America has extremes which are pretty much unacceptable in a European context. And America has thrown away things which Europeans consider important to the long term.

And Europeans tend to want to keep what they have - what you see as social disorder (and which it is, at times) most people here see as standing up for their rights - and yes, they have a broader definition of 'rights' than being hired and fired as a privilege of participating in a free market where the rich are certainly getting richer, and the poor are to blame.

There are a number of ways of looking at the future, of course - personally, I prefer a place already living many of the suggestions Americans are still dimly aware of as a response to declining liquid fossil fuels. European societies existed long before fossil fuels, and they are likely to exist afterwards. The same is much harder to seriously suggest about the U.S.A.

Local agriculture, for example, is a social question, not a technological one. Technology is only a part of peak oil, though the one Americans tend to focus on it almost obsessively, either pro or con. How much farmland did the last couple of decades of suburban development cost the U.S.? And in a decade or two, do you think anyone will find that a good bargain - giving up farm fields for the hour commute to pay for the mortgage?

Europe has made different long term choices - we will see how they play out.