Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

ft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 1001 posts

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#101

Post by ossobuco »

thomassmith65 wrote: post #22

That's an excellent summary of the economic state of the world. This excerpt is depressing... The challenge for other advanced economies is not just replicating America’s dynamism. It is to do so while retaining their cherished social safeguards. For all its economic power, the US has the largest income inequality in the G7, coupled with the lowest life expectancy and the highest housing costs, according to the OECD.…

> cheap Chinese plastic junk will continue to eat the world

That's a thing of the past. Check the consumer electronics produced today in China. Mobile devices, EVs, infrastructure, newer products are simply incredible, and I'd argue ahead of western technology on many fronts. Cheap plastic stuff now gets produced in other less developed countries.

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#102

Post by daedrdev »

dymk wrote: post #12
WalterBright wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My understanding is US healthcare is actually has the best outcomes, however Americans are sicker and those without insurance are obviously worse off.

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#103

Post by matheusmoreira »

dlcarrier wrote: post #65
rich_sasha wrote: post #48

One thing this article doesn't touch on is the soaring government debt, which is now really quite big: 120%, and IIRC if you add municipal debt, it's more like 140%. That is high. It also seems like much of the recent growth has been fueled by this debt. It's unclear how this is going to unwind. America can afford, apparently, to run their deficit hot, but not forever and without limit. So at some point they have to…

My theory is that other countries' trade is so closely tied to the US Dollar that when the Federal Reserve prints money it's not just diluting the US Dollar but all currencies. The US is effectively taxing the world, to pay for its own spending. As evidence that the US Dollar plays a large enough role for this to be the case, half of the banks bailed out in the TARP program were foreign to the US ( https://www.europe…

> My theory is that other countries' trade is so closely tied to the US Dollar that when the Federal Reserve prints money it's not just diluting the US Dollar but all currencies. The US is effectively taxing the world, to pay for its own spending.

Yes.

The BRICs economic group has been trying to launch their own currency for a while now. This is one of the reasons for it. Trump has threatened to impose 100% tax on them and on anyone else who ever tries.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-threatens-100-...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-02/south-afr...

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#104

Post by gchamonlive »

loxodrome wrote: post #98
spiderfarmer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is number one in quality of life and that’s all that matters to me. If we work just hard enough to maintain and maybe even improve it, other countries can do their pissing contest.

I’m an American living in France for the past two years and cannot wait to move back to the USA. The taxes are so extreme and salaries so low that no one can even invest in the stock market. If I stay here, I will be able to leave virtually nothing to my kids when I die. The EU can take its 5 weeks of vacation and go fuck itself.

[flagged]

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#105

Post by sho_hn »

loxodrome wrote: post #98
spiderfarmer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is number one in quality of life and that’s all that matters to me. If we work just hard enough to maintain and maybe even improve it, other countries can do their pissing contest.

I’m an American living in France for the past two years and cannot wait to move back to the USA. The taxes are so extreme and salaries so low that no one can even invest in the stock market. If I stay here, I will be able to leave virtually nothing to my kids when I die. The EU can take its 5 weeks of vacation and go fuck itself.

On the other hand, it's absolutely fantastic to have a young daughter and have her virtually not impact our finances at all for many years, between clothes/toy gifts from friends, gov subsidy, free healthcare, free education and low levels of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses on after-school activities, plus knowing I won't burden her financially either as I happily live out my retirement on a decent pension.

I may not leave her a lot of inherited wealth, but she may also not really need any to have options.

(That said, my personal frame of reference for why this is better and wonderfully stress-free is years lived in South Korea--that ultra-low fertility rate has reasons--, not so much the US.)

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#106

Post by foolfoolz »

loxodrome wrote: post #98
spiderfarmer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is number one in quality of life and that’s all that matters to me. If we work just hard enough to maintain and maybe even improve it, other countries can do their pissing contest.

I’m an American living in France for the past two years and cannot wait to move back to the USA. The taxes are so extreme and salaries so low that no one can even invest in the stock market. If I stay here, I will be able to leave virtually nothing to my kids when I die. The EU can take its 5 weeks of vacation and go fuck itself.

the eu quality of life has a higher minimum but a far lower median

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#107

Post by asdasdsddd »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #31
roenxi wrote: post #14

This 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…

The EU is number one in quality of life and that’s all that matters to me. If we work just hard enough to maintain and maybe even improve it, other countries can do their pissing contest.

That's what the chinese thought in the 18th century :).

A fun quote for the europeans here:

"Our land is so wealthy and prosperous that we possess all things. Therefore, there is no need to exchange the produce of foreign barbarians for our own." - The emperor at the height of Qing China

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#108

Post by wslh »

My two cents: the U.S. owes much of its economic strength to its robust legal framework. It provides a system where complex business disputes can be handled and enforced effectively, creating trust and predictability for investors and entrepreneurs. This institutional strength is often overlooked but is critical for fostering innovation and long-term economic growth. Incidentally, recent Nobel laureates in economic sciences have focused on the role of institutions in shaping economic outcomes, underscoring how pivotal they are to success.

Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

#110

Post by monetus »

ginko wrote: post #109

The headline is about America's rivals but then talks mainly about EU and other G7 economies. Do Americans consider Europeans their rivals? Occasional competitors sure, but rivals?

Rival in the same way two American football teams are rivals maybe.
Post reply on HN