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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nobody is forced into mediocre existence. People just don't care about material things like they do here.They don't produce as much waste a much as Americans. Perhaps this is your measure of good life. Add $10k of crap Americans buy a year, and health, property taxes, education to that $50k. 
It never crossed my mind in EU that I will be homeless or can't afford to go to the doctors. If this were in the back of my mind all the time, sure I want to become well off. This is not a worry in EU.
The ones who have the drive, do get rich. Look at the unicorns per capita for Estonia. The education level for the poor is so much better than in US (see Pisa 2022). If any, the poor are forced and stay in poverty in US because of their education level. 
Don't confuse not wanting to be uber rich with being held back. Europeans can invest in the markets/real estate just like anyone else. It's just not as important as it is here.
It actually seems more important to Eastern Europeans as we remember not being able to do so. But our kids are getting 'soft' as the need for extra things or money is not there. Experiences yes, but not things. They definitely travel more than people in US.
I'm from EE, but living here. I talk about money and the need to get rich more than my friends back at home. They need me to shut up and just enjoy the party.
They have access to American stock market and their own markets. They have the 20 euros a day to throw into it to retire early. They'd rather enjoy it, because they already live as if they are semi-retired.
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Europeans don't consume "10k of crap a year" because they can't afford to. It's that simple, they're not more altruistic.

There's plenty of homeless people. Not sure why you're implying this. Most if not all are people with clear substance or mental problems. Which is also true for homeless people in the US too... look around DC, these aren't people temporarily down on their luck. We also have plenty of Section 8 subsidized housing. We can make this a battle of stats, but I find it weird people are trying to place Europeans on some kind of higher moral plane, which makes no sense to anyone who's actually lived in Europe and knows 1) they're just as materialistic, 2) they make less money, 3) they have plenty of issues of their own, 4) each country is different so what works in Austria doesn't mean it's the case in the UK (which has massive housing shortages and affordability issues, for example, far outstripping the US). [/quote]

This really isn’t true.  A good friend is a principal at a PE group in Germany that owns consumer products companies.  He makes millions.

He commented to me that it’s very odd analyzing acquisitions in the US because the average person buys two or three of something when the average European will own only one no matter their income.  His company specializes in high end consumer products, so it’s not looking at super mass market.

As an example, at one point they owned (maybe still do) one of the high end European stroller companies.  The average European that can afford it, owns one of these (including himself…and absent having twins), while the average for an American was like 2.5.  Again, they account for number of kids, twins etc…this is just Americans having a different consumer view on items.

This guys could afford to buy as much crap as he wants, but he says it’s a huge cultural difference in consumerism.  He only owns one car even though he could own 10 if he wanted…but he lives in Frankfurt and has no need for more than one.[/quote]

German here.  This is true.  My grandfather was wealthy (owned a large successful business).  He had a driver and car that he used for work and sometimes on weekends, but never bothered with more cars or keeping one at home because we lived in Berlin and he felt walking was healthy.  In his generation fast fashion was definitely not a thing, just very good quality items but fewer.  That trend seems to still be there as far as I can tell from my friends and family.  It's not a lack of money that's driving that. [/quote]

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