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Comment by blablabla123 | Hacker News Reader

But I also think "back in the days" life was more fixed. Probably getting a full time job as employee, starting a family, getting a house was not really optional. Now there are much more choices. Add to that all the hyper-connectivity. I don't really think people were better off but were just forced to handle everything more calmly. Growing up in the 90s, what I've found is that things changed a lot when people were starting their jobs.

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Not to mention living in America is like playing life on hard mode; at least relative to other OECD countries. There's a lot more things you have to take care of / think about in America. There's a level of mental overhead that does not exist in other developed countries that many Americans do not realize are optional. eg health insurance, education, unemployment safety net, or even little things like way too many coverage options when buying car insurance.

When you do not have to worry about your health or physical safety if you lose your job, you can chill out a little bit. You don't need to bend over backwards for your job, it is easier to enforce boundaries. This dynamic puts adult Americans under a lot of stress, and it manifests in many ways. And it propagates to the children too, through lack of attention or stressful home.

There's a level of mental overhead that does not exist in other developed countries that many Americans do not realize are optional. eg health insurance, education, unemployment safety net, or even little things like way too many coverage options when buying car insurance.

I occasionally try to stress how these things seriously improve living standards. Just health insurance itself does a great deal to eliminate stress. I can go and get a weird mole checked out. I can get an MRI when I've been having headaches to make sure it isn't cancer. I can get the spot on my pancreas scanned every 6-12 months to make sure it doesn't do weird stuff. All for less out of pocket than $300 per year and my taxes are less than state + federal + premiums.

It’s hard mode if you’re poor and easy mode if you’re rich. For the top 1-2 deciles I think most of these things are much better in the US than other countries. I’m a long time proponent of universal healthcare, but I’ve heard terrible experiences in Canada and the UK in getting relatively basic treatment in a timely manner.

I think a lot of HN doesn’t understand that all the shitty things about the US that people from other countries love to rag on basically don’t apply to many people in the US. If you have a job that is in demand you will not need to worry any more about these things than if you live in another developed country. Especially in American corporate culture, sure people are worried about their mortgage and some do live paycheck to paycheck, but the culture of excessive work in places like tech or finance is not generally about getting thrown out to the streets with cancer.

You're right and wrong. You are right that it is hard if you are poor and easy if you are rich. But you are wrong that HN or people outside of the US do not understand that it is only hard for poor people. It's just that external to the US, people care about the welfare of poor people more. The fact that you felt it necessary to state that caveat illustrates how systemic problems which victimize poor people can be excused and remain unchanged in the US.

For context I've lived for decades in both Australia and the US. Pros and cons in both cultures, and I love both.

I brought it up more to illustrate that the work culture of the US is not just a result of precarious financial situations due to lack of a safety net.

I would agree that it's not entirely the result of precarious financial situations. But even in tech and other high paying sectors, I would argue it still plays a factor, even if it is unconscious. Golden handcuffs are in part evident of this. Everyone in America wants to make enough money they can retire comfortably. Which is an entirely rational thing to want to do. But other countries do have higher paying pensions, so the fear of retiring destitute is less.

Also keep in mind employer expectations are a market just like any other. You as an employee compete against others willing to go lower. If you have a portion of the population in precarious financial situations, that will still impact you somewhat as they compete for jobs indirectly with you.

> Not to mention living in America is like playing life on hard mode;

Do you have any idea what living in third (or even second) world countries is like?

> at least relative to other OECD countries.

Such as Turkey? Or Mexico? Why do you think Mexicans escape to the US? Because their life was too easy and they wanted to have more of a challenge?

I explicitly wasn't talking about second and third world countries, so your comment is mostly moot. I don't know about you, but I prefer we compete with our peers on quality of life rather than the tiers below. We should strive to be the best, not just better than the worst.

> Such as Turkey? Or Mexico? Why do you think Mexicans escape to the US? Because their life was too easy and they wanted to have more of a challenge?

They come the US because the quality live in the US is superior ... I didn't say it wasn't.

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