Entitlement culture

The UK (and indeed, all of Europe) has a much worse entitlement culture than the US, although for the life of me I can't figure out why.  Is it pent up frustrations from the middle ages?  Or perhaps a competitive environment where politicians tried to 'outpromise' other countries?  Whatever the reason, every day there is a front-page article talking about why the government should, is, or will be gifting money to some obscure group, and how upset people are that the government isn't giving more.  A few of the results from the past week:

- A recent survey of 10 UK secondary schools (grades 7-12, approximately) found that 337 students said they had carried out some level of "personal care" of someone in their home "some of the time" over the previous month. Extrapolating from that, the survey concluded over 700,000 children in the UK are caring for their parents.  Children's Minister for England said it was "shocking" that child carers did not get the support they needed or the recognition they deserved."The Care Services minister (I didn't even realize there was such a position) then announced the government would make £400m available for carers' breaks over the next four years, and the

- I read a heart-rending article about a father who, after his daughter was diagnosed with cancer, successfully campaigned for students to receive "employment support allowance" (ie unemployment benefits) if illness forced them to suspend their courses. It seemed perfectly reasonable...until I found the issue hinged on the word 'suspend' -- since benefits are based on income, and a student loan is considered income, if the student quits school she is entitled to disability benefits, but if she only 'suspends' her studies then she still has access to the student loan, and therefore was denied additional benefits.  Suddenly this seemed quite silly.

- Students have been protesting increases to school fees for about a month.  Two weeks ago, about 2,000 (out of 50,000) protesters split from the march to surround the Conservative Party HQ, smashing windows and lighting fires. 58 people were arrested and 14 people hurt during the four-hour stand-off.  What could cause such chaos?  The UK government is proposing raising the tuition cap from £3,290 to £9,000 a year. That's still less than a public college in the States, and the government will pay the entire amount as an interest-free loan which would not have to be repaid until the student had graduated and was earning £21,000 per year.  (A graduate earning the median £31,323 per year would repay £77/month.)

- Workers on the London Underground have organised four strikes over the past two months, crippling public transportation, to protest cuts of up to 800 jobs, claiming the cuts would seriously impact safety.  Management notes the 800 jobs are for cashiers which have been replaced with automated ticket machines, and they aren't even firing anyone, just not replacing them.

But that still pales next to France, where labor unions have organized six nationwide strikes over the past two months, with between 1 and 3 million demonstrators.  This has cost that country nearly US $500 million per day; public transportation has been reduced, motorways have been blocked, refineries have been disrupted, leading to a national fuel shortage, and students have built barracades around 400 high schools. And what is the social injustice that has caused such an uproar?  The government has raised the retirement age from 60 to 62.