In the US if you are alright you are alright, if you are not, you are a bum
Plenty of bums in America.
Being a bum is a choice, the opportunity is out there, it is up to the individual to capture it. The difference is the state/other citizens are not responsible for your condition, nor should they be. America does not provide happiness, it affords you the right to pursue it...or to be a bum.
I will tell you a cynical calculation the [out and out] capitalist system makes.
Cater for the 75 per cent and the devil take the hindmost. Of the 75 per cent are a huge swathe who hold down 2 or 3 jobs and are barely making ends meet.
What a load of crap! and a typical response from someone that feels that the government or it's citizenry owe you something more than you are willing to work for. Having money, higher education, a home, etc, are not "gimme's" they are fruits of labor, you degrade those willing to put forth effort to attain them, attempting to turn them into inherent rights and they are not, nor should they be. If you want the better things in a capitalist system you have to get of your dead butt/bum and work for it, a persons financial condition is in their control to change.
I would LOVE to live in America....slong as I got money.
You will do well slong as you are willing to work for your money and quit looking for a handout from fruit of your neighbors labor...he/she doesn't owe you anything, make your own way.