I think her point is more that the benefits she's talking about are average for the Swiss, they're to be expected wherever you work by default and they're not just for tech industry workers.
In the US, they're something so unusual that you feel lucky for having them, even if you work in the tech industry.
And my point is that hers is very one-sided and there's some serious selection bias going on. Living in Switzerland can actually suck. It's expensive - about 2+ times the rest of Europe and there is some serious xenophobia. Benefits in the US are not unusual and are pretty darn good by world standards. But hey, everyone loves a grass-is-greener post.
I'm sure it can suck but compared to the US I think it's far better for the majority of citizens.
I'm saying this not as a European or an American with a particular bias either way but as an Australian who's been in both countries and frequently interacts with their citizens. I'm also someone who's worked in "low" positions (cooked fries at McDonald's) as well as someone who's worked in "high" positions (Software Engineer at a rather large company) and the conditions I've noticed in the US are just straight out bad.
I got more vacation time as a McDonald's fry cook than I do as an engineer at one of the world's largest tech companies (20 days McDonald's, 15 in US tech). And that company is one that's celebrated for being one of the "best" places to work in the US for its revolutionary benefits. The majority of those benefits are statutory back home or in the more affluent European countries.
The US has no statutory parental leave, vacation time, very limited sick leave and a minimum wage that in many cases leaves full time workers living paycheck to paycheck. Switzerland by comparison has 4 weeks statutory leave, 14 weeks at 80% pay maternal leave, 3 weeks sick leave and while it has no government mandated minimum wage, most of the population are covered by union agreements giving them a minimum of $15k/year PPP adjusted (http://www.therichest.com/business/the-top-10-countries-with...), one of the highest in the world.
Sure there are some people who have it better in the US than Switzerland but the people right at the bottom get a lot more benefits from Switzerland than they do from America.
And I think that's where we differ. Your focus is on the people 'right at the bottom', as is the focus of many who engage in this kind of debate. I tend to look at the whole picture: Those at the bottom, working class salarymen and women in the middle, innovators at the top, middle-class employees who want to become entrepreneurs and job creators and those at the bottom who want to do the same.
I'm a South African immigrant to the United States. I've lived in the UK and worked there for 5 years. I've also lived in France for a year, spent 8 months in Brazil and have family there, lived in the US for over a decade and been an employee, startup founder and now executive. I've traveled extensively. My first real job was scraping a harbor crane boom down to the metal and painting it while covered in metal dust, paint and solvent - and for a wage that makes minimum wage in the USA look like a kings ransom.
So I have been at the bottom, I've been a low level techie in a laser printer repair company, I've been a top tier developer and I've starved while starting a company. I've also created a company that creates jobs for others and that is continuing to do so.
I think you and I and the rest of the readers see that click-baity blog post for what it is. At least I hope you do. It's a sample of one and is rather opinionated.
The Swiss have their issues too - I've already mentioned xenophobia - add to that harboring tax evaders, banning the building of mosques (minaret controversy), banning asylum seekers from entering public places in certain towns, and a long complicated history of putting money before morals. But the Swiss and their country are not what I take issue with.
My issue is that I'm tired of the constant whining drum beat that the USA is so bloody awful and we should look at place X, Y or Z as a shining light of how amazing things could be.
I'm 41 and I've been around the World and around the block a few times. Trust me when I tell you that the difference between developing countries and the USA is staggering in terms of personal security, quality of life, healthcare (Yup. Just look at the number of CT/PET scan machines and speed of diagnosis of fast moving diseases like cancer) and opportunity. What this means is that the USA is doing a hell of a lot better at creating an awesome quality of life than most of the rest of the World. So cherry picking a prosperous country and suggesting that the USA is a disaster is absurd.
Sure, you want cake instead of bread, but both do a really great job of feeding you and most of your brethren around the World have neither. So lets cut the debate, enjoy your bread, open a bakery, employ your brothers and sisters and then do it all over again.
This country really is the land of the free because we get to publicly and loudly speak our minds and explore new ideas without persecution. [I grew up under horrible censorship during Apartheid]. It's the land of the brave because it's filled with innovators who go broke multiple times (like I did) before they earn the privilege of creating jobs, paying more tax and creating useful things. And believe it or not, many of the 1% that are so hated by such a small but very vocal minority in the USA take huge risks with their own money to help fund other entrepreneurs who want to bet everything on creating a business. And those investors do it with incredible empathy and generosity in my experience.
So I say again: I'm tired of these vitriolic attacks on this country, the so called 'one percent' and on businesses who are run by real human beings. Damn right we're far from perfect and there is a lot we can improve upon. But framing this country as a disaster and using that as a departure point for discussing how to improve things is getting really old.
I think her point is more that the benefits she's talking about are average for the Swiss, they're to be expected wherever you work by default and they're not just for tech industry workers.
In the US, they're something so unusual that you feel lucky for having them, even if you work in the tech industry.