As an American living in Europe, I think there are things to be learned on both sides. I completely agree with things like health care, or things to protect people to some degree if they lose their jobs. What doesn't work in "Europe" (please not, however, that there are different systems within Europe) are some of the rigid labor laws, and the high barrier to entry for people wishing to create new companies.

... a little bit later ...

I wrote something about it myself, as it's a topic that's quite important to me:

http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/12/13/startups-and-work-euro...