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Comment by xienze | Hacker News Reader

> one needs to bear in mind massively cheaper costs of living

Again, you don’t have to live in the Bay Area to make 100K+. You can easily pull that number with OP’s experience in the southeast, and I’d bet good money the cost of living is a lot cheaper than most anywhere in Europe.

> day care for kids for example is 100% free (as in tax funded) in Berlin.

This kind of hits at why some people prefer higher salary versus “free” government programs. My kids won’t need daycare forever. I’d rather make a helluva lot more money and pay for daycare out of pocket for the 5 years they actually need it than pay for everyone else’s free daycare for the entirety of my working life.

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> This kind of hits at why some people prefer higher salary versus “free” government programs. My kids won’t need daycare forever. I’d rather make a helluva lot more money and pay for daycare out of pocket for the 5 years they actually need it than pay for everyone else’s free daycare for the entirety of my working life.

Your kids will need school and university. That's pretty much "free" too in many EU countries.

And again, I’d rather pay for it out of pocket once than get taxed at a higher rate for my entire working life. There’s these things called “stocks” that may companies grant or provide at a discount. That combined with the effects of ~18 years of growth means getting your kids a head start on tuition isn’t nearly as expensive as you’d think.

> I’d rather pay for it out of pocket once than get taxed at a higher rate for my entire working life.

And some people would prefer to do otherwise. It's just a different method with people placing value on other things like 6-week vacation, childcare, tuition, health insurance etc coming from the state. Your value is different - I understand it and that's fine. You do not have to agree to the method, just understand the alternate perspective. The grandparent was trying to suggest a different method to reach the similar goals.

I think you're missing out on the network effects of social services. Not having desperate people means you don't have the threat of crime. You don't have police who are one twitch away from shooting you at a traffic stop. You can have an argument with somebody on the street and, chances are it will be a civil one because they're probably an educated, unstressed person with a fulfilling life. People can make crazy decisions like making art, or quitting a job because their boss is an asshole. You won't have to worry if your kids aren't accademic - they'll probably be able to find a way.

There are tons of things like this, where you pay an enormous amount, but you gain an enormous amount more. The utility of money drops off pretty sharply above a certain amount. The utility of living in a well functioning society does not.

School is free in the US. For university, why not send them to the EU? So you can have both tons of bay area cash and a (nearly) free university for your kids.

Strangely though, this kind of education arbitrage doesn't seem popular among americans, i wonder why... it makes perfect economic sense in light of current US college prices.

University in EU is free for its citizens, not baka gaijin

Yes, sure. Then again I'd prefer my kids to grow up in a society where almost everyone has similar access to daycare, schools and uni, as opposed an increasingly stratified one that ultimately isn't safe outside of your gated community..

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