It seems they have a kind of dictatorship bent on exploiting their population to get ahead. Another example perhaps were the nazis who also made a lot of technical advances like building the first rockets. They presumably throw a lot of resources (manpower) at things, too, because they don't care about the individual.
The European variant of socialism is more like a class of leeches that simply wants to extract as much energy as possible from the unsuspecting population.
I live in Germany and I have worked for a big car company as a contractor. I think many big companies are very slow moving and excitement for new ideas is difficult in such an environment. Even the product I was working on was basically a huge expenditure to be able to comply with some government regulation (privacy laws regarding employee monitoring).
Yes, there are people here in Germany who are excited about technology and startups. They have to fight an uphill battle against all the regulation, though. And any successful company is regarded with suspicion. Also government jobs are very popular as they come with many perks. Here in Germany it might not yet be as bad as in other European countries, but the class of government employees is growing. A couple of years ago I read about Greece that ALL the elite students did expect to get comfortable government jobs. That would of course also suck away talent from innovative companies.
My other comment about the Gigafactories in Texas and Berlin was downvoted for some reason, but I really am curious. Which one will be finished first? The one in Texas was started at a later stage. I live nearby the Berlin one, so I hear a lot about the ridiculous regulation struggles they face.
Then again I read that some Tesla employee was awarded north of 100 million dollars because his colleagues supposedly called him racist things. So I worry about the future of the US, too,