Plus, in the US people have more opportunity for upward mobility.
No, no, Europeans have far more of that than americans, States. You're 30+ years out of date, if you ever had a point.
Dead0man, the reasons life are better where I am are very specific and related to a minority viewpoint and cultural superiority, not material superiority. Clearly for the vast majority of people, living in German is better even than living in Thailand. The american case is not very clear compared to middle income Asian countries, but it is clearly vastly inferior to Western Europe.
However I would like to dispute your absurd notion that a few bits and bobbles of technology make 2010 much better than, say, the height of well being in America (1969-1973). Yes, there are more computers, but they don't really do anything for the worker except enable him to make more money for his boss ('productivity'), or to simply play games (to make up for the fact that his sex life and social life is so inferior to that of his predecessor). Mobile phones - nearly useless except to waste time and annoy, their only practical use being 'where are you' while out and about meeting up with people (problem equally well solved in the 1970s era by the checkable answering machine and the neighborhood 'hangout'). Medical technology, mostly useless - only extends life after it isn't worth living anyway (65-70+).
Yes, a TV cost a little more vis-a-vis things in general, but a car cost far, far less (and was better), houses cost a tiny fraction of what they do now, and pay was much higher. So, on the whole, 2010 compares very shabbily to the past, and technology doesn't really do anything to counteract this political decline. The most you can say about technology is it has slightly blunted the misery we face from getting inexorably poorer and running out out of resources.
