Europeans Smarter Than North Americans?

If so many companies can afford to drop their prices on all of these 'special sale days'...just how much profit are they making the rest of the year?
 

My two cents - I noticed that many Europeans are more minimalist and less wasteful. Probably just because they have always needed to be. A European riding a bicycle isn’t immediately suspected of doing so because of DUI, but of making a prudent, logical choice of transportation. Such prudent behavior is not much admired here. We’ll drive the Escalade if the destination is more than 100’ from the house. Different values.
I don't think we're any less wasteful than Americans or any other nation, consumerism is rife here, you only have to look at our landfill sites.

However you're right concerning the bike riding, in fact more of us do it to be green and also to get through the massive traffic jams in our very narrow roads... certainly wouldn't occur to anyone here to think someone is riding a bike because they've got a DUI ..and yes also we don't believe in driving a 100 yards to the shops, but that may also be because our fuel is expensive.. currently at around £6.50 per imperial gallon ( or $8.55 USD )
 
It's been many years, but when we were stationed in Germany, we walked, took the streetcar or train or biked when we could, for many reasons. First off, our gas was rationed, and was still very expensive (I dunno if this rationing was a military thing or a German thing, but in any event it applied to us). Secondly, it was easy to get around on the streetcar and you didn't have the parking hassle. Streetcars were everywhere and were on time, inexpensive, and safe. We walked to work and many other places, like when we went out to eat -- everybody walked everywhere, both military people and the German people as well. If we wanted to visit another city, we took the streetcar to the train and then when we arrived at our destination, took the streetcar to where we wanted to go visit.

Many times the only time we moved the car in a month was either to get a bunch of groceries from the commissary or take people and luggage to and from the airport in Frankfurt.

I wish the US had such easy and safe public transportation, but in most places it doesn't.
 

I'm in CT among a high concentration of Italians as in NJ and NYC and nearby areas. It's a great culture and I was fortunate! LOL, I used some Italian expressions learned from the kids outside without even knowing they weren't English words.
High, Rose, that was my mom's name...God Rest Her Soul!!!! Yes, NJ has many Italians....Of course many older Italians are not from Italy, they are
born in America....Like Me!!!! My husband also is Italian.....Mom and Dad were born in America, so we are the second generation and our kids
are third Generation Italians....Except my daughter's children are German and Italian....The German came from her husband....
We still use the Italian expressions...But not my kids....
 

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