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Hey Mickey

And I hope people don't mistake my comments as "anti" wherever.

But I can give you examples... Lets take Italy.

My trip was non adult, business related ( textile related )

So I had meeting after meeting with artisan business owners who just couldn't grasp the idea of growth. To a man / woman they all had a philosophy whereby if they could pay for their house , car and wine .. they had no use for working harder or growing their businesses.

And we aren't talking about upper middle class housing .. or even middle class housing by US standards.

I met with the creative director for a very well known house who lived in what we would consider a shade above student housing.

I learned a great deal about how the government taxes income over certain thresholds and how it literally causes people to strive for the minimum.

It was honestly depressing.

Then I made the mistake of buying some very nice fabric. Because the price exceeded a certain number, I had to file a ton of paperwork right there in the store so the government could ensure it received the proper taxes. It was a lot of paperwork. I asked if this was normal or if this was due to me being a foreigner and they explained that this is SOP regardless of where you originate from.

The only place I didn't feel this deep sense of mediocracy was in Milan. And even they joke that they are the only peoples in Italy that actually know what a 40+ hour work week is.

The artistry of Italy was inspirational, the beauty of the country was wonderful ( although no better or worse than in the USA ), The food was much better.

But I found my trip deeply depressing. And story after story from the locals told me that the government there was deeply corrupt beyond anything we deal with here in the US.