Comment Re:Speaking as one of those absentee voters (Score 1) 1797
the US is the "world leader" in economy and science, but not socially (health care, low poverty, homelessness, crime rates, etc..) because Americans work their fucking asses off. it doens't have anything to do with your hypothetical "victim attitude", which i'm guessing stems from not knowing many (or maybe just really lame) non-Americans.
one -might- guess that all the time we spend working, other countries (1st world, anyway) spend with their families and children, making sure they dont grow up to be criminals, and can generally function, socially. (ok, i admit, this doesn't make for great scientists ;o)
i'm an absentee voter too, and here, in Germany, a university graduate starts with SIX weeks of vacation per year, and has a 35 HOUR WORK WEEK! compare that to America's two weeks and 40 hour (minimum) work weeks (i'm not making these numbers up, i worked in the US and know lots of people working similar jobs here). of course the US has more money - we(you) work more and make more shit. whether this is sustainable is a question that time will answer. i might point out that for at least the last year the euro/dollar exchange rate has been going to hell (for me anyway, all my money is still in the US). not a good sign.
one -might- guess that all the time we spend working, other countries (1st world, anyway) spend with their families and children, making sure they dont grow up to be criminals, and can generally function, socially. (ok, i admit, this doesn't make for great scientists
i'm an absentee voter too, and here, in Germany, a university graduate starts with SIX weeks of vacation per year, and has a 35 HOUR WORK WEEK! compare that to America's two weeks and 40 hour (minimum) work weeks (i'm not making these numbers up, i worked in the US and know lots of people working similar jobs here). of course the US has more money - we(you) work more and make more shit. whether this is sustainable is a question that time will answer. i might point out that for at least the last year the euro/dollar exchange rate has been going to hell (for me anyway, all my money is still in the US). not a good sign.
