The biggest issue in the Anglosphere is the privatization of natural monopolies.
We also have the issue of maximum benefit pensions, just like Europe, except we are delayed by a few decades.
Europe did not stimulate the economy after the 2008 financial collapse, opting for austerity instead. The average income in Europe has been lower than that of the United States ever since.
The timing of the austerity crisis was particularly poor since Europes average age has increased significantly so the working age population cannot support their senior citizens with the same tax rates the baby boomers enjoyed.
If that was not enough, Europe has adopted a stance of regulating technology far more than other major markets, which has hampered productivity growth.
So higher expenditures, lower productivity, which translates to lower salaries on top of the reduced salaries because of austerity. It is not a pretty picture.
The USA starts to look pretty good until you see the cost of housing, which is simply the natural market response of stagnating supply against ever growing demand. You see privatization of natural monopolies which hampers our productivity and increases our base rate of inflation, and we have our own issues to deal with. But at least our productivity kept growing in the 2010s, while Europe doesn’t have to deal with as many private natural monopolies as we do.
So then we approach what would utopia look like?
Imagine a high tech economy with high productivity leading to high salaries. Natural monopolies are publicly owned. The rest of the economy is private. Reasonable regulation without over regulation. The government practices counter cyclical financial and monetary policy. Retirement is dependent on ever growing productivity, not an ever growing population.
Welcome to Singapore?