European and UK universal healthcare is able to exist in it’s current form and at it’s current cost because the US has private healthcare.

Healthcare Companies give heavy discounts to UK/EU to make extra money, they are fully funded by US payors and thus patients. If US healthcare went public and it ate into profits, and other countries run low on healthcare funds (the NHS, right now), private insurance or more likely, increased taxes, in those countries may be required. The NHS is already considering pay-to-play models.

Note: This is a simplification of lots of details around the international transactions and legislation.

Note 2: Before disagreeing, pick a pharma company and look at their annual report.

Note 3: Clarified form and cost based on an astute commenter below.

Sometimes, while seeing discourse about the US, I think our region should try to better align itself with Europe, that stronger connections and cooperation could benefit us both.

Then I see how Europeans get when our name comes up and it’s no wonder we’re calling China instead. Sure, they don’t care about us either, but at least they put on an act and we might get something out of it rather than just racism and neocolonialism.

Really, I’m steadily approaching the point where I wouldn’t mind much if you all nuked each other out of existence, much like you wouldn’t care if we disappeared either. In the absence of names, no such thing as friends beyond borders.

Yall need ac. Get with the fucking times bro. Every summer yall just dying over there. We aren’t fixing global warming in this lifetime just buy an ac unit

French food is wildly overrated, as is Paris.

yall need to get off the high horse and take a joke sometimes. you terrorized the entire world via colonization for hundreds of years through modern day, if people harmlessly stereotype the german or french, make fun of british people, or tease the dutch language, yall can handle it

for context, im american. we get bullied all the time, and while not all americans are fat and stupid, the combination of that many are and that we’ve terrorized the world plenty make me think a lil teasing is fair

It’s aluminum. Y’all just changed it to aluminium so it sounded like other elements. Which is even funnier because not all elements end with ium despite that being the main reason for the change.

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Europe as a whole is swinging too far too the right. Y’all all are descending back into Fascism. The recent popularity of the AfD in Germany being a prime example. My own parents - who immigrated from Germany - are deeply disappointed in the direction the country is taking.

That Europe is not ready for many future challenges.

You guys should start bulking up your militaries. At best, the US will completely abandon you, and I really don’t want to think about worst-case scenario as I live in the US.

European racism is out of control to the point of cringe. The new world cannot hold a candle to you.

Here is a quick example. Netflix released a Norwegian movie called “Christmas as Usual” (translated). It essentially takes the concept of the American 1967 film “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”, moves it to Norway and gives it a holiday twist. According to Netflix, this 2023 film was in the Top 10 in thirty countries. How? How is a movie concept from America’s peak civil rights battles era working for you in 2023?

My wife is European and my largest clients are European with European staff and the abundance of casual racism is hard for myself and my staff to handle. Don’t get me started on my family in-law.

EDIT: Europeans were definitely not ready to hear this one. LOL

How would people who live outside of Europe know what Europeans are not ready to hear? As someone who lives in the U.S. I know only a couple of people IRL who live in Europe.

The thing my European friend was not ready to hear was that all his complaining about the social programs in his home country and the high taxes and so on comes across as entitled and spoiled. Because he’s never lived without the benefits of a state that will provide healthcare and so on, he is free to complain about his privileges and glorify the U.S. as a place where individual citizens fill in the responsibilities that the government should fulfill. He sees this as an unmitigated good, because he thinks it means more civic engagement.

What he doesn’t understand is that this results in most people falling through the cracks, and until he falls through one of those cracks himself it won’t be real to him how bad it is to not be able to afford losing wages because you are sick or injured, or what it’s like when you can’t afford to see a doctor when you break a bone or get so sick you can’t leave your house.

That said, I’m not sure every European needs to hear this, or that they’re not ready to hear it - just this one person seemed to be a little delusional and to have idealized the U.S. as some kind of right-wing libertarian utopia.

Most Europeans still have a casual sense of arrogance and superiority over the rest of the world. It’s not very heavy, but it’s there, even among some of the best people I know

You all need to just start making English an official language across the EU. Yeah I know that’s very American imperialist of me to say, but most of you speak it already anyway and it would make travel and communication so much easier. It feels like you all are insisting on speaking different languages just to pretend you have unique cultures when let’s be real, once you welcome McDonalds that ship has sailed.

The sound from my portable bluetooth speaker. But that’s mostly because it’s a shitty speaker and you can barely hear it when it’s sitting 3 feet away let alone when there’s at minimum an ocean between you and it.