Reply #4: She is also wrong about Europe.

[JDPriestly]

Everything is smaller in Europe. They don't have the wide open spaces that we have. Obviously, Europe has been home to complex societies for much longer than the U.S. That is why they generally live in smaller houses. But Thom is correct -- they live just as well as we do. Their houses may be smaller, but they enjoy better transportation, wonderful public parks and recreation facilities. If she is living in Austria, she knows that much of that country is mountainous and not easy to farm or live on. Europeans enjoy just as high a living standard as we do, but their environment is different than ours.

And, Europeans do travel -- a lot. They have fast trains and great transportation.

And, by the way, Thom could have asked her about the Austrian Kindergeld and health care system. I lived there some years ago and the social services were wonderful. Three years of free, half-day kindergarten in perhaps the best-run kindergartens in the world for every child.