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I think the author has a very inaccurate impression of how PhD's work in the US, the way he thinks is better because it works so well in the U.S. -- is not the way it works in the U.S.. He also has an overly optimistic view of how well it works in the U.S. or how happy people are with it (in both areas where it's somewhat like he thinks and not).

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Agreed, at least in my field it's almost exactly like he describes in the Netherlands - you get funding via professor's grants, and that means you work on a project related to their work. Additionally, my university pays social security, healthcare, dental, etc.

I think that for humanities things tend to work differently (I'm in a STEM) in the States though.

My impression is that humanities PhD students in the U.S. tend to be fully funded as well, although with smaller stipends than STEM PhD students.

I'm not sure where the OP gets the idea that PhD students in the U.S. usually have to pay their own way entirely and do not receive employment benefits (healthcare etc).

Humanities PhD students in the U.S. probably do have somewhat greater leeway in choosing/defining their projects, although they still need to pick one that their advisor approves and is comfortable with.

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