Here is my response to a response. For the US to be "equal" to the Dutch medal count based on population, we would need 289 medals, and we only have 16. If the comparison were to be made on wealth, we would need about 350. The argument that the Dutch have an advantage because it's a winter-sport area doesn't make sense, because the US also has lots of cold weather, ice, and snow. (So does Russia, and the comparison is about the same.)
So, there must be something different about the Dutch SYSTEM. Hmm. What could that be?
My comments are designed to make people think, but instead, they usually just make them mad. They've been so propagandized by the US mind-fantasies, and have never challenged them. Their reaction is that comments of mine like these "just can't be." In my opinion, however, this medal thing is just another little tell-tale sign that something is very wrong about American (and Russian) strategy, organization, and handling of resources, IN GENERAL. (People also hate that I DARE to make generalizations. That right should be theirs alone.)
I guess you haven't spent much time in the Netherlands. Amsterdam yes, but outside of Amsterdam? Amsterdam is not a good window on Dutch society - it's something like visiting only New York, and then thinking you have "discovered" the soul of America.
The Dutch way of life IS quintessentially about protecting and promoting the interests of the petite bourgeoisie, at the expense of the rich and poor. Although this creates a healthy "middle," it does make for "dullness." (Mencken, I seem to remember, called the general public the "booboisie" for this reason.) It's sort of like the driving habits of a careful, 45-year old woman who has never gotten a ticket, vs the habits of the average 17-year-old boy. In our American hearts, our sympathies are with the boy, but our secret self would be forced to admit that the best results will go to the careful woman.
With a population of only 19 million, the Dutch have so much money that they are typically the third or fourth largest supplier of investment capital to the developing world. But this "wealth" is confusing to Americans. The people themselves normally attain a personal net worth of no more than about $500,000, and, because pensions are good and health care is cheap, this is enough to fund a good, and secure, retirement. In the US, where you are basically on your own, if you have $500,000 tied up in your house, and a further net worth of about $2 million, that $2 million currently makes about 2% return only, if invested in fairly "safe" asset classes. That gives an income of about $40,000. Add Social Security of about $20,000, and you have an income of about $60,000 only. NOW, pay income and property taxes of about $20,000, and you can float the boat, but this after-tax income of $40,000 is hardly a lavish retirement. Maybe you need $25,000 for food, utilities, etc, and that leaves only $15,000 for fun stuff. Besides, the % of Americans who reach age 65 with a net worth of $2 million or more is relatively small (like, maybe, only about 10%). So, this calculus is just another reason why Americans are perpetually in a fright about MONEY. Basically, in spite of the "dream," our SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK WELL FOR MOST PEOPLE.
So, how do the Dutch do it? Well, a lot of their "wealth" is not in private, individual hands. Instead, it is in "pools" that are controlled by the insurance companies and other financial services companies (who safeguard and invest the pension accumulations and health care payments, in order to create the financial stability for Dutch retirees). In effect, the Dutch "hired a consultant" to manage their collective health care and retirement needs, while Americans depend mostly on themselves. This makes the Dutch insurance companies and financial businesses constantly eager to MAKE MONEY - because they have to find outlets for the pools of money they are in charge of, and this leaves the ordinary Dutch citizen free of this need. This is generally a good thing, because big, institutional investment is a technical speciality, and the average person is actually not at all well qualified to figure out how to invest their own money. This situation creates a seeming paradox in the Netherlands - that the people are not particularly rich, and not particularly astute about how to invest money (and, in fact, have little personal money to invest) but the country as a whole IS rich and very shrewd. This combination, of course, is not well understood by Americans, who have a phobia about pooling most anything as a social strategy, and so they don't see how it could possibly work out well.
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True. But the United States* also has lots of cold weather, snow, and ice, and a population that is 17 times that of the Netherlands. That is, for every Dutch person, there are 17 Americans. We also imagine that we are immensely more wealthy than the Netherlands. So, what's the problem?
