this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Was travelling in Europe recently.

Ended up having a chart with a couple from Norway, someone from the United States, and some others.

The couple from Norway were absolutely phenomenal to listen to.

  • Free university
  • Free healthcare
  • Described how he had his wisdom teeth removed and it cost him nothing
  • His working hours were absolutely phenomenal and the amount of free time he had was a dream

In comparison, the young lady from the United States described how she was going to have a $350k student alone when she finishes studying. The table gasped in horror, and she justified it completely by saying it will be absolutely fine because she will easily earn six figures. Her life was over before it started, and we could all see it. She was absolutely defending it and thought it was totally fine.

However, the main part of this story is that the Norway couple looked at us, and he said directly, that Australia is the biggest crime, even more so than the American lady and her ridiculous university bill, because of the amount of minerals we have. In particular, that we don't charge any tax.

Surprised me that Europeans know this about us, and it's more than just embarrassing. Is the difference between the amazing lifestyle, and health benefits that the couple from Norway have, versus what we all face here.

We follow the United States lead, rather than the European lead. And it's all fixable so quickly, and so easily. This is not some deep-rooted societal problem, this is just a corruption problem.