What makes this country hell is not the living standards which, albeit lower than those in Western Europe, are still incomparably higher than those in the developing world - but the tremendous amount of waste - from piles of junk mail, to wasted energy, time, and resources, to wasted opportunities. Indeed, this country has the resources to make this world a better place to live, but instead its main exports are war, pollution and intellectual putrefaction.
Nobody holds it against a handicapped person when he runs poorly in a race, but it is utterly disappointing when an Olympic champion barely out-runs a man in a wheel chair.
Wojtek