Comments by "Stephen Jenkins" (@stephenjenkins7971) on "U.S. and European Zoning, Compared" video.

@dziooooo Jesus, everything this guy has said is effectively looking at issues in the US and extrapolating them to somehow push back on the simple fact that the US has a much higher HDI than Poland. What the heck? Is European nationalism always this absurd?
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@Trickyboy1337 "Freedom" is not the right to go anywhere quickly. That's an absurd European metric which nobody in the US generally believes is a factor. I'm all for middle housing options invading the suburbs and making things easier, but don't act like it would bring more "freedom" -that's only a thing in terms of political liberties not in ease of access.
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@dziooooo Obviously not buying a house within their first paycheck; rather within their lifetime. Though I regret using the word "easily" there, because it is not "easy" for a single parent to begin with. People in general struggling with housing is standard as people often try to live beyond their means; the US is too consumerist and often spend frivolously with disposable income. I tend to use Cost of Living Indexes when calculating such things, and generally Americans seem to be able to afford more even when calculating such things. Like so: "With a cost of living index of 145 all goods are on average about 45 percent more expensive than in the USA. But the average income in Switzerland of 7530 USD is also 28% higher, which means that citizens can also afford more goods. Now you calculate the 45% higher costs against the 28% higher income. In the result, people in Switzerland can afford about 11 percent less than a US citizen." So what objective measure are you referring to?
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@iruns1246 Very few Americans have money problems. A lot less than Europe does anyway; which is why the metric is absurd to begin with.
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@dziooooo Even when considering health insurance, Americans have more discretionary income than Europeans. Please don't compare your less wealthy lifestyles to Americans; that's one thing you genuinely cannot match. A single mother can purchase a house easily and do a bunch of renovations and pool parties without much issue in the States. There is a reason Europeans in general move to the States compared to Americans moving to European countries. There is also a reason why standards of living on the old continent is declining somehow faster than the US. Don't talk crap when your issues are more absurd than ours.
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@dziooooo Except you never explained where you got those numbers. I already showed you a quote explaining how even the likes of Switzerland, one of the wealthier nations even amongst Western Europe does not have the wealth the average American does even when subtracting living expenses. So your claim about Poland, even lower on that list, makes little sense. All you're doing is throwing numbers without citing how you got them. I don't think anyone can argue that generally a citizen from an EU country lives with less stress than the average American does. But I am saying that in terms of overall living standards Americans live better lives than people in the EU. For example, the HDI of the EU in 2020 is 0.895 while the HDI of the US is .926. Compared to Poland that number is even more differing. So while I'm sure you live in a content lifestyle, Americans objectively speaking live better overall lives than those in the EU.
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@dziooooo Is this someone who is framing all Americans as nationalist tools really trying to act like they're in the right? I never once claimed that the US has everything together or that its perfect; in fact I believe that emulating middle density is a good thing -but you're trying SOOOOOOO hard to frame living standards and individual crises which doesn't even affect 1% of the population (medical bankruptcy or something) as this widespread issue damaging the average American's living standards. I get what you were referring to the other guy, but my only point was about general living standards; you're the only one continuing to go on about the tax rate as if I addressed that in my first comment at all. And your logic is severely flawed for the simple reason that you're assuming that individual issues with healthcare is so critical that it drags the living standards down. IT does not; the vast majority of Americans affords healthcare easily especially via government programs and still have more money leftover than those in Poland. The issue is in those that are left behind stuck in the middle of having too much wealth for government aid but not enough to cruise by easily. So basically you're whining that all studies based on living standards are telling you otherwise from your preconceived notions of the US. This is why you're a European Nationalist. Wanna talk about the US' braindead healthcare system? I'm all for criticism there, but in this you're just being sad.
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@kaitlyn__L Not sure. Worse yet, a lot of studies are often politicized so it'd need to come from a decent source.
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@SilverDragonJay Somehow you managed to have become more hypocritical and bigoted than 99% of Americans if you paint such a broad brush like that.
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@camillelemmens1745 Bruh, something like 64% of Americans own their homes, so its not a "rich" thing at all. It's just been a belief that having your own home where you can do what you want is considered an "ultimate" sort of freedom. IT's a place where nobody can really tell you what to do and you can stylize it how you wish. Fact is that a bunch of these left-wing channels focused on community organizing and city planning already have a hate boner for this kind of thinking so they often bash the US for it. Why wouldn't a bunch of people get defensive over it?
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@Hazztech There is no such thing as a society that doesn't have conformity or an escape. Seriously, if you just said "America has a bizarre amount of individualism" than your statement would actually be factually correct since conformity is a standard everywhere.
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@barvdw Nobody cares what you're against since US society is very much based around the car; this is especially critical due to the sheer sprawling nature of the US in the first place. I'm all for ruining suburbs to an extent but the car-centered culture of the US isn't gonna change anytime soon. And that's as much a benefit as a curse. Though certain progressive circles would screech at ever calling it a benefit.
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@marinusk67 You people are pathetic, seriously. European cities are thousands of years old, but many of them have been utterly destroyed and rebuilt in war with American money. The structure of the US in reality is much older than most European states.
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@akiram6609 Indeed, being aware that noy everyone can make it is important; but don't act like homeownership is this impossible thing - something that more than 60% of the US has. Framing things is important after all.
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@akumayoxiruma While you're partially right, the dude isn't wrong that in terms of personal wealth the average American lives kilometers ahead of Europe. The rest of his bit is absurd.
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@dziooooo Actually, flooding cops into an area often drastically decreases crime; I lived in a community where that occurred and crime dropped quickly -but yes cops are not the be all end all to handle problems. And no, policies cannot be solved with "kindness and support". An especially absurd notion when the European continent was effectively shielded from the rest of the world due to a Superpower to begin with. Europe's position has been privileged for the past near century. The "refugee crisis" that assailed Europe was a drop in the bucket compared to what the US deals with on the yearly from Central America; and yet multiple governments acted like it was the End Times. Logical solutions are needed, not "kindness and support" or "punching people into submission".
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