As a lifelong US citizen, the idea that for some reason, other citizens, via the government, should pay for me, or anyone, to not show up to work, doesn’t make any sense to me. How do other countries rationalize this idea?
2. Even if it was paid by the government, there are reasons to rationalize welfare. You help everyone, because needing help isn't a moral failure, and we're a rich society so we can. Its like insurance... you might not think you'll get into a car accident (everyone thinks they're a good driver), but you still pay into insurance because when a bad day comes, you might not be able to afford it.
3. Income isn't closely tied to how hard people work, nor skill. We like to pretend it is, but it's not. Spreading a small amount of your income around to help others who aren't rewarded financial for their hard work, despite being a boost for society, helps everyone.
Also: Who thinks paid time off is bad? Why is this an opinion?
Your life is more than your work, and everyone should have a certain amount of guaranteed time for themselves and their families. It's an absolute baseline that puts a limit on how bad the rat race can get.
Having seen both systems first-hand, the European attitude leads to a much better work-life balance on a societal level.
Where do you live that doesn't have fast food, restaurants, retail, and so on? Most of these 'skilless' jobs are minumum wage. You are advocating for entire sectors of people to be paid less (i.e. exploited further) based on the false notion that few people are paid minimum.
We collectively have decided that certain behaviors should be incentivised for general well being and basic quality of life for the population. If it's beneficial in the long run if the entire population isn't worked to burn out, and overall productivity is affected, I think a minimum PTO isn't that far fetched an idea.
Without it, your salary would probably be a bit higher.
Noone else's money is involved.
That's not different than other fringe benefits.