I live in EU. What awesomeness? There are places with better social and health services while having less taxes and regulations. The regulations are making actual day to day life hard for everyone, directly as well as indirectly. EU is surviving, but I definitely wouldn't - and don't know anyone who would - say it's thriving. Most of my friends who work in software and other hitech are planning their move to US.
Try to talk to people instead of relying on some abstract numbers.
"Yeah I'm so happy I have a job paying 500 USD per month, and I am so happy my 1.5-room flat rent is just 350" is a very common thing to hear where I live. The tax rate is 35% btw.
Also, try to find newer statistics at least. 2016 was around the local maxima, everything went to shit - very noticeably - during and after covid.
Define "doing fine", please. These people think they are doing fine. If you think this is not usual, why is 15% of my state population in irrecoverable debt?
Empirically researched data would be better - if people went and read the study in detail and saw that the questions asked don't lead to the conclusion that they claim, such as this case. They read a headline or check a sheet of numbers and think they understand the world.
Since people are apparently unable to do that, talking to people is the next best thing.
If people are unable to get the results from a study, but get confused by a headline, what makes you think they’ll be able to draw correct statistical conclusions from talking to a couple of people with inherent bias and small sample size?