That group of "mostly Europeans" should boycott the refuse that the US sends over instead of ingesting it and then complaining about the taste...

I agree that the US is like an overbearing older brother, but I also think that the most thought-provoking idea presented in this thread to date has been Wolf's description of the US as the world's debit/ATM card. I wholeheartedly agree with the thought that if the US stopped divvying out aid to whomever, that those countries would step off their high horses in a hurry. (I also think that they would seek other sources for income, and fall into the same post-communist trap that has ensnared mob-controlled Russia, which sinks further each day into lawlessness.)

As for the US being such a "high-and-mighty" place, I don't see nearly the number of people yearning to somehow leave their country and get into Russia (similar in population) or any other country for that matter (except those of us on this board who yearn to go to Spain and die old and full of paella) . Why? You tell me...there must be something right happening here...things must have changed from the 19th and 20th centuries. I seem to remember "mostly Europeans" wanted nothing more than to come here then. :p