Basement Whatever

Europeans typically get lower salaries than their American counterparts. But they receive a slew of benefits that Americans don’t get, including healthcare and colleges that aren’t bankruptcy factories.

Basically: USA gives people more money to make their own buying choices, but doesn’t keep costs low. Europe gives less money but prices are lower since the government negotiates everything.

So who really makes more? Taking everything into consideration, the average American pay is still one of the highest. But it’s not the highest by an enormous amount, certainly nowhere near what it looks like on the surface.

I asked AI to help me understand the explanation. From Perplexity:

the speaker argues you should use median, equivalized, disposable, PPP‑adjusted income from sources like OECD and World Bank, because those numbers reflect what people can actually spend after taxes and transfers and are better aligned with household living standards.

Here’s the data.