One of the most powerful differences between the U.S. and Europe struck me one morning at a diner in Laramie, Wyoming. There was a table full of men in their 60s, two wearing cowboy hats. It was 7:30 in the morning and they were meeting for breakfast before going to work. In Europe, they would all have been retired for years.
The waitress was about 16 and a student. That too was un-European. A lot of European teenagers have never had a summer job. In fact, with almost free universities and 12 percent unemployment (which is why every German I know seems to have a Ph.D), it's normal for a middle-class European to have no real job till he or she is thirty or so. A real job means a pension, a 6-week summer holiday and guaranteed health care and maternity leave. Once you do have a job, you will be forced to retire at about age 55, whether you want to or not.
Something new to me this summer was self-service checkout at U.S. supermarkets. You scan and weigh all your own items, insert your payment of credit or cash, and are on your way. I wonder how much fraud there is.
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