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Strategies & Market Trends : Strictly: Drilling II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nspolar who wrote (13311)	5/27/2002 3:16:40 PM
From: Louis V. Lambrecht	Respond to of 36161

ns - Ouch! Pay-check vs. cost of living in Europe! Geez! Drive 150 miles and you are in another country with other budget systems. First for the Netherlands: they have choosen for an average "same for all" pension system. Resulting in an oversimplified pension administration, tax is minimal, but the pension is very small. Up to the citizen to make his own extra-pension plan (almost required) with tax benefits. Social security is a big problem in many countries (not taking into account the Britain mess): service and infrastructure are excellent, but the minimal fees keep rising. Need for extra insurance too. Housing is at the dear side, as Netherlands has very few land. But the average family has her own home (typical 30 years mortgage on 2 revenues). At the end, statistics are 1 out of 3 families is bankrupt, and few European countries have such a liberal ruling as personnal bankrupcy. Debts from services or real esstate run for 30 years minimum at official interest rates). Instead wages may be seized and leave you with a minimum of about 1000 USD to make your family live on. These bankrupt families are no consumers anymore and do not interest politicians. Only solution for those people would be to change country, redo from start, and never go back. Few will do. For the other 2/3rds, we live well, thank you. <ng> Homes are cheap (typical $100k) and we usually have some rentals (foreclosed from bankrupt families: we have to as rents are cheap and most renters are the bankropt ones, typically 8% gross of capital). IMHO, differences between US and Europe are more subtile. I've heard of US employees having the right to be pensionned after 20 yers in their job. Europeans have to wait the be 65. Also, what is "unemployed"? How do you fit in the statistics? All countries differ, some are based on the amount of people which are not excluded from a check, other countries add all the people who are listed as job-seekers. IMHO, wheter partially paid by the so-called "social" policy of Europe (which is not very "social") and almost obligatory free chosen insurance, or less partially paid by social policy, and more by individual insurance, at the end CoL must be about he same in the average "industrialized" world for the greater mass of people. No matter if I have to work 40 hours to earn 100 fiat bananas a week and that my CoL is 100 fiat bananas or if I have to work 35 hours for 100 fiat coconuts and that my CoL is 100 fiat coconuts a week: in both cases I can't spare money and I'll have to use fiat credit to pay for my holidays. Although you might argue that coconuts can be traded on the forex for 40/35 bananas. That is what we do on these threads.<g>