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Comment by honzzz | Hacker News Reader

I just want to point out that quality of life is subjective and depends on what you value. For example I, subjectively, do not want some of the things you mention, like big home with pool... and my kitchen seems big enough to me. I consider NOT having to own a car a good thing (appreciating that our public transportation seems incomparably better than what I have seen in the US) and I value 5 weeks of paid vacation, health insurance for all, free college education... stuff like that. And how are our dishwashers and fridges different that the American ones?

Europe is different than US for many reasons. In some things it might be because we failed to achieve what Americans did. In other things it's just because we prefer it that way.

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I saw a great quote recently (perhaps on HN?):

"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation."

-- Gustavo Petro

This is, for me, very true. I lived in the US and would not say that having to own a car and drive everywhere is desirable. Vast areas of land are given over to cars — roads, parking lots, etc, to the degree that walking is discouraged or even impossible (no sidewalks, 4-8 lane roads). The air is smoggy. The act of driving itself is not enjoyable — traffic is awful (hi 101) and cities are a stop/start grind. It's miserable.

Another bad thing about cars these days is that many people think they can talk on the phone and/or text while driving. I was in a pretty bad wreck last week - slammed into at an intersection. Because I had a 2003 Accord in excellent condition with 90K miles that I planned to drive for another 10 years, I get totally screwed on insurance and will be lucky to get $6K for it. Buying a used 2018 replacement with 30K miles was $30K, so compared to leaving $24K invested, I'll end up being out around $48K because of someone else's bad driving. (And no, you can't drive well while using a phone "hands free"; it's the lack of mental focus that is the problem, not using your hands.)

Of course, if I had been walking instead, this bad driver would have likely taken me out.

> The air is smoggy

In most of the US this is not true. Air quality in Europe is significantly worse than in the US, in general. This is form my anecdotal experience, but you can also see it in online sources

https://nimonik.com/2018/05/air-quality-in-europe-vs-the-uni...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/science/who-says-europe-t...

Check similar sized cities on the map: https://waqi.info/

We have to thank Europeans' genius idea to subsidize/force diesel engines on people's cars. Each diesel car pollutes as much as a bus, and half of cars are diesel! We saves 0.001 of CO2 emissions for the next decades, but we got pollution and cancer and deaths instead.

> And how are our dishwashers and fridges different that the American ones?

While they're certainly available in Europe, side-by-side fridge-freezers (as opposed to fridge-over-freezer models) are more popular in the US. I don't get the appeal personally, but in any case, both configurations are available in both places.

I think it's because it's much harder to shop for groceries in the US. I mean: in Europe you have a small grocery store around the corner, in the US, with single-use zoning, your closest grocery store is probably 3 miles away. So, in Europe you shop more often, in small quantities, in the US you stock your fridge with 2-3 weeks worth of food, just to avoid the hassle.

I mean, this makes a sort of sense, but on the other hand, I've seen the side-by-side type in San Francisco, where there are supermarkets all over the place. And I don't think they're actually dramatically higher capacity, anyway. I think this one is largely down to cultural preference.

Not my experience. Canada here but still. You do see these fridges. Have a few friends that have them. I think it's more the 'prestige', marketing and "bling"-ness. "Best" with integrated ice maker and cooled water dispenser.

Personally I don't get it. We have a standard freezer on top fridge, though the size is definitely bigger than what I'm used to from Europe and we have a chest freezer in the garage. That's not uncommon for families in Europe either tho. More of a flat vs house living situation thing.

As a student (living in a flat in Europe) I always joked that I'd go to the 'basement' to my freezer when I wanted a Pizza. I didn't have a basement actually but the parking garage, which was basically shared with (tho sectioned off) a supermarket's parking garage and the supermarket.

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