My "take" on this is that the Netherlands is extremely well-managed compared to the US, and I have observed this down in the trenches, over the years, within the country. Part of this comes from the fact that the Netherlands historically and ALWAYS has to create a sober, reality-based, group of people - and this group is a large one compared to the total population - dedicated to removing water from the country, otherwise it's game over for EVERYONE. (The "for everyone" outcome is also important, because this perspective makes most Dutch people consider that, in life, everyone basically is in the same boat.) What this means is that in the Netherlands, the bahavioral focus is on sobriety, understanding of reality, and good socialization/cooperation. (Of course, there is a % of Dutch people who can't stand this focus - maybe about 5% - and they try to leave the country, or do leave the country, but my observation is that most Dutch are ok with it.) The Dutch, being Europeans, also are rooted in the tradition of long apprenticeships to accomplish goals, and don't believe - as Americans do - that they can depend on their own frontier, untutored, "common sense" to achieve quality results.
In America, the social focus is on individual achievement, and going it alone. And, above all, being left alone to enjoy one's own money, without much social obligation to the "group."
The Dutch focus is also on people and families first, and corporations second. The result of this choice is that, although they as a society are VERY interested in making money, working hard, and making good investments, they understand that this goal is much more efficiently reached by "pooling" the process, that is, by adopting socialism. Also, being a small country located between England, Germany, and France - all much larger and more powerful than they are - they had to drop "war" a long time ago as a method of making money. In short, and unlike England and the US, they can't accomplish their investment goals by being a pirate nation. (I have several Irish friends and relatives who routinely call England "the pirate nation" based on their own historical perspective; they haven't applied this to the US, but I do, since we basically inherited the English organizational and thought systems.) Although the overall tax rate in the Netherlands is high, it is no higher than in the US, but instead of blowing up about 40% of your taxes on war, and mismanaging about 25% of your pension accumulation on lobbying, advertising, campaign contributions, bribes, and other corruption, these taxes and pension contributions go much farther in providing meaningful retirement pensions. The same for your health care costs.
The Dutch a few years ago became the tallest people on earth, on average, and also live about 8 years longer on average than we do. This is in spite of their dreaded "socialized medicine" and "single-payer health care system," which Americans on the right wing always allege is a total catastrophe. I haven't checked them lately for fattest people - as this honor recently passed from the US to Mexico - but I would guess that they are low on this list.
Yes, it is true that life is "dull" in the Netherlands compared to here, but mostly because the Dutch have freed themselves from the terror of having to pile up enough assets to support themselves, individually, during their retirement (mandatory at age 60; used to be 55), which is basically impossible, so they have a society where money isn't important - only "work" matters. Sometimes this preferred "work" is as an Olympic athlete, and I suppose the medal count shows the result of their social choices. Yes, there is a price that they pay - having to utterly give up on the idea of "becoming rich" and owning a huge mansion-house - but in exchange for giving these two things up, they reap a rich harvest of other benefits that we - meaning the "bottom" 98% - can't attain. Generally the Dutch are more free to pursue work that would be personally meaningful to them, rather than just selecting the one that would make the most money, like we do.
It is a society that has freed itself of the burden of "money," and one result is that "money" is seldom a topic of conversation in the Netherlands. (Unlike here, where it is the most common topic.) Instead, the main topic of conversation there is "work," how to accomplish it with the best result, and whether or not you are doing your best, and working as effectively as you might. (Yes, a % don't do this - maybe 5% to 10%.) You don't need "money" in the Netherlands. You don't need it for a future health care crisis, because the medical system takes care of everything very well. You don't need it to give to your children, because they'll be under the same benign system that you are. All you need it for is to have an adequate pension after age 60 which pays your bills, and allows for that 6 to 8 weeks of vacation abroad. And this goal is, for the most part, reached, provided that you have diligently applied yourself at most any job from age 25 to 60.
Anyway, these are they organizational and differences in thought that I have distilled out from many trips to the country, and many conversations with my relatives and a few friends there. Most Americans don't agree with my conclusions.
By the way - a good example of the haughty, arrogant, fantasy-based propaganda regime in the US is the Cadillac commercial that has been playing repeatedly during the Channel 4 Games coverage. It's obnoxious in the extreme, and promotes all the usual "virtues" that are needed by the pirate-nations.
*also Russia; different organizational and thought processes at work there.
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