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Comment by anax32 | Hacker News Reader

We all feel like this in Europe. It's crazy. How are the politicians all like this?

I don't know about the rest of Europe, but in Spain, this happens because people are extremely dependent on government handouts. Most people dislike the government's policies, but they are afraid of having to work, so they don't want to rock the boat.

In Spain, half a million more people depend on getting money from the government than work in the private sector: https://theobjective.com/economia/macroeconomia/2024-09-16/a...

How is this possible? It cant be sustainable to have more people live off of welfare than work.

Civil servants don't live off of welfare. They work and receive a salary in exchange.

It isn't. But reform would a political suicide, because all of these people are voters. So the status quo continues, and for now everyone can feel great about how caring the society is.

That's a crazy stat. In the UK, 53% of people are net recipients - about 2M people! (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...)

State dependents - either benefits/welfare or employed - have a very different experience of the economy than others; the disconnected work/pay relationship.

The disconnect between income and effort is causing people to have warped priorities, which, ultimately, results in inflationary economics and impoverishment.

Maybe people are feeling confident to put their masks off with the stuff that’s happening in the US?

Because they're not terminally online and don't know why this is bad. But they do know that making the rich less rich is bad, just like in the US.

Europe retains more counterculture than the US does, but not enough.

How de we keep voting on the same group of people/ideas?

Europe has so many parties. But they all agree on this because to disagree would be to attract an aerial democracy delivery from the USA.

It never gets to that in countries already deeply aligned.

They all agree on this because it will be a hidden sticking point for some others, If that's not an impediment some lobyists will make it so. If that doesn't work us ambassadors, state departments and/or USTR will pressure or even put you on a trade watchlist. If that doesn't work some 3 letter agency folks will land on a domestic airfield and have some talks. If that doesn't work some media might peculiarly shift it's tone. etc

Like how you never stab your enemies because you'd go to jail, even though it never gets to jail because you don't stab your enemies because you'd go to jail

Indeed tho we of course also have rare examples of what happens when someone does stab someone which keeps the memory fresh and spain did get the state department and USTR pressure in the past, sweden nearly ended up on the 301 Watchlist. The cia did both use foreign/multinational media for it's goals and defended it's interests, etc

Imagine living in the US then …

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