European countries score much better on LOTS of performance indicators, several of which have been on HN the last weeks:
Medical coverage (both insurances, and the quality of the medical service itself), school education levels in standardized tests, financial stability (both the country itself as well as the individual states), average wealth, poor-rich spread, amount and quality of science research... so yes, we Europeans DO get something done. In contrast to the USA, where everything actually important is either blocked off by extremist tea baggers or cut down by the sequester (which is a side effect of the mentioned teabaggers).
It's not my fault that the USA in general doesn't care about their external image. I'm just pointing out what the rest of the world thinks about the USA.