[John Lyon]

"Propaganda like in the golden days of the U.S.S.R....;-)"

Not quite - Limbaugh and Hannity (and their liberal equivalents) don't work for the government.

As to Europe, we don't have government-owned airplane manufacturers competing in the free market. More patents issued here than anywhere in the world, not because we're smarter, but we have the spirit of working hard and being a relative meritocracy -- free to become what you want and are capable of. We haven't been dumbed down with things like 4+ weeks of vacation, restrictions on foreign companies entering our markets, etc. In other words, you get rewarded here for brain power and hard work more than anywhere in the world.