It's American Excess you're fed up with. Canadians call the United States the Excited States. Note this definition of a Canadian: an American with healthcare and no gun. The Excited States suffers from an excess size problem. Here's what's too big: the cars, the people, the houses, the commuting times and distances, the amount of working hours/year (2000+ vs 1400 in Germany), the (justifiable) fear of downward mobility, the expense of everything that makes life liveable: education, housing, healthcare. But geographic arbitrage is an opportunity that allows you to leave. 8 million Americans live abroad.

BTW, Haaretz would be a big improvement over the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli version of Fox News in print.

BTW 2.0: Lots of German, Swiss and French insurance stocks are absurdly cheap, yield 4-6% and trade below book value.