Realistically I think the guy is centering on the experience of the poor only and using that as the quality of life index.

In another comment he talks about car insurance and food costs as if those are even major expenditures?

For a European moving to the US the only actual difference is health insurance, and even then, at low income you probably end up paying about the same or slightly more as European taxes, at a higher income you come out significantly ahead.

I also don't know a single person in the entirety of Europe/UK who doesn't own a car outside of the megacities like London, Paris etc, so it seems like a daft comparison given that car insurance rates are fairly similar in UK and US.