The European Union is becoming the world’s “quality of life” superpower
The European Union is becoming the world’s “quality of life” superpower
thinkeuropa.dk
The European Union is becoming the world’s “quality of life” superpower
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It probably is better than the rest currently but also here you have the right wing push everywhere and constant privacy-invasion attempts, of course all to protect the children.
Just so far it was held-off, I worry a bit that at some time we might still reach a tipping point.
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I just pray people see the shitshow in the USA and think twice about following suit. Not holding my breath though.
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For now, anyway.
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Exactly. The extreme right and neoliberalism are eating away at strong social systems just like they did across the big pond.
Even "normal" conservatives are jumping on that train (looking at you, Germany).All "unlobbied" areas seem to suffer in all EU countries. Public education, public health services etc.
Legal corruption is a cancer eating away at our democracies.
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Not if the fascists take power.
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we are all going to become the ancient lost technology civilization in every second fantasy story
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Change my mind: this did not happen because the EU made a lot of progress, but simply because the US and other countries went backwards since the 1990s.
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A bit of both, but there's no denying that a lot of countries, especially in the east, got a lot better. Still plenty do do, sure, but things have improved by a lot. Both economically and socially the countries that ware behind the iron curtain have seen massive improvements.
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This reminds me of that South Park episode, where Randy creates a formula for adjusted penis length, that shows that his dick is actually big. This formula just shows that Europeans live longer than Americans. You can weigh the variables differently and suddenly living standards are better in the US.
I can’t afford a house or a car, so I’d appreciate the higher wages and lower prices of the US.
For whom though? Who's quality of life is improving amidst an increase of right wing propaganda and populism, an increasing divide between citizens, an increase in wealth inequality, staggering amounts of dying refugees on Europe's borders, etc pp?
There are a lot of challenges in Europe (with foreign powers interfering heavily to drag down Europe and the rest of the democratic world as we know), but by any comparative standards - such as the Human Development Index (HDI), the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), the Gender Development Index (GDI), the Augmented Human Development Index (AHDI), summarized here - Europe and only a few other areas and countries (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, ...) enjoy a higher standard of living than most other world areas.
But it's not a given. Europe must do its part to protect its own achievements and collaborate with other democratic governments to increase quality of life everywhere.
Woow, how does this link pre-select a certain text on that website? I never saw that before!
Oh, it's not because Europe got better, it's because everyone else went to the shitter even faster!
Let's be honest: I'm living in a small town in Germany and the quality of life is awesome here. No problems with street criminality. It's secure as fuck. I can buy everything I want in the stores. I have a job with vacation days and I have health insurance. I can't be fired at will. I'm not getting arrested by masked ICE agents. And migrants are also not arrested by masked agents. We removed about our roads and traffic, but they are safe and one of the bests in the world. I have reliable public transportation (yes, really! The bus comes on time and I had two occurances where he was late in the last 5 years). Nature is great and not polluted as fuck. I have high speed internet, clean water, reliable electricity and a rich cultural environment. It's awesome and that is something you really do not have everywhere.
In which small town does one have reliable public transportation and high speed internet? Srsly utopian
Also cost of living is rising faster than (most) wages and the healthcare system is heading towards disaster
Uhm, that's wrong. Refugees get arrested by masked agents, and around half of those arrestments are unlawful (and I'd argue that the other half shouldn't be lawful either).
And while you might live a good life, that is all but true for everyone in germany, especially marginalized groups and minorities. There is an increase in violence against queers and migrant-looking people, an increase in hate speech against all kinds of marginalized people and minorities, our own government works to lower the standards of living of unemployed and unemployable, works on dismantling socieal security and public health sectors, which decreases the standard of living of disabled and chronically ill people.
Of course, many, if not most places are off worse. And I, as a queer, disabled person still consider myself lucky to not live in many other places. But the standard of living was better a few years ago.
You are very privileged, even compared to many other germans.
Eastern EU members for the most part. They are still relatively poor and thanks to EU help their economies are growing.Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and so forth are catching up with Western Europe.
Rich people with light colored skin
And who is paying the price of this quality of life?
3 to 6 votes for the crucial question. It's not only virtues that create that quality of life. The wealth is built on colonial empires, immigrants pick fruits and many workers don't have that quality of life, all the while regime changes are happening where we selectively pick sides.