Golly, the great Worker's Paradise of Europe, with free health care and high taxes (which everyone happily pays for their healthcare and social programs) maybe isn't so good after all?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100929/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_austerity_protests

LC,
You are so bent on taking a shot at health care that you fail to understand the reasons for austerity. The reasons are global. What is the US doing to cutback on spending? Take a look at the jobless in the US compared to the jobless, country-by-country, in Europe. In Europe there is a safety net for the jobless. What safety net does the USA have once the unemployment benefits expire?
Do they get a free tent?

My point is, if it's all SO GREAT, why are they rioting?

There is no direct answer to your question. We don't improve anything -- socially, culturally, educationally, politically -- by being satisfied. Since the birth of civilisation, humans have destroyed and razed settlements to the ground only to rebuild on top of the rubble. They do this literally and metaphorically. We seem incapable of making improvements without knocking what already exists. It seems that humans are born with an inbuilt complacency.

Amen.

Oh. I thought the riots were over not wanting to have government benefits cut.

So it is. Without the cuts, complacency sets in. You have to give people a reason to fight if you want to bring about change. The government will stand firm and say the country can't afford it. It's up to the workforce to reduce the number of days off, increase productivity and prove that the country can afford it. That's the way it works.