Fantastic thread, you guys. Gnaritas, in my opinion you've got it absolutely right. There are some strange memes in America, such as that it's the richest country on earth, socialism is bad and anything government touches turns rotten. The problem is that the truth is rarely found in extreme locations.

America is certainly not even a contender for richest country, and as you state, many countries, especially in Europe, are showing that socialism works quite well. It's the reason we're moving to that model with healthcare.

> the measure of the success of a country is how happy it's people are, not how much money it cranks out

Exactly. And countries with more smaller gaps between the rich and poor are almost exclusively much happier. I've been to two countries which are very similar (I won't state which to avoid offending anyone here), but Country A was depressing and sad, old women drunk in the streets -- I couldn't leave fast enough. I went to Country B and, although it was poorer, the people seemed much happier. It was much more alive and upbeat. I found out later that Country A has a huge disparity in wealth, Country B very little. I credit this with being the single strongest contributing factor to the quality of life in these countries, and a huge factor generally in the quality of life in any country.