> I would think that for people engaging in an inherently risky endeavor such as entrepreneurship, the most important goal would be to hedge against failure.
The thing is, social safety nets aren't especially relevant to that kind of risk. Those of us with the luxury of education aren't going to end up starving on the streets if our startups fail, we'll just go get jobs. The people who really need social safety nets aren't in a position to start startups.
So the more tangible risk is how others in your profession will perceive failure. This is an area where America shines.
> lack of consistent healthcare, lack of social safety net and much lower quality of life (vicious judicial systems, abnormal incarceration rates, high crime rates, militarized police, draconian drug laws, etc.)
Those are all serious issues, but you're misunderstanding them if you think they apply to typical startup founders.
America is very unequal. Those problems persist precisely because the relatively wealthy can easily stay insulated from them. And any educated European coming here to start a technology company falls comfortably into that class. He or she would be living in one of the nice cities, surrounded by people with similar values and education, enjoying quality-of-life metrics that are significantly higher than the broader American averages.