"Even the Europeans know it"? So THAT's why they're immigrating to America in droves!
Oh, wait...you mean they're NOT immigrating to America in droves? "By their actions shall ye know them."
What happened in your post, sir, is that you looked at what you saw in those other nations and compared them with what YOU thought should be a proper standard of living. You didn't realize that having a big house with a big fridge and a two-car garage and a big yard in suburbia (or some other form of what you think is the "American Dream")...you didn't realize that while all that's nice to have, other people just might not see that as preferable or desirable at all, especially given what we do in order to have those things.
What you didn't realize is that what the Europeans have is not "things" like I listed above, but TIME. They work significantly fewer hours than we do, which means that the parents spend MUCH more time with their kids. They have MUCH better vacation policies than we do...which means that they (and their kids) get to spend even more quality time with each other. They have MUCH better sick leave policies than we do...which means that they aren't forced to make a choice between staying home when sick or paying the mortgage. Perhaps as importantly, in most of Europe, owning a car is NOT a necessity, as it mostly is here in America. One can travel quite comfortably all over Europe (more cheaply than here in America, mind you) without having to pay car payments and auto insurance and whatnot. In America, being "car-poor" or "house-poor" due to exorbitant payments is a very real thing. In Europe, not so much.
Give me a choice between (1) a nice house in suburbia with all the trappings, or (2) greatly-increased TIME with my family, with greatly-increased opportunity to travel where we want to go...
...I'd choose the latter every time.
And you notice that I didn't even bring up the much-higher violent crime rates here in America. Again, it's a difference in paradigms: the American says, "why would I want to live in a country where I couldn't have a gun to defend my family?", whereas the Brit says, "why would I want to live in a country where I even needed a gun to defend my family?"
Your personal perceptions do not necessarily reflect the reality of what "standards of living" truly entail.
Your comments illustrate your total lack of knowledge about the EU, and even the US.
Europeans have and continue to emigrate. 4.8 million came to the US in 2014... Alone.
European Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org
More would leave for the US, but it's damn difficult to get a green card.
The total of Americans living abroad in the EU (non military) is 800,000.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_United_States
The only reason to move to Europe is if you're wealthy and can land in The Channel Islands (near impossible), or Switzerland, where you'll find wealthy, mobile EUers and North Americans like Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikonen, Shania Twain, Michael Schumacher, etc.
Standard of living? I've split my life between both continents. Standard of living... not even close. The US is so far ahead it's staggering.
I'll admit, Europeans have better ice cream, butter, bread, cheese and beer, but the US has caught up in many of these areas during my last 31-years split between the two continents. The remainder... ROTFLOL... Not close.
If quality of life is better, why is the EU divorce rate so high? Why is unemployment throughout the EU so high? Why have countries lost their sovereignty, and vast chunks of the populous are fed up and looking to exit the EU? If all is so great?
Want to educate your kids? In some EU countries it's illegal.
Separation of church and state? Well, the tax authorities will take your money in the form of a church tax. No separation of church and state.
Yes, violence is higher in the US... A lot of it fits right into the Pareto Principle... Is caused by the gang banger types. And... These festering sewers of criminality have been run by Libs for decades.
Europeans should have learned... the US may have lost some lives due to gun violence, but Europe, right I their backyard has lost tens of millions because the people were denied the right to bear arms.
More than 3-decades split between the two continents, from north to south allows me to comment accurately about the differences in quality of life in both places. It's not close.
I only wish Leftists could be sent here to live for a decade. Then their song would change. It helped convert me from a clueless Leftist to a Conservative.
