What makes Europe better than America?

As the article points out both places offer different things. And for me personally, what you want changes as you age.

When I was a teenager the idea of moving to SF, founding a startup, and becoming rich was exciting. I never managed to make the move (the US isn't an easy country to move to), but I pursued it in various ways for several years.

Now, about 15 years later, I wouldn't move to America for anything. I prefer lots of days off work even if it means a lower salary. I value my work life balance. I work in a multi-national company and my local managers are the first to tell our US superiors we aren't working outside of our contracted hours. I enjoy flying an hour or two to completely different places for long weekends. After a few years of health issues I try not to think about how much more difficult those years would have been had I lived in America. Finally, when I wanted to move as a teenager I lived in a small suburban town. After having lived in a large European city with excellent public transport the idea of driving around SF or LA is hugely unappealing.

To get back to the 'headline' - there are lots of things which make Europe better than America. And there are lots of things which make America better than Europe. It just depends what you want at this point in your life.

The richest American is celebrating his marriage in Europe. Doesn’t that show, that Europe has something money can‘t buy?

While there is value in the experience of eating pastries and a cappuccino in a cobblestone square, that's also largely continuing the experience of what one's forebears were doing 100 years ago. It's a melancholic stagnancy. And for me, it's very important to situate my own context within the present, and then, towards the future. To be living in the present that exists now and what it offers in it's fullest extent.

That's why the experience of drinking coffee in a airport terminal and watching people from all across the world in many ways holds more value, because that's the experience that exists fully within the modern present day context. It didn't exist in the past, and won't in the future beyond "history".

Well, it's not Atlanta the author should be comparing against, it should be Doha Airport, or Tokyo as the flagbearers of modernity. And there are many experiences there that Europe can't hope to replicate. There is no contender to Akihabara, no place similar to the level urban integration as Roppongi Hills, no comparison to the sheer density and diversity of food and experiences one can find there.

The problem with America I feel funnily enough is the rejection of modernism (after the 2000s or so). Americans do venerate their history similar to Europeans, but their historical buildings are wooden colonial houses, a far cry from the monumental cities that the Europeans inherited. People in Asia and elsewhere don't do that, much of the old cities have been rebuilt from the ground up in glass, steel and concerete. Perhaps you might them soulless, but they're also far more covenient, far safer, far more comfortable, and that sets the foundation for new things to rise.

If America decided to follow that again and build real, modern cities again with efficient metros and integrated malls, when combined with their individualism and freedom, such a place could very well be one of the greatest places to live.

The US is foundationally a European camping trip that got completely out of hand.

Heaps of fun, but eventually you get tired of things like public toilet ['restroom'] doors and the Rule of Law not working properly, so time to come home.

Interesting that he was comparing with Atlanta since it's one of the only places in the US you can take a train directly from the airport to walkable areas with cafes, and the culture is probably one of the most distinct in the US.

Europe undoubtedly has a far superior general way of life. American suburbs are probably the most dystopian and incongruent with human nature living situation.

America on the other hand has some very good niches that you can't really find in Europe and you don't have to be wealthy to live there by any means. The urban micropolitans centered around recreational areas are ideal.

Can't fail to notice that Europe became beautiful and nice to live WHILE being the richest in the world. It's not like there was a tradeoff.

I came to the same conclusion and am working out my way back to Europe. I find that France has such a nice quality of life. The only disadvantage for non-native speakers is the need to learn a new language,every country in Europe has its own language which still restrict mobility, and that's the biggest hurdle to becoming part of the community.

Doesn't matter, I could only afford to move if I left people behind :( Globalism now

TFP is interesting but in a very strange and amusing mental bubble

So this guy is comparing hotel lobby breakfast at a probably cheap airport hotel near the third largest airport in the world to a street cafe in (probably a nice part of) Milan?

Nah, this article isn't biased at all.

This is like when that Strong Towns guy used Houston to show how squalid walking in most of America is, except he forgot to mention that it was in an industrial part of Houston, and, oh yeah, the video wasn't actually shot in Houston proper!

I mean, you're not wrong, but I'm sure European countries have its run-down parts, and most of these articles mysteriously never talk about Eastern Europe...

Everything has its own shit to deal with.

This question assumes Europe is already better than America. That is still debatable, and need to be defined well. Better in what? They are shit-scared, unable guess what the next move would be from the White house.

Why you even think Europe is better than America?