Because people have been liberated from the quagmire of handicrafts
Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
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Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#12The US is a great place to make a lot of money if you're lucky and successful, but a terrible place to retire.
If you save & invest for retirement, you'll be fine.
And have no major health issues/accidents, and be quite lucky, and start with a lot of money in the first place, and be born in the right place in the country.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#13Make no mistake, the US is a fantastic business. It makes a lot of money, and some people get fantastically rich while others toil for life and hover at the poverty line.
With a vastly higher percentage of its citizens in jail than any other developed country, much higher crime and violence than developed countries and many other very bad indicators it is, however, not a good country. It does not provide for or look after its citizens in the ways other developed countries do, and does not appear to be a healthy society.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#14This is an interesting take, because it contrasts with GDP PPP [0] which is suggesting that America is in fact being overtaken by its rivals although it has managed to outpace the EU. China is claiming to already be ahead and India is well on track to gain absolute economic ascendancy relative to the US. And I expect that Asia is going to start developing some serious military muscle on the back of that because they have access to the history books and have a pretty good view into how Western leadership thinks.
If the US is benchmarked against Europe then all is well. The problem is that Europe is now a distant 3rd in terms of economic power - it can't face up to China. Arguably, if we put China in its own category and India into "Asia" then the EU might be pushing towards 4th. Everyone is still ahead of Africa I suppose.
[0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-gdp-wb?tab=chart...
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#15> the improvement was largely down to reconstruction efforts partly funded by the US via the Marshall Plan Most of the improvement was in Germany, which received far less MP money than Britain and France. Postwar prosperity correlates with the level of free markets. Germany embraced free markets up until 1970, Britain and France did not.
They served as bases to spread the American culture through music and cinema and later with the industry through the coal and steel community, to create a single and unified market The US did not want to create competition, but to break monopolies and to create a unified market for its industrial complex The remnants of that goal are visible today with Big Tech
That manchester capitalism with different decorations rhetoric does not hold up to scrutiny. In particular when you hold it against current examples of economic colonialism like the chines lend & own campaign in Africa .
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#16Make no mistake, the US is a fantastic business. It makes a lot of money, and some people get fantastically rich while others toil for life and hover at the poverty line. With a vastly higher percentage of its citizens in jail than any other developed country, much higher crime and violence than developed countries and many other very bad indicators it is, however, not a good country. It does not provide for or look…
There's 365 million Americans vs. Europeans countries none have more then about 85 million.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#17I'm never able to get to the "so what?" with these. Productivity growth sounds nice, but then it mentions that there's more inequality, higher cost of living, and more workers struggle in the US than other developed countries. How do I reconcile this?
They make a point that eventually the other countries' economies would shrink and won't be able to afford those benefits, but also the US doesn't have those benefits even now.
Anyone can elucidate me?
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#18> the improvement was largely down to reconstruction efforts partly funded by the US via the Marshall Plan Most of the improvement was in Germany, which received far less MP money than Britain and France. Postwar prosperity correlates with the level of free markets. Germany embraced free markets up until 1970, Britain and France did not.
They served as bases to spread the American culture through music and cinema and later with the industry through the coal and steel community, to create a single and unified market The US did not want to create competition, but to break monopolies and to create a unified market for its industrial complex The remnants of that goal are visible today with Big Tech
My dad was part of the occupation of postwar Germany.
The bases were there to protect Germany against the Soviets.
I remember once on the autobahn around 1970, and a fighter came by hedgehopping at high speed. He was a few feet off the ground, and looked like just under Mach 1. The citizens didn't particularly like the noise and disruption, but they understood the need for the Air Force to train hard.
I also remember touring East Berlin (yes, East Berlin) in 1969. Going through Checkpoint Charlie and seeing the Wall is plenty convincing of the need for the US military being there.
France, on the other hand, didn't much care for the US military bases and wound up pushing them out.
BTW, the US Military was pretty thorough in making sure US personnel and military families behaved like guests in Germany, as they were invited guests. Ever since the Berlin Airlift, the US was friends with Germany.
The Americanization of Germany came later. I recall visiting a shopping mall in Germany in the 2000's, and you could not tell you were in Germany rather than in any suburb in America. Shopping malls did not exist there in 1970.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#19The US is a great place to make a lot of money if you're lucky and successful, but a terrible place to retire.
How so? Healthcare? FIRE seems much more attainable in the US
Housing and healthcare costs are insane. When you're older, you need a lot more healthcare (and you won't have that nice insurance plan you had at your big company job when you were working), and housing keeps getting more expensive, which is a problem if you're on a fixed income. You could move to much cheaper locales (i.e. rural areas), but those are "healthcare deserts" where there's no competent doctors left and hospitals are all closing left and right, plus when you're infirm how exactly do you drive yourself? Living in a walkable city (or any city really) is much more doable when you're older for these practical reasons (less need to drive, healthcare providers close by), but then you can't afford the housing there.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#20This has been the case for decades now.
The US economy is much more dynamic than Europe's and the US government is actually more willing to intervene (and can afford it because of US dollar).
In Europe it is austerity and general less support for economy-boosting policies.