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?
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.
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 bitch 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.
Its not unusual for small villages/towns under 1000 population to have fiber optic internet in europe. There are still remote places with shitty connection, but fast and affordable internet is common in the EU.
And migrants are also not arrested by masked agents.
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.
There really is a difference between german police and what ICE is doing. Masked is not the perfect word for that, sorry. One of the big issue with ICE is that they are totally unmarked. They are wearing no uniforms. They do not identify themselves. German police is not perfect and their riot police especially is a band of assholes, but they are far from ICE.
And yes, Germany and Europe have their problems. But they are still great places to live. And yes, one of the reasons is that other places are even worse for minorities or queer people.
And yes, one of the reasons is that other places are even worse for minorities or queer people.
As a member of such groups, I am surely biased. But I cannot cheer for “Europe becoming a standard of living powerhose” when that is simply not true for so many of its population. And to add to that: the article argues with the average standard of living across Europe closing in on the average standard of living in the United States. Where a fascist wannabe dictator just took over, uses ICE like his SS and likely doesn’t need the ‘wannabe’ much longer. Where in many cities, more and more people become homeless despite working full time jobs. The article even states that some european countries have long surpassed the US in quality of life.
So maybe we should not compare to that (decreasing) standard to measure the poorer european countries against, but to set a more objective standard (like, how well do the weakest, most vulnerable fare in society) and measure ourselves against that. And then look how to improve things.
A big TV and a fast internet connection is worth nothing when I mostly get informed about how the C*U and SPD want to make my life harder and how much the AfD hates me.
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.
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?
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.
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 bitch 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
Its not unusual for small villages/towns under 1000 population to have fiber optic internet in europe. There are still remote places with shitty connection, but fast and affordable internet is common in the EU.
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.
There really is a difference between german police and what ICE is doing. Masked is not the perfect word for that, sorry. One of the big issue with ICE is that they are totally unmarked. They are wearing no uniforms. They do not identify themselves. German police is not perfect and their riot police especially is a band of assholes, but they are far from ICE.
And yes, Germany and Europe have their problems. But they are still great places to live. And yes, one of the reasons is that other places are even worse for minorities or queer people.
As a member of such groups, I am surely biased. But I cannot cheer for “Europe becoming a standard of living powerhose” when that is simply not true for so many of its population. And to add to that: the article argues with the average standard of living across Europe closing in on the average standard of living in the United States. Where a fascist wannabe dictator just took over, uses ICE like his SS and likely doesn’t need the ‘wannabe’ much longer. Where in many cities, more and more people become homeless despite working full time jobs. The article even states that some european countries have long surpassed the US in quality of life.
So maybe we should not compare to that (decreasing) standard to measure the poorer european countries against, but to set a more objective standard (like, how well do the weakest, most vulnerable fare in society) and measure ourselves against that. And then look how to improve things.
A big TV and a fast internet connection is worth nothing when I mostly get informed about how the C*U and SPD want to make my life harder and how much the AfD hates me.
I don’t think @JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org was doing that either.
Oh, it’s not because Europe got better, it’s because everyone else went to the shitter even faster!
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!
Rich people with light colored skin
And who is paying the price of this quality of life?