Yes, I think you are right. There are a lot of factors involved. Hard to say that US success is due to specific things. California is a US state that has higher social support and higher taxes but does well economically. It is too simplistic to say the philosophy of the country is a certain way therefore success.
California has aspects of it that do well economically, overall its situation is quite dismal. It boasts the COLA adjusted highest poverty rate in the country. Worse than Mississippi, West Virginia or Alabama.
From my experience as someone having moved to California from Canada, it seems there is quite a large homeless population which actively chooses to be in California as opposed to other places owing to its extremely mild climate.
Since I moved to San Jose, it's only rained a handful of times, and this place's harsh colds of winter have reached such dreadful temperatures as I'd witness on a mild fall day in my former country of residence.
That certainly can't help those numbers, even if I do think the absurd costs of living are quite bad, depressing the QOL for everyone outside of the engineer class here.
Homeless populations are small silver of people measured in thousands, compared the to millions in poverty in california.
And of those homeless, a fraction of them create the 'bad experience' chronic homeless with drug or mental problems that make most people dislike the homeless.
