>>15304403America is a ridiculously high trust society outside of certain neighborhoods. Italy and France are lower trust societies than us and have meaty welfare states. Don’t listen to the media most Americans still greatly trust each other even if they larp as not.
However, I would describe parts of the south as low trust. Low trust societies are mostly caused by historic slave economies like Rome, Mexico, and by that logic southern black communities. No the smaller welfare state is primarily from Americans not wanting to pay more taxes but much more importantly a lot of Europeans leeching off US military protection and using the capital they would’ve used in military on welfare states. As per the nato alliance this causes the US to spend more on military to make up the difference.