Your post was both interesting and depressing. The only real surprise for me was your comment about grocery prices. Given how large a nation we are, and it being reasonable to conclude that a large population would produce economies of scale in production, and therefore lower food prices. I would like to find out why that is not so, assuming your observations are accurate. As for freedom from fear and for abundant social spending, Europeans should appreciate the US taxpayers and especially the men and women of the US military. We are the European defense budget.