[Herring]

It is important to recognize the distinction between money and wealth, which is often overlooked in American culture. The consistent high rankings of European countries on the lists of "happiest places to live" can be attributed, in part, to their approach in curbing corporate influence.

[bsaul]

« Happiest place to live » is only because we are still living on the wealth accumulated during our glorious centuries. We are still feeding on the remains of those beast, which thankfully for us includes things like buildings and infrastructures that cannot easily loose value, and landscapes that look good enough to attract tourists to feed us.

Think about how much better EU was compared to the rest of the world in the 20th century, or the 19th or 18th (not to account for wars, of course).

21th century is likely to become the time were EU stops being the best place to live at all.

[jltsiren]

The old Europe was good for the elite, because they were on top of the world. Ordinary people left Europe in masses, because life was supposed to be better in America and elsewhere. The big change was WW2, after which European countries started focusing more on the economy and quality of life and less on fighting destructive wars at home.

[google234123]

Europe is now about making sure only those with old wealth can be rich, can't have new money coming up.