One thing I have learned throughout the years is that Europeans haven no problems what-so-ever. They live in utopia. Or so I gather from hearing them speak.

In their minds, compared to the war zone and Nazi concentration camps of the USA, they live in what could be called heaven on earth (assuming heaven existed but that archaic notion no longer exists in Europe).

To hear them speak of making the big bucks, you would never realize they are removed of their property by their respective governments through excessive taxes, hidden or otherwise.

To hear them speak of their clean countryside, you would never realize just how dirty DC, New York, L.A., Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, etc actually are (I opened a window and am currently chocking to death on that damn clean air outside!).

To hear them speak, they do not have a crime problem where massive ghettos have arisen and large volumes of unassimilated foreigners have taken to the streets or attacked police officers or cut the heads off of people for merely having a different point of view.

To hear them speak, they do not have any infringement on their freedom what-so-ever except that in some countries they can be put in jail for denying a historical event, cannot purchase books that are BANNED due to their content, must request permission from their government to own a firearm, where they can, pay a tax to watch television, be detained by the police for ANY REASON they please and have your person and your effects searched with out due process or a writ or warrant from a judge, etc.

To hear them speak, they do not have a problem with people eating themselves to the point where they weigh 400 pounds plus and their teeth are not falling out because they either cannot afford to go to a dentist or the state dentists they are allowed to see is not in because he is off on vacation.

Nope you do not hear these things because they live in utopia and all is well with the world or at least all would be well if the USA would simply stop being a barbaric, wife beating, gun toting, bucked tooth, mullet sporting, goat screwing, seal beating redneck and join the rest of the civilized world.

If I'm the European in this particular case then let me correct myself. I didn't ask for sarcastic twists and turns about what Europeans think of themselves and their utopia.

I wanted to know the things I should be envious about for not living in the States.

You will get no such thing from me. I do not strive to create envy for other people. I know what envy does and where it leads.

My nation has many problems and these problems are festering but they are not nearly as a poorly as they are in some European nations.

I prefer to live with no strings or as few strings on my life as a FREE MAN. I do not like asking permission to do something especially when I am asking permission for a government stooge who does not know what the hell he is talking about.

I prefer to work for a living rather than steel from my neighbors.

I prefer to keep the bounty of my efforts and the toil of my sweat rather than subsidize the laziness or ineptitude of other people.

I have no problem giving to charity but that is charity and that is my choice. Having my government stick a gun in my face to take my money is not charity.

I prefer to own whatever I want to suite my own desires to any extent that I so desire. If I want to own a build a car, you have no business lecturing me on the matter and that is how I like it.

I just want to live my life and be left alone from the good intentions of my neighbors and that is how it once was in America and that is slowly slipping away.

Really? Do you even know how much you pay in taxes?

Do you have a Value Added Tax?

Do you have excise taxes?

Do you have taxes on your food that you do not see when you go shopping?

Do you have excessive taxes on your energy costs? How much is 1 gallon of gas (4 liters)?

Who said your government was taxing you to death? Here is what I said: To hear them speak of making the big bucks, you would never realize they are removed of their property by their respective governments through excessive taxes, hidden or otherwise.

Your hyperbole aside, I can see how much money I pay in taxes because I see the paper receipt (be it a car tag or a 1040). Can you?

---Mikko---Though the tax rates might be a bit high for everyone to like, it's not like I don't get to make it big. I just have to be that few percent better.

How much do you pay of your income to taxes (as a percentage)? Include VAT, income, excise, sales, etc. Give me a ball park if you please.

In this country, a kid can go to any institution he wants so long as he is willing to work for it and that does not require steeling money from Peter to pay Paul.

I prefer the choice and I would rather a child acquire a real education than spend thousands of dollars subsidizing educated idiots in some (not all) of the institutions found around the world.

I do not need to pay a tax to socialize with someone regardless of their income.

To be fair, I do not socialize with billionaires but a few of my friends are fast approaching that financial marker and they can be found just about everywhere. Some people are quite astonished to find the gentleman sporting the economical Honda has a greater net worth than a good many driving a Lexus.

Where did I say you had mentioned clean air?

I have as much clean water as I want.

The air is clean here (just outside of D.C.).

I have lived in some of the most congested cities in America (just left Atlanta not long ago) and I never had a problem with the air quality in any of those cities.

---Mikko---And didn't say those things were crap in the States. I just said Sweden and Norway are virtua