The percentage of billionaires is not the whole story of social mobility. Social mobility in Germany is significantly worse than in the USA. Here's a German so

The percentage of billionaires is not the whole story of social mobility. Social mobility in Germany is significantly worse than in the USA. Here's a German source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest-worse-than-in-the-united-states-oecd/a-44245702#:~:text=Germany's%20social%20mobility%20among%20poorest,says%20that%20needs%20to%20change https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest.... Besides, about 30% of German billionaires inherited their money as opposed to about 12% of US billionares. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-the-super-rich-inherit-their-wealth-infographic/?sh=84fb44a6fe02 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-... Europeans frequently have a very distorted view of the American social safety net - it exists and benefits are substantially similar. It has some unique problems - the working poor who don't qualify for Medicaid frequently go uninsured despite significant subsidies for their insurance. Student debt is a national fiasco, but it is quite possible, the norm really, to get an education in the USA without becoming one of the horror stories. Medical costs are out of control, but the American sport of posting the top line (before discounts and insurance coverage) on an insurance statement for an emergency room visit or major procedure to the internet is more a reflection of how bureacratic requirements for billing paperwork differ. Literally no one in the US needs "millions throughout their lifetime to cover medical bills" - max out of pocket in the US for an individual is currently $8700/year, which is significantly more than the 5000 euros/year for the privately insured in Germany, but not an order of magnitude difference. Germans also tend to recoil in horror at the notion of bankruptcy because individual bankruptcy in German-speaking countries is actually a horror. I think this is a civil-law vs common-law difference, but I'm not an expert. It's not easy going broke anywhere but the process in English-speaking countries is much faster and much less punitive - it is intended to get people back on their feet as quickly as possible rather than to discourage them from entering into the process at any cost.