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Comment by Krasnol | Hacker News Reader

> For instance creating a company that never makes money isn't a problem in the US thanks to a mix of this culture and bottomless VC money. Whereas that would be perceived as failure by family and friends in Europe.

I guess that's related to the US dept culture too. Not having money but borrowing it for all kinds of things and with that stacking dept upon dept is quite normal in the US while over here at the continent you usually want to pay it back asap.

So not having money or working for a company which doesn't generate any must feel much better in the US.

I would be terrified. I also wouldn't work for some startup which won't pay be but instead preach something about family values for example. Earning money and owning stuff that I buy feels great. Wouldn't want to miss it.

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Interestingly, in German the word for debt - “schuld” - is the same as the word for guilt.

Having lived in Germany for 7+ years, I noticed there’s a strong sentiment against owing money in general. Odd, considering the crazy high real-state prices these days.

People also seem to save a lot, and consume much less than in other western nations I’ve lived at, or visited.

This may be causing broad economic issues as the money is there, it’s just not moving around as much [1].

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50213411

True but there is a difference between "jemandem etwas schulden" and a actual credit for a house or something:

Owing someone you know money is probably the worst. You want to get rid of that "Schuld" asap. Even if it's an Euro you borrowed for an Einkaufswagen.

Than there is the "credit" for things you should actually pay from money you have or otherwise not buy at all. Like a fridge or a TV or something like that. You usually don't go around and tell other people that you did that. You pretend that you actually paid for it and that it's yours. This is also where US debt-culture comes into Europe though. You can see for years now that shops encourage going into debt for those kind of products. They try to normalize it because it's easy to hide and pretend.

Third are really big investments like a house or a business. Taking a credit there and discussing those with your friends and relatives is nothing that is frowned upon. Nobody expects you to have that kind of money (and if you had, you'd probably not admit to it).

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