US is fundamentally different from most other countries. In most countries, govt designs (or tries to design) laws and systems for the public good. Not so in the US.
I think this is overly simplistic. There's plenty of corruption in many European countries as well, it's just in a different form.
It seems also deeply cultural. What would count as greedy and offputting behavior here, is seen as laudable and ambitious in the US. People are supposed to be pushing for more and more money and they are considered successful to the extent they can make it.
This results in good and bad things alike. Most of the other parts of the world suffer from some form of the tall poppy syndrome: if you want to be socially accepted, you aren't supposed to be deviating too much from those around you. Meaning that entrepreneurship is much smaller and also that many things are just not considered to be for sale in good taste (private prisons, expensive private schools, expensive hospitals).
Not denying corruption doesn't exist in other countries, including EU.
However, if you look at it closely from a 3rd person perspective, you'll see that the laws in US are designed to snatch rights away from citizens vs laws in most other countries are designed to give rights to its citizens.
One may ask where it comes from? It seems comes from a place of profit for a lobby.
No payment for student athletes? NCAA and others suck in value of labor of young kids by denying right to earn money for their labor
No universal healthcare or clean competition in healthcare? Private insurance and healthcare institutions suck in value of humans by denying right to get basic healthcare as a service.
No cheap education? Lenders racketing on student's worth by denying students access to low cost capitalistic education.
No rights for private prisoners? Immigrants? Civil forfeiture? Every thing is designed as a system to take away rights for the benefit of a few.
The US govt and private industry are a nexus of money making for large lobbying groups.
This won't fly in another non-corrupt democracy, let alone in EU.
> It seems also deeply cultural. What would count as greedy and offputting behavior here, is seen as laudable and ambitious in the US
Yep, there's another way of looking at the fundamental difference. The govt exists to make money for a few at the expense of others.
But it isn't. Why? Because people (rich people included) see society as something to be shared. Not something to be taken from others by hook or crook.
US used to be more sharing, like under FDR. But it is more and more like flawed democracies.