Why is Tor safer than a proxy?

In Tor, the user (you) chooses a random path through several nodes for its data. The first node in the path knows your IP address, but not what you send or where. The last node ("exit node") knows the target server address and sees the data (unless SSL is used, of course), but not your IP address. Every node in the path knows only the addresses of the previous and the next nodes in the path.

If a government is intent on unraveling the privacy of Tor, then its best chance is to setup and operate a lot of nodes (which, of course, will not say "provided by your friendly government"). If your computer randomly chooses a path which begins by a government-controlled node and ends with another government-controlled node, then both nodes can correlate their data pretty easily and reveal both your IP and the target server (and sent data, if no SSL). Correlation is simple because while encryption hides the contents of data, it does not hide the length. If node A sees a 4138-byte request entering the Tor network from your IP, and node B sees a 4138-byte request within the next second exiting the Tor network and destined to server www.example.com, then node A and node B, by collating their data, will infer that your IP was involved with a communication to www.example.com.

It can easily be proven that if the hostile party does not eavesdrop on or hijack both the entry and exit nodes, then your privacy is maintained. But if they do, then privacy evaporates like a morning mist under the midday Sun.

1. Nope, the exit node can only decrypt the message and make the request, but he is not aware of where the original host is located, the only node that knows where the person is located is the second node. This is due to the layered encryption Tor uses. Every node only knows the next and previous hop, but not the whole path.
2. Nope because of 1
3. Nope because of 1

How Tor works is described in one of the blog posts on this very website:

http://security.blogoverflow.com/2012/04/tor-exploiting-the-weakest-link/

I would like to point you to this answer here on that describes in simple terms how Tor works.

The exit node has no idea where the data originates from, this is the entire point of Tor. The key to Tor is the multiple layers of encryption the data goes through as it travels through the Tor network.

Using a proxy on the other hand, involves a direct connection between your machine and the proxy server. Compromising a proxy can pretty quickly reveal who is connected to it.