When I read about Cassandra on the debating forum of Avanza Bank I get the feeling that you may to some degree be right when it comes to level of sophistication in Sweden and the US.
The average American "investor" is totally in the dark concerning the stock market. Sophisticated investors are risk takers and risk evaluators. The average guy buys 10 shares of Apple at $600 and watches it drop to $500 and wonders what to do next.