This is a typical Linkedin post. Not worth reading, not when you don't know the subject. I hate nothing more than people from the outside coming in and talking about how great Europe is. There are entire Youtube channels by Americans who talk about that. One, go back to your own country. And two, no, it sucks, and stop providing people with ammunition to cope from how awful things are.
Regarding the thesis: it is simply not true. European businesses care just as much about their employees as do American ones, meaning not at all. European workers are more demanding. Maybe some family business in Switzerland does things differently, but it is not the norm.
30 of the world's 50 most liveable cities are European.
These sort of ranking are bunk. Who decides what is 'liveable'? Although judging by comments from Europeans who have visited American cities, this is probably true.
Still, there is no European city that can hold a candle to Tokyo. Even in the places where there you can't see trash on the subway, it is not spotless as Tokyo is. You also have strange people making noise, whereas the Tokyo subway is silent as the grave. Immigration has made a lot of European capitals not liveable, with bums living on the street in many capitals. Such a thing was unheard of earlier.
The continent has mastered something more elusive than unicorn creation - the art of balanced living.
This is true enough for the workers. Not for 'the continent'. People simply aren't willing to work themselves to death, take few days off and work overtime for greater consumption, and in my view this is a rather good thing (but that is of course what you would expect).
My completely uninformed view of why we fall behind is that our labor laws are quite strict, which is good for the mental well-being for people who have jobs, but which restricts employment from going where it is most productive. Also, over-regulation is really a thing, and it's worse in failing economies (Spain, France, Italy) than in economies that do quite well (like Sweden).
It's a tourist thing. When I lived in Hawaii we had to be a specific way to keep the tourists happy. Milk and basic needs are horrendous and set at tourist prices. Any attempt to bring in jobs that make Hawaii nicer is negated by regulations and tourists demands.
Meanwhile my hometown back in Germany has lost all of their shops and getting normal stuff is an Amazon order.
As a social problem, immigration is definitely number 1.
But as an explanation for Europe's long-standing economic problems, probably not. And the energy crisis has only accelerated it and spread it to more countries (Germany was not a basket-case, or at least not as much, before), rather than being a cause.
I didn't know what 'financialization' meant, so I learned a new word there. It's difficult to quantify how much of the economic problems are caused by that, but it's definitely a social problem.
i've lived in cities all over the world. tokyo is #1 by far. sure it has its own problems, but nothing like NYC or berlin, london, barcelona, rome, tel aviv... and cities like capetown and atlanta are shitholes.
This is a typical Linkedin post. Not worth reading, not when you don't know the subject. I hate nothing more than people from the outside coming in and talking about how great Europe is. There are entire Youtube channels by Americans who talk about that. One, go back to your own country. And two, no, it sucks, and stop providing people with ammunition to cope from how awful things are.
Regarding the thesis: it is simply not true. European businesses care just as much about their employees as do American ones, meaning not at all. European workers are more demanding. Maybe some family business in Switzerland does things differently, but it is not the norm.
These sort of ranking are bunk. Who decides what is 'liveable'? Although judging by comments from Europeans who have visited American cities, this is probably true.
Still, there is no European city that can hold a candle to Tokyo. Even in the places where there you can't see trash on the subway, it is not spotless as Tokyo is. You also have strange people making noise, whereas the Tokyo subway is silent as the grave. Immigration has made a lot of European capitals not liveable, with bums living on the street in many capitals. Such a thing was unheard of earlier.
This is true enough for the workers. Not for 'the continent'. People simply aren't willing to work themselves to death, take few days off and work overtime for greater consumption, and in my view this is a rather good thing (but that is of course what you would expect).
My completely uninformed view of why we fall behind is that our labor laws are quite strict, which is good for the mental well-being for people who have jobs, but which restricts employment from going where it is most productive. Also, over-regulation is really a thing, and it's worse in failing economies (Spain, France, Italy) than in economies that do quite well (like Sweden).
It's a tourist thing. When I lived in Hawaii we had to be a specific way to keep the tourists happy. Milk and basic needs are horrendous and set at tourist prices. Any attempt to bring in jobs that make Hawaii nicer is negated by regulations and tourists demands.
Meanwhile my hometown back in Germany has lost all of their shops and getting normal stuff is an Amazon order.
There are plenty of delusional Europeans who still think Europe (and the EU, specifically) is pretty great, too.
Yes, like there are plenty of delusional Americans who think America is great. But they LOVE hearing it from others.
From over here, it seems like Europe's main problems are immigration, financialization, and energy especially since the Nordstream attack.
As a social problem, immigration is definitely number 1.
But as an explanation for Europe's long-standing economic problems, probably not. And the energy crisis has only accelerated it and spread it to more countries (Germany was not a basket-case, or at least not as much, before), rather than being a cause.
I didn't know what 'financialization' meant, so I learned a new word there. It's difficult to quantify how much of the economic problems are caused by that, but it's definitely a social problem.
this. so much this.
i've lived in cities all over the world. tokyo is #1 by far. sure it has its own problems, but nothing like NYC or berlin, london, barcelona, rome, tel aviv... and cities like capetown and atlanta are shitholes.