All boats are being lifted people and their water isn't rising as fast/much as it is in the US. That's not a good thing and Jamie is right about it. Yes, Europeans live more simply and overall possess maybe a better lifestyle with lower stress, more vacation time, physically closer and spend more time with family/relatives, etc.. But eventually their economies will collapse as their industries are no longer able to compete with the US, India, China.
We have become so wealthy in the first world that there's hardly any difference between the lifestyle of upper-middle-class people and the very wealthy. (Basically they get to fly private while the rest of us suffer on commercial.) Instragram makes this incredibly clear. You see the homes, kitchens, vacations, etc. of people like Alec Baldwin and you realize wow, the finishes might be slightly fancier but in reality it's not fundamentally different -- not to any relevant degree -- and the 'latest greatest' trends and whatnot are being enjoyed by huge percentages of the population now, not just the ultra-wealthy.
Think about it... thirty years ago only David Geffin had instant access to a vast library of music in his home. Twenty years later anybody can afford to get a Spotify account and it's way better than what DG had. Private property, the Market and individual drive and ambition create more and more wealth and drive down the costs of everything making EVERYONE wealthier. Even with no increase in real wages, this process doubles everyone's wealth in the US about every 20 years. There were times in China when it was every six years!
Things have never been this good and they're still getting better. (Unless these insanely ignorant and foolish socialist youth take power and destroy everything their forebears have built for them.)