> Dunno why everybody is using this thread to compare the EU to the US, as if I cared about how it is in the US.
Because the comment that you replied to was comparing the EU to the US: "And everyone benefits from this kind of collective solidarity - our societies are far less combative (both in the literal and the proverbial sense) than the US are."
I'm telling you I pay over half my salary in taxes and get little in return. Whatever happens in the US is not my problem.