Whilst the US has more self-made billionaires than Europe [0] the US has lesser social mobility than Europe (less the UK), rendering the idea of 'the American dream' more a dream than a possibility [1, 2]

Healthcare is a price-inelastic good. Not having some form of pricing controls is a licence to rip the heart out of a population.

[0] https://howmuch.net/articles/billionaires-map

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/social-...

[2] https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/02_econ...

The article concludes the usa has lower social mobility simply because the very rich, are now much richer thus it is harder to move to that income group.

> Guernsey, Monaco and Cyprus

Tax havens. The billionaires themselves are usually "citizens of the world" who live in hotels or a series of holiday homes. Countries don't "have" billionaires in any kind of possessive sense any more. Instead they compete in the hope that billionaires will pass through and trickle down some wealth.

> That being said, if we're talking "The American Dream" then simply measuring the number of billionaires isn't a useful metric. We should really focus on self made billionaires rather than people who became billionaires due to inheritance. On that metric I believe the US still leads the pack.

Ok, but comparing billionaires isn't then even a useful metric. Let's compare the number of self-made people who are financially independent. I.e. people who doesn't need to work if they wish not to.

I have no if there exists such data, but I would be a bit surprised if the US were leading on that. But perhaps the US is, I have no idea.

Not really clanking down on the US at all btw, I just think most european countries has a better view on work-life balance, social systems like healthcare and school etc. What I wish for the EU would be to put more focus on starting new companies the way the US does. The US is clearly the leader when it comes to that IMO.