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Europe has a monolithic culture. Much fewer immigrants sucking off its teat. Many Europeans are self-sufficient and are content with living austere lifestyles. Smaller houses, no A/C, minimal heating.
I lived in Germany for three years and I had more heat than I needed (often had to crack windows in winter) and there was no need for A/C. As for smaller house, in urban areas, yes. I lived in a small town and people had decent sized houses.
People do buy houses on credit, but there are stipulations. You have to have a great portion saved, the government will help out a little, and you can have a 20-30 year mortgage. Again, this is relatively new.
That's the way it is in Arab countries, CG. You may have to have collateral of as much as 100% to borrow a large sum. Also indebtedness is considered a huge shame to your family. I think you're right on target about the use of credit in the USA versus anywhere else. I've read many an op-ed piece in the Asian news sources about that.
There's also another feature that's worth mentioning. Socialism has been given a stigma in the USA that it doesn't carry anywhere else. That goes back to the "Robber Baron" era. Unions, Social Democrats, Collectivism, Communism all of that was reviled through the media (like W. R. Hearst), and persecuted in any way possible (such as by H. Ford) including the government. While Socialism was portrayed as anti-Capitalist and/or anti-American it really was mainly a threat to the Class system the robber barons personified, and the huge disparities in the distribution of wealth. Today, even where we practice it we call it by some other name.
Oh please. England is the bastard child of Europe. Heavily rooted in debt and it's PM going off on retard Keynesian economics and . The pound is falling against the Euro, North Sea oil exports are drying up, and the stimulus plans are financed with deficit spending just like the US and unlike most of mainland Europe.
England will adopt the Euro very soon. Count on it.
If the legendary Jim Rogers isn't putting a penny into the UK, I sure as h*ll aren't.
I certainly hope we join the Euro, not joining has been disastrous. Had we allied ourselves to Europe instead of the US economically we would not have suffered quite as much of a recession as we are now.
We should have been the first to join, and the UK should also have had the foresight to become fully part of Europe instead of the half way house we got.
Had we been a bit more pro -Europe instead of so isolationist and bloody minded we might have had a chance at being one of the top 3 big Nations ( with Germany and France) and a chance to be a big player rather than a nay-sayer all the time. Europe was our one big chance of changing the rules of the game to our advantage but anti-Europe hysteria was whipped up very neatly by both Politicians and the Media.
And BTW I am French. I have lived here for over 20 years, 3 years in the US before that, then Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain among others.
The problem with the UK is the "special relationship" with the US which has quite frankly been a disaster on pretty much all fronts.
Still I would rather be middle class or poor here than in the US. And if I was rich I would not care either way as I would want to spend my entire life travelling anyway.
And you are quite right the UK is hardly doing brilliantly. But then again an American saying that brings to mind a certain saying about pots and kettles...
Addressing the OP: Europe doesn't have to worry about having a real military force or spending substantial sums on weapons, or really thinking about defense much at all.
They have this large, stupid country on the other side of the Atlantic to protect them.
Instead of moving to Europe I prefer to work at moving the European system here. I like the idea of universal health care, four week vacations, excellent public transit systems and peaceful and clean environment. I think a lot of Americans would like the same amenities.
Can you imagine if our forefathers had taken 4 weeks or more off?
We are not supposed to live that way.
We shouldn't use taxes to pay for medical care.
The European style is engineering personal responsibilty out of it's populace.
They are doing slightly better than us because they do not have to worry about national security They know that the US will take care of it for them.
I certainly hope we join the Euro, not joining has been disastrous. Had we allied ourselves to Europe instead of the US economically we would not have suffered quite as much of a recession as we are now.
We should have been the first to join, and the UK should also have had the foresight to become fully part of Europe instead of the half way house we got.
Had we been a bit more pro -Europe instead of so isolationist and bloody minded we might have had a chance at being one of the top 3 big Nations ( with Germany and France) and a chance to be a big player rather than a nay-sayer all the time. Europe was our one big chance of changing the rules of the game to our advantage but anti-Europe hysteria was whipped up very neatly by both Politicians and the Media.
And BTW I am French. I have lived here for over 20 years, 3 years in the US before that, then Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain among others.
The problem with the UK is the "special relationship" with the US which has quite frankly been a disaster on pretty much all fronts.
Still I would rather be middle class or poor here than in the US. And if I was rich I would not care either way as I would want to spend my entire life travelling anyway.
And you are quite right the UK is hardly doing brilliantly. But then again an American saying that brings to mind a certain saying about pots and kettles...
Moosketeer:
I do not see how having the Euro rather than Sterling would have protected the UK from a deeper recession than her EU partners. The UK suffers as such because many were reckless enough to purchase mortgage-backed securities from companies that were reckless enough to create them from consumers who were reckless enough to purchase houses recklessly. Both Sterling and the Euro are fully convertible with the Dollar, no? Its money; a unit of exchange, not a shield.
And Spain is suffering as well. Ireland, the Baltics, the Czech Republic, Hungary and others are as well. Indeed so are Germany and France- Germany is paying her citizens to buy new cars.
The UK has outperformed all of these countries for the last two decades.
You other comments about isolation and special relationships are too nationalistic to merit a polite response.
Those European welfare states won't be the same 10 years from now.
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, she has a boyfriend who owns his own home 
