The reasons why Spain is better than the United States (in one Twitter thread)

Madrid vs San Francisco, Spain versus the United States. Photos: AFP

A Twitter thread listing the many advantages Spain has over the United States has struck a chord online. See whether you agree with the analysis.

The thread was posted by Spain-based entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, who lived in the US for over 20 years.

Varavsky is Argentine-born and has set up numerous companies worldwide. He has over 100,000 Twitter followers.

He was described by Forbes Magazine describe as “young, rich and restless’ back in 1999 in the year 2,000 he was a named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum.

His opinions have been published in various newspapers like El Pais and The Huffington Post and is also know for his philanthropic work.

The Local does not necessarily agree with his sentiments and has not fact checked his figures but nevertheless his views have started a huge debate online about the differences between Spain and the US. It’s a discussion that’s always worth having. We’ll let you make up your own minds.

Just landed in Madrid flying from San Francisco and traveling around the USA where I lived for 20 years and I frequently work. The San Francisco vs Madrid change makes me wonder.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why are homeless people so rare in Madrid and so common in San Francisco when here GDP per capita is half?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why is the murder rate 500% higher in California than in Spain?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why is health care free even for tourists in Spain paid for by Spanish taxpayers as a human right and so incredibly expensive and cumbersome in California? Our son fell in the bathtub and we had a $12k bill for a few stitches at Stanford University emergency room.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why are universities in Spain free and there is no student debt while in the USA there is more student debt than the GDP of Spain?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why are there in the USA more people in jail/parole than there are inhabitants in Madrid the third largest city in Europe?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why is litigation so common in the USA and so rare in Spain?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why is inequality in the USA twice as high as that of Spain?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why does Spain who borders Africa and has a much bigger illegal immigration problem than the USA provides amnesties for those who work for three years and USA separates parents from kids and conducts violent raids? Has 11 million hard working people who it refuses to legalize.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Why do people live 4 more years in Spain than US while Spain spends 70% less per person in health care?

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Spain is not perfect, housing costs are high, good jobs are tougher to find, half of Catalonians want out, political corruption is unacceptable, universities produce no Nobel prizes.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

But here cancer does not mean bankruptcy, pregnancies come with maternity leave, long vacations available to all, gun deaths, opium deaths are almost unheard of and in 09 when unemployment shot up crime surprisingly went down.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

Spain has the fastest growing large economy of Europe. It is a welcoming democracy loved by the millions of foreigners who live here. Looking for an alternative country to live in? Consider Spain.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019

USA is amazing at solving intricate science and technology problems that no other country has solved but struggles at solving every day life challenges that all other developed nations have solved.

— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) 16 juillet 2019