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Comment by ivan1783 | Hacker News Reader

A society doesn't just need productive, value adding jobs which fill 100% of the working generations time. A society also needs fine arts, theatre, film because its part of being human. If we were all corporate wage slaves the world would be a terrible place to exist. The system as we have it in Europe is the perfect balance of this, you pay nothing or very little for your higher education and in return you can explore different areas which interest you without having this lingering thought of bankruptcy or financial ruin always in your head. I don't understand the US system at all, it is 100% geared toward profit and leaves no room for the creative, is that really a nice system to live in?

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The system you have in europe means creating a permanent underclass of young adults that have no prospects for jobs, until they are in their late 20s and they finally have to get off govt aid

By my late 20s i was already a midlevel executive in NYC. Thats the same age when the avg student is just finishing their uni studies.

Education in the EU is just a holding pen for young adults to do something, erasmus, whatever, while they are permanently unemployed. I was visiting friends, spending cash in restaurants, while they ate ramen in college dorms or small urban housing, well into their late 20's.

That sticky 12% unemployment is no coincidence

This is 100% my point of view, but nevertheless I must admit that the „creative output“ (movies, music, games, musicals etc) of the US seems so much better than that of the rest of the world…

I would humbly offer the UK as a counterpoint to all these creative fields and add TV output to the mix. Not to get into a US/UK pissing contest but to highlight the UK has very healthy culture output with a lot of talent.

I'd also suggest "better" and "more dominant" as 2 different things. The latter can be the case through marketing and commercial factors not merit.

US is the prime example of a capitalist ecosystem. I would argue that this is what made US the superpower it is today.

So to do away with it goes against everyone who enjoys the benefits of the system in US. Those who enjoy the benefits are also those in power.

The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy. We've been coasting on the efforts of that period and are now losing ground to countries that have their act together.

>...The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy.

The government sector is larger now than pretty much anytime since the end of WW II.

The US gained its advantage when it was the only industrialized country that wasn't devastated by WW II.

https://taxfoundation.org/short-history-government-taxing-an...

that's mostly due to financial bailouts.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=8fX

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