> Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a Europ

> Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a European tries to use an average weighed down by places like Baltimore European countries have their own Baltimore's also dragging their averages up/down, averaging such statistics is not some kind of American exceptionalism. Just like it's a bit misleading to compare a country to a continent, or even to the EU. The EU is not a country, it's no federal government, it's mostly a economic, and to some degree political, union.