The EU system helps ensure you're not surrounded by people made entirely miserable by their wage slavery. Who would want to be surrounded by miserable fucks?
I live in the US state with the highest median income: Maryland. I feel lucky to have pursued a career here because I didn't grow up here and I didn't know much about Maryland beforehand.
I now feel as though I couldn't live elsewhere within the US. I was surrounded by exhausted, overworked, miserable people growing up in NJ and I see so much less misery here even though I interact with people from many different socioeconomic backgrounds; up and down the ladder.