Uhhmm - you visited basically anywhere outside the periphique in Paris? I mean the entire ring around Paris is a ghetto - as grungy as any American city. Murd

Uhhmm - you visited basically anywhere outside the periphique in Paris? I mean the entire ring around Paris is a ghetto - as grungy as any American city. Murder rates are not as bad - but petty crime and other forms of violence are just as bad. The level of social malaise due to lack of integration of newcomers from the Maghreb and M/E is growing quite quickly. And Marseille? Lyon? Even worse. So yes - the American 'hardcore ghettos' are the worst, but beyond that I don't think Europe is that higher. And the US has a considerably larger middle/middle-upper class of aspirants, which is a difficult proposition for most Europeans.