Instead we all have modified forms of capitalism. In Europe you have a free market economy that is highly taxed and used by the governments to provide socialism like benefits such as free healthcare and extensive welfare benefits. The US economy is similar, except we have less taxes and less benefits.
Taxes are like an anchor around the waist of the economy. The higher the taxes the more it hurts the economy which is why Europe with its much higher taxation has a much lower standard of living than that the US. Which is also why the US has the second highest median income in the world, despite all our illegal immigration and our vast size. The median income of the worlds 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th largest economies are only two thirds our median income, which equates to a HUGE difference in stand of living. (China is 2nd)
So what you say about other economies having all the things the protesters demand (UHC, free or cheap colleges etc etc) but they pay for these things by having a much lower standard of living.
That is probably the biggest failure of the occupy types. They want a socialistic system because they think it will result in a more even distribution of incomes, which it will, but they fail to understand that it will also result in a much lower level of income as well.
Nice spin. "Standard of living" is an extremely vague term, and apparently means whatever you want it to mean.
It depends on what you're measuring & how. The Human development index, for example, and the inequality adjusted version of the same-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
There's median household income-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income
And also GDP (PPP) per capita-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP)_per_capita
The difference between median and PPP reflects an extremely skewed distribution, obviously, not to mention that the income differences can be like comparing apples and oranges. When we compare wages & benefits combined, the US isn't the workers' utopia you paint it to be-
http://www.ilwulocal142.org/boycott...-17-in-pay-a-benefits&catid=43:quiz&Itemid=68