That's a little misleading though. Yeah, it's $20k net pay, but like most MoH-style situations, you get government housing, you don't pay taxes except VAT (which is designed as anti-consumer), you get government food, and your health insurance/social benefits/job protection issues are taken care of as a civil servant. That's why I have these conflicts with my German counterpart in the Beamte. He gets "paid" 50% of what we do, but on the other hand, the benefits package is so ridiculous (and plus the work standards are less than 50% of what even the US expects out of their civil service) that it's quite a fair deal. The only reason that I don't take it is due to my family circumstances, but I'd happily be a C3/C4/W3 salary line imbecile at Heidelberg any day over the grind here (Pay is something like USD$91k at the highest C4 level, but with a secretary and a house servant, that would be an improvement on my lifestyle than getting paid double that in the civil service).
The major difference about the US way of compensation is that you get paid money, and that's it. You're free to use the money as you wish, but your job is conditional, your benefits are crap, and your productivity has to be higher (and if you are in the upper ranges like us, you do work damn hard for the money). It's an interesting tradeoff, because with money, you get freedom, but not security. Socialist models favor security over freedom. They both have their good and bad points. If most of us are losers in the capitalist sense (like career techs), then a socialist system works better. But we're not economic losers, we do benefit from this free system, it's just a lot more stressful than the fixed situation. At least, you're free to spend your money to ease your spiritual suffering, and without VAT and with subsidies from China, there's no better place on Earth to be a materialist.
I know you've asked what's the difference between you working versus being broke on the dole, but still have something. You still work, so there is something to be said. I find the situation in Europe to be unsustainable without immigration, because being offered such a great deal for little work, the upper educated stop working because why bother if a peon job makes 80% of what you do (so, pharmacy techs do that well over there not because they are paid handsomely, but because pharmacists are not paid well there). On the other hand, you don't have the sense of working class tensions that the US continually has.
The place I don't understand is why would someone go to Canada, which has crap for social benefits and outreach, but is paid 70% at best compared to the US for technical skill? I guess it just means everyone is poorer there.
