The other night I went to dinner in the Boston area and after spending $70 for two people to get a main dish and a small glass of wine I quickly began to miss Europe. A person in the U.S. must be wealthy in order to live like a middle class European. If you are able to dodge the tourist restaurant, it is feasible to have a meal and wine, without sacrificing quality or quantity, for relatively cheap in European cities. I find it humorous to picture a French person in the United States being handed a Bud Light and being charged several dollars. Why must it be distinctively American to drink bad beer and grossly overpay for decent wine ($7 a glass... how about 2 euros for 0.25 L)?
But in all seriousness, the U.S. is the richest nation in the world but has proportionally twice as many adults living below poverty than France, Germany, and Italy (19% versus 8%). Furthermore, 1 out of every 4 of American children in the US live in poverty. This is only 1 out of 10 for Western European countries. Also, the bottom 10% of citizens of America are worse off than the bottom %10 of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland (facts taken from Peter Singer's The President of Good & Evil: Questioning the Ethics of George W. Bush).
The United States is a great place for a small number of rich people, but for the rest there is a better life elsewhere. Europeans work less, have more vacation time, receive a better education, and are given free health care. Yes, they do have to pay taxes, but their quality of life makes up for it.
It is time for change in the States.
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