People don't understand how much wealthier the US is than most of the Western World. I realize, and please don't harp on, the fact that healthcare and college aren't free here, but the median German makes the less money than the median income in all but 9 states, and it becomes substantially more unequal when you look at PPP.

https://mises.org/wire/if-sweden-and-germany-became-us-state...

Now, if you want to talk about Quality of Life, instead of per capita income, I think there's probably a lot more going for the EU - much lower crime, better infrastructure, less absurd politics, more vacation. I'd definitely live in Nice over Minnesota, and I love Minnesota.

There isn't lower crime in the EU. The EU has between a higher rate or a similar rate of violent crime and crime in general vs the US (varying depending on which country you're talking about). The US rate of crime compares well to most developed nations. [1] The US has a far higher murder rate thanks to its policies on gun regulation.

There is not less absurd politics in the EU. It's every bit as crazy over there right now. See: Italy, Hungary, the extreme right in the Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Denmark's recent policies on immigrant ghettos, and on and on.

The EU includes a lot of mid-tier countries. Poor people in the US get free healthcare and average welfare benefits that are far higher than the median incomes of all the mid-tier nations in the EU. The OECD better life index has persistently indicated that the US poor live better than the poor in any other nations except for half a dozen or so (such as Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland). In the US it's primarily the 20% group above the poorest 20%, that do the worst compared to other developed nations - they often make too much money to qualify for free healthcare, their income potential is weak, their education opportunities are weak, they suffer much higher rates of bankruptcy, and they often don't qualify fully for traditional assistance programs (housing or food).

[1] https://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9217163/america-guns-europe

[1a] http://news.gallup.com/poll/21346/crime-rate-lower-united-st...

>thanks to its policies on gun regulation

Citation needed.

Read that vox article he linked.

This isn't wikipedia :)