"Terrorized" is too strong a word, but American society is filled with anxiety and fear - fear of homelessness and failure, fear of the terrorists, fear of all those Mexicans crossing the border. Maybe you've been away too long, but it's one of our foundational principles of social organization.
[WS:] But that applies only to the US. All other developed countries, especially EU, have a much better social safety network - as evidenced inter alia by their level of social spending (25 - 30% of the GDP in EU, half that in the US). Mind that insecurity is not the function of income per se, but of the social support networks and institutions. In x-socialist countries the income level was rather low in comparison to the US, but there was almost no sense of fear thanks to extensive social safety networks. Everyone living in that part of the world can attest to that.
Quite frankly, all that talk - on this site and elsewhere - about "capitalism" without taking into account social institution, organization, and networks is a bunch of hot air, generalities, and unproductive meaningless kvetching that does not lead anywhere. One really needs to look into specifics - the material infrastructure, specific organization of economy and society, social networks, expectations, values, and types of public institutions to understand the concept of social safety or lack thereof and the fear it may or may not produce.
Wojtek