> median income, France and USA don't seem far apart 16K vs 19K

After taxes and healthcare, adjusting for instability, the median European worker is better off. The top-performing American, on the other hand, is far better off than their European counterpart*. This is the design. Immigration + better life for the ambitious at the cost of a worse life for the median. It’s a recipe for brain drain and it works, though we must be honest at what cost.

*non-aristocratic

That is extremely far off from what other sources report. For instance, it does not match what the OECD says [0]: median individual income in the US was $42k in 2019; in France, it was $28k.

It also does not match what the St. Louis Fed says [1], which says the US median individual income was $36k in 2019.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income#Median_equival...

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N

Moreover, a normal work week in France is 35 hours. Assuming Americans work 40 hours a week, the implied median hourly wage is just about the same.