As we all know, the media propaganda image in America is that our country is a land of freedom and opportunity where anyone can be what they want to be, live their dreams, be the best they can be, become rich and successful, and live the American dream of owning a home.  This idea is incessantly conveyed by our culture, media, education system, and political establishment.  It is a necessary illusion to keep everyone functioning in their place.  And we are selectively fed success stories of individuals who thrive here rather than of those who don’t.
 
However, despite this image, here's the big picture about how things work in America and how people live.  The reality is that in America, only a few people truly live the American dream.  Those at the top who control the flow of economic resources and production capital are the ones who get most of the resource flow even though they don't need it.  And it's not just with the CEO's.  The top sports players and top Hollywood stars in this country who get 20 million dollars per film or per season are easily getting extraordinary amounts of money that they don't even need.  That's how things have always worked, especially in a capitalist country.  Karl Marx’s prediction that capitalism would fail might have came true if a middle class hadn't been created in this country to act as a buffer between the upper and lower classes, stabilizing the system, giving the low class an incentive to move up higher so they don't overthrow the elite. (Some intellectual historians have even argued that colleges and universities were created to create a middle class. e.g. Zinn, Chomsky)
 
In reality, the majority of people in this country live in slavery to their jobs just so they can keep up with never-ending bills and make ends meet.  They never live the American dream.  And the myth of “individual freedom” for all in America is just that, a myth, perpetuated to appease and motivate the masses of people, making each person feel important.  Most people in America work at least 8 hours a day at a full time job, and what little time is left at the end of the day is spent at home with their families, making dinner, getting children ready for bed, and then going to bed to start the next day the same way again.  There isn't really enough time for people to develop themselves intellectually or spiritually.  

American “culture” is completely based on HYPE and CONSUMERISM along with EXCESS CONSUMPTION.  Life is all about what you can BUY next.  And that’s why mainstream Americans do not seem as evolved or enlightened as mainstream Europeans for example, to put it bluntly (no offense to anyone intended).  Europeans in general obviously have a lot more soul and intellect than average Americans, particularly among the young population.  
 
In reality, there are few redeeming qualities to living in America other than making money and consuming.  Besides that, the rest is mostly fake and artificial.  This is well known to many foreigners, immigrants and even some Americans. You might wonder why if so many immigrants in the US have such opinions, that they stay.  Well the explanation is sad and simple.  Humans have a propensity to get into a “comfort zone” even when they don’t like where they live, don’t fit into the culture, or become enlightened about it.  If you have a daily routine set up, as long as there are some benefits of convenience, it’s easier to do nothing and just maintain it, than to make drastic changes to your life which could entail starting your life over from scratch.  And of course, where one lives usually brings obligations into one’s life that are hard to break due to the aforementioned reasons.  In addition, the immigrants often have family members (e.g. their children, spouses, or parents) who are settled in the US that further tie them there.  So you see, the “if you don’t like it, then leave” mantra is much easier said than done.

 
In America, people judge their lives by their career status.  On the other hand, Europeans judge their lives by the richness and variety of experiences they’ve had, as well as their inner life.  (I tend to share the mentality of the latter of course.)  
 
 The fear of being poor in America is also unusually strong, contributing to the obsession of career and making money.  And perhaps because the consequences of being poor in the US are far worse than in Europe.

America may be a country founded on great ideals and principles about democracy and freedom.  But the way people actually live in America is quite different.  Most people spend most of their time in cars, houses, and corporate buildings.  They have no time or interest in cultivating their soul or intellect.  And the few who do cultivate their souls or intellect are seen as geeky and nonconformist by the majority of adherents to the system.
 
When our society constantly perpetuates excess consumption and material desires with hype, our general focus becomes on the outward rather than the inward.  People are judged based on what they have, which creates their status.  As a result, we lose touch with our inner selves, have no true self-confidence/self-esteem, and therefore have fragile egos dependent on outer things and material possessions.  It’s no wonder then that in general, I notice that people abroad have richer and refined inner lives than Americans.
 
In the US, most people see life only in terms of making money, buying things, and surface practicalities.  There is no spiritual or intellectual dimension in their lives, and no “inner life.”

When one has no inner life and totally depends on the outer, as most Americans do, then when things in the outer life go wrong or become stagnant, one becomes disrupted as well.  Such a person is vulnerable, a victim of circumstance with no inner foundation to rely on.  As a result, one is left to having to resort to feigning outward happiness, rather than have true inward happiness.  I’ve heard it said that there seems to be an inverse relationship between inner happiness and material assets.