Thread: America has failed - fallen behind Europe financially

Originally Posted by chuck_schmidt

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  • Deficit panel leaders' plan curbs Social Security (AP) AP - The leaders of President Barack Obama's bipartisan deficit commission launched a daring assault on mushrooming federal deficits on Wednesday, proposing reducing annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security, gradually raising the retirement age to 69 and taking aim at popular tax breaks such as the mortgage interest deduction.
  
  
  

The French are striking because the government refuses to lower retirement from 62 to 60 years of age. America is debating whether it is so broke it must take away money from families and seniors and raise retirement to 69 years old. The American Dream has become the American nightmare.

chuck you have this backwards. the french are striking because the their government is trying to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

mtm1963

Originally Posted by chuck_schmidt

The French are striking because the government refuses to lower retirement from 62 to 60 years of age. America is debating whether it is so broke it must take away money from families and seniors and raise retirement to 69 years old. The American Dream has become the American nightmare.

Why not raise the retirement age, we are already the "no vacation nation". Ahh, good old America, country of the over worked:

Country Legally required minimum leave
Argentina- 14 calendar days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 10), 28 calendar days (from 10 to 20) and 35 calendar days (from 20)
Australia- As of 27 March 2006, 20 work days (4 weeks). 2 weeks can be "sold" to employer. Additional Long service leave is also payable. 10 public holidays as well are payable to employees.
Austria - 5 weeks
The Bahamas- 14 days after 1 year employment, 21 day after 5 years employment
Belgium - 20 days, premium pay
Brazil - 30 consecutive days after 1 year employment, of which 10 can be sold back to the employer
Bulgaria - 20 working days
Canada - Determined by provincial law. 10-15 working days depending on province. In addition, 5-10 public holidays depending on province.
Chile- 15 working days
Colombia - 15 working days for every year, vacations can be accumulated for up to 4 years (up to 60 working days of vacations)
Costa Rica- 2 weeks after 1 year employment.
China- 11 working days.
Croatia - 20 working days. Saturdays can be included even if company offices are not open on Saturdays. This is left for employers and employees to agree.
Czech Republic- 4 weeks
Denmark - 25 work days
Dominican Republic- 14 work days after one year employment, 20 work days after 5 years employment.
Estonia - 28 calendar days
European Union- at least 4 weeks, more in some countries
Ecuador- 14 days
Finland - 5 weeks (30 days with Saturdays, but not Sundays counted as holidays) is the minimum mandated by law. More precisely: vacation is accrued between 1.4. - 31.3. each year and used primarily during the following summer holiday period. During each such full period 2,5 vacation days are accrued per month. When taking up a new job, only 2 days are accrued until the start of the first full period. Many trade unions have been able to agree for more vacation time for their profession
France - 5 weeks[1] (+ 2 weeks of RTT (Reduction du Temps de Travail, in English : Reduction of Working Time) for the employees that choose to work 39 hours per week instead of 35), plus about 10 national holidays (usually not paid with the exception of the 1st of May)
Germany - 4 working weeks
Greece - 20 working days or more depending on the years in the company
Guatemala - 2 working weeks
Hong Kong- 7 days[2]
Hungary- 20 working days (increasing up to 30 with age)
Iceland - 24 days[3], not including 13 official holidays.
Ireland - 4 working weeks (20 days if working full time), plus 9 public holidays
Iran - 4 weeks
India - 1 work day for every 20 days worked (around 12 work days a year)[4]
Israel - from 10 working days for the first year to 24 days for 14-th year and on, not including official holidays, sick leave, etc.
Italy at least 20 working days (exact amount depends on contract details, a few contracts guarantee up to 25 days), entirely paid, plus up to 104 hours of ROL, that means reduction of working time (in Italian Riduzione Orario di Lavoro), that have to be used primarily in blocks of a few hours each time for family/personal needs (for example bringing a kid to the doctor, going to the bank etc.) but may be utilized as well, ijust for the unused part of them and just if the company/the collective contract allows that, to get additional vacation hours/days, or to shorther of 1 or 2 hours the working day on Fridays. Furthermore, there are 12-13 paid public holidays.
Japan - from 10 working days for the first year to 20 days for the 6-th year.[5]
Jersey - 2 weeks[6]
Kazakhstan - 24 calendar days[7]
Korea, South- 10 working days
Latvia - 4 weeks
Lithuania- 28 calendar days [8]
Malaysia- Starts at 8 days for first 2 years employment with an employer. Increases to 12 days for between 2 and 5 years employment and 16 days for 5 or more years. Plus, depending on which state, around 14 public holidays.
Malta - 24 working days (192 hours)
Mexico - Starts at minimum 6 days for the 1 year of employment. Increases to 8 days after the second year, to 10 days after the third year, 12 days after the fourth year and to 14 days from year 5 o year 9; then every 5 years increases two days.
Netherlands - 4 weeks
New Zealand - 4 weeks as of April 1, 2007, plus 11-12 paid public holidays, depending on which day they fall.
Norway - 25 working days
Pakistan - 15 working days
Paraguay- 14 days
Peru - 14 days
Philippines - 5 days, rendered at least 1 year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave.
Poland - 20 business days, 26 business days after 10 years of employment
Portugal - 22 working days, up to 25 without work absences in previous year.
Puerto Rico - 15 days
Romania - 21 working days
Russia - 28 calendar days, plus 12 public holidays[9]
Serbia - 20 working days minimum
Saudi Arabia- 30 days
Singapore- 14 days (executive and above); 7 days with 1 additional day per year up to a maximum of 14 days (non-executive)
Slovakia - 20 days, 25 days after 15 years of employment
South Africa - 15 days
Spain - 30 calendar days
Sri Lanka- 28 Working Days - 14 Maximum Annual, 7 Casual and 7 Sick Leave [10]
Sweden - 25 work days minimum
Switzerland - at least 20 work days, plus 12-16 public holidays (usually not paid)
Taiwan - 7 days
Tanzania- 28 calendar days
Turkey - 12 work days
Tunisia - 30 work days
Ukraine - 24 calendar days
United Kingdom - 5.6 weeks (28 work days), including 8 public holidays[11]
United States - none
Uruguay - 20 working days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 8). Afterward, an additional working day is added every four years
Venezuela - 15 paid days for the first year + 1 day extra for every year of service until reaching 30 days. In addition, a maximum of 12 public holidays provided every holiday falls on a weekday.
Vietnam - 10 working days.

List of statutory minimum employment leave by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Dark Lion

Why not raise the retirement age, we are already the "no vacation nation". Ahh, good old America, country of the over worked:



List of statutory minimum employment leave by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

US law does not require employers to grant any vacation or holidays and about 25% of all employees receive no vacation time or holidays: No-Vacation Nation. For employees that do receive vacation, 10 working days with 8 national holidays is fairly standard. Members of the US Armed Services earn a total of 30 vacation days a year, not including national holidays.

Originally Posted by Dark Lion

Why not raise the retirement age, we are already the "no vacation nation". Ahh, good old America, country of the over worked:

List of statutory minimum employment leave by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And a lot of them have universal health care too.