Not a straw man. Personal experience. I’ve spent most of my life in Europe, in several different countries. And spent more than a decade in the US.

I can comfortably say that most Europeans, especially those in the middle and on the lower end of the income scale live vastly more comfortable lives than most Americans with similar incomes without having to worry about medical bankruptcy and crushing student debt. Not to mention having the time off to travel and parental leave to form families without all the financial stress Americans experience.