Comment by bhupy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bhupy | Hacker News Reader

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Nobody doubts that Nordic countries have generous social safety nets, but I think rayiner is scoffing at the notion that the US's social safety net is "non-existent", which is laughable.

The US spends close to 80% of its Federal budget on social programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, EITC, SNAP/EBT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#/...

And that's not even including State-level welfare. Each State has its own unemployment insurance, welfare programs, and subsidized state university. In Georgia (where my alma mater is), university is essentially free if you can maintain a GPA > 3.5.

On top of all that, the government is currently debating another big round of welfare and stimulus. A Republican has proposed a massive overhaul of welfare to provide up to $15,000 a year in cash for parents: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22264520/mitt-romney-chec...

I can see how you may read it that way, but I did not state that the US does not have any social safety nets - that would be as you pointed out, obviously false. To re-iterate, my point was that the US lacks very expansive social safety nets such as those present in Nordic countries, some of which were enumerated by cambalache. Were the US to adopt some of those policies, perhaps the minimum wage would be less important.

> In Georgia (where my alma mater is), university is essentially free if you can maintain a GPA > 3.5.

Why do I always see that the GA Tech OMSCS is ~$10,000? This is a serious question. If it's essentially free with a good GPA I might actually enroll.

The Georgia program (HOPE) is for in-state high-school students getting their undergraduate degree, not people getting graduate degrees.

I was referring to the more generous Zell-Miller scholarship. You get HOPE if you can maintain a GPA > 3.0.

Interesting. Guess it would be cheaper to go to an in person graduate program in Europe: https://www.studyineurope.eu/tuition-fees

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