sick, and then my paid vacation day turns into a paid sick day and I retain that vacation day for another time. (And Dutch economy is doing just fine)
42:53 - Ever since I discovered videos of Americans talking about how they were treated in other countries' health systems, I've been watching videos of Americans reacting to other countries' health systems and comparison videos like these. The reactions of you and other RUclipsrs made me understand why so many books, films and series produced in your country deal with dystopias. It's because you live in one. It is a consensus that dystopias basically deal with growth, the passage from adolescence to adulthood. But, looking at these videos, dystopia seems to be USA's natural state of existence. What these videos report are dystopias in real life. It is scary. And I live in a poor country. We face difficult situations, but not on a level that prevents people from living.