You were either underpaid in CA or have negotiated an unusually high salary for NL.
Finding an NL salary over 100k EUR is exceedingly difficult unless you are C level (or middle management, which is grossly overpaid for the value they provide).
$200 US health insurance is almost certainly dependent on the job the poster works at.
I recently repatriated to the US, and my independent healthcare cost is $460/mo for just me, someone of older but not senior age with zero family costs. The same (better) coverage for me privately in the Netherlands was 140 EUR.
What is actually missing from discussions about pricing is this:
"What is a reasonable balance of profit for providing a service and benefit to those being served?"
Without tools like RealPage, a landlord will naturally set a price that results in enough profit to make it worth their time, effort, stress, etc.
Economies of scale can make a big difference here, as some of the overhead can be managed more efficiently by having a bigger business (more properties).
But when something like this tool, or just old-fashioned price collusion, enters the equation, inevitably the profits go up unnaturally. It is no longer a free market where every actor will work in their own best interest, but rather a gang of actors is able to extract more from others. This is also exacerbated by the gang not being dependent anymore on the people it serves (it's customers) for other services. In the past, you as a business owner would think twice about grossly overcharging your customers because some of those customers provided their own services which you dependend upon. But now, you can buy your good from cheaper foreign markets, and you can buy your labor from imported artificially-low-paid workers. You no longer have to care what your customers think about you, because you'll never need them.
At the end of the day, what is the point of a human's existence? Is it to make as much money as possible, irrespective of the service being provided or the exaggerated cost to the customers? Or is it to provide a needed service to others such that everyone can be reasonably happy?
Clearly we have been trending toward the former for some time now, as evidenced by the rapid rate of increase of human productivity rewards going to a very small percentage of the population (0.1%) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBLTP1246 .
This trend is not sustainable, because at some point the people will revolt. Maybe we'll all be dead before then from other issues we've caused, but given enough time on this path there will be a complete collapse of the current system.
We focus a lot on luxury in the US, and I find the lack of adjustable bidets surprising.
It is pure luxury to be able to sit there, push a few buttons on a panel on the wall next to you, and have a warm jet of water wash you in exactly the place you need to be washed. The alternative - what virtually every American does to clean themselves - is comparatively barbaric.
I actually think some of the resistance to bringing bidets into the typical American household is pride - not wanting to admit that another people/country does something better. To adopt bidets would be to admit that we were in some way not as smart or as advanced as we think we are relative to the rest of the world. (This may sound ridiculous, but from what I experience in Texas I can attest that it is real.)
Although the article uses the term bidets, it seems to actually be about Japanese washlets rather than French-style bidets. But that may be complicated for some people too.
The way you can get around that complication is to remember not all things are equally important. In that spirit, America commends the cheese swilling surrender monkeys on adopting a clean bum policy comparatively early. We apologize for being tardy on this issue, we were too busy saving the free world to update our bum cleaning methodology as new tech became available.
Yes, it's a good bet that when someone is paraphrasing the simpsons in their choice of sick burns that they are being 100 % serious and not making a joke in response to an already downvoted french snide remark.
Unfortunately we don't all remember enough Simpsons to make the connection. Also very unfortunate is that the statement was indistinguishable from many statements made by HN users who have followed the Palmer Lucky path.
And the oil and gas industry (especially later with fraccing, and the earthquakes that followed).
Our children will be caught up in the usual capitalism cycle that we are in, only occasionally stopping to realize how our collective choices have added more and more problems to our lives.
That’s amazing. I even think it is ridiculous that when offered 20% higher reward for changing choices, when both cups have the same chance, people don’t jump at the better (change) offer.
How could someone become attached to a random chance cup?
Many things we have grown up believing and have been taught are shams, insofar as they often are not based on actual thought or circumstances but rather are "common wisdom" (rules) passed down and reinforced with an unquestioning society.
Yeah like from example, from an atheist point of view (and I'm not an atheist) you could say all religions are a sham...
FWIW, I also think all religions are a sham but I do think something "above" exists, and yeah, that which exists allows suffering in this world, take it or leave it...
...which is one of the main atheist debating points like "but the children with cancer" and yeah I agree those children shouldn't go through that but I also acknowledge something "greater" exists, that, for better or worse, whether I like it or not, or anyone else for that matter, allows these children to exist and suffer...
...humankind does however self-inflict a lot of suffering...
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