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The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

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Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#551

Post by yourusername »

anonzzzies wrote: post #441
selectodude wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is an export-based economy, so that's great that people in the EU can drink cheaper beer and pay less in rent, but if they want to buy imports, they're absolutely poorer.

Even though I can afford it, I mostly do not need new imported stuff and second hand you can get a lot of things (mostly everything besides Apple stuff) at bottom prices. Many people unfortunately dump stuff after new shiny comes out and some even give them to me for free. My iPhone was a gift from a friend who bought the latest. It’ll go for many years still. My nreal (xreal) now was a gift because another friend di…

If the new stuff gets more expensive second hand stuff that has some useful life left will become more expensive. If a new washing machine is €5000 a second hand washing machine with a year of useful life left will be €500 instead of €50. These things are not unrelated. If iPhones cost multiple monthly salaries people will substitute with cheaper options and the supply of high quality second hand phones will dry up.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#553

Post by panick21_ »

The US would be a spectacularly successful country for its most of the population if its land use/transportation policies were not such total shitshow.

A lot this growth just doesn't reflect in most people quality of live, mostly because of health care and land use.

Tons of people are richer, but a lot of the extra consumption goes to health care and cars (suburban living).

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#554

Post by waffleiron »

ffhhttt wrote: post #521
lionkor wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> more diverse than every single European country by what metric?

Are you ready doubting whether the US as whole are more diverse than any single European country?

Yes, that's a very US centric view. There are European countries, such as France and the Netherlands that have overseas territories and generally are quite diverse. Or Belgium with three official languages, where you can walk 10 km and suddenly most people speak another language.

The US as a whole might be more diverse than a single EU country, but it will depend a lot on your metric for diversity.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#555

Post by icelight »

Tade0 wrote: post #442
lnsru wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a myth at German universities, that programming is too practical. So basically you brew there computer scientists with couple internships where they see how programming works.

> There is a myth at German universities, that programming is too practical. Am I understanding this correctly that students don't get programming assignments?

I'm not sure which university they are talking about, but both the universities I went to had both smaller (like weekly) programming assignments and large projects.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#556

Post by blitzar »

euroderf wrote: post #495
dougmwne wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I am aware. And if you let the aristocracy go on for too long eventually they claim divine right. It is possible that some European countries have over corrected though.

> And if you let the aristocracy go on for too long eventually they claim divine right. Well, the US has become a bastion of neo-feudalism, so there's that.

Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#558

Post by pzo »

ffhhttt wrote: post #521
lionkor wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> more diverse than every single European country by what metric?

Are you ready doubting whether the US as whole are more diverse than any single European country?

What's the point of comparing all US states to single European country? The same it doesn't make sense to compare all EU countries to single US state.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#559

Post by 76SlashDolphin »

ffhhttt wrote: post #540
imtringued wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>which coincidentally saw some of the highest growths in the region during the last two decades. That isn't some coincidence. The biggest beneficiary of the Eurozone relies on the suffering of its less successful members and this is ultimately reflected by the fact that poorer countries in the Eurozone don't catch up with the rest of the EU and in fact the opposite happens. Meanwhile for EU countries outside the Euro…

I think it’s more about western vs eastern Europe. EE countries which adopted the Euro did quite good as well. For instance growth in Poland lagged significantly behind Estonia or Lithuania in the last 10 years or so.

On the other hand, Bulgaria used to be significantly more developed than Romania back in the early 90s, yet has been significantly surpassed in 2023. Granted, Bulgaria isn't using the euro yet but the BGN has been pegged to the euro since the late 90s so for most intents and purposes it is using the euro.

IMO this is a better comparison than with Poland and the Baltics since Poland is a massive country and has 5x the population so there are a lot more factors at play.

Re: The US economy and the EU were the same size in 2008, the US is now nearly 2X

#560

Post by janalsncm »

Alupis wrote: post #95
tivert wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A rising tide obviously raises all ships, including the nation's poorest. To throw a wrench in that tired metaphor: a rising tide may raise all ships, but a fat lot of good that does to the poor, if it's only the well-of that can afford to buy a boat.

You're missing the point. Even the poor do better when there's more jobs available, more job mobility, more housing, more stores, etc. All things that are created by wealthy companies and individuals. Everyone, including our poorest, benefit from a growing economy. We just have to examine our average poverty-level person, and compare them to poverty-level persons of other nations to understand this point.

How about dividends and stock buybacks? How do those help the poor? If trickle down economics (read: giving money to rich people in hopes that they don’t just hoard it) actually led to more jobs, more housing, and better mobility instead of the opposite, you wouldn’t have to pay off economists for them to advocate for it.
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