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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

#151

Post by tokioyoyo »

7thpower wrote: post #124
ossobuco wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

This is a fact that most in the US refuse to confront. China has mastered making high quality goods at scale. It does not matter how they got there, the fact is they did, and there are some pretty staggering military implications that are not really being discussed.

If you look at most of the “Europoor! Americans have so much more money!” articles, you’ll notice two things coming out of them — most understate the importance of quality of life and avoiding rapid Chinese growth of the past decade despite its own problems. It’s like a weird “no, no, ignore everything around you, we are literally the best despite everything!”.

I genuinely don’t know how I feel about this. I love parts of America. Half of my family lives there. But also, I have no inclination to move. Although I could make about 30% more, I have no idea how it would improve my life other than just more money in the bank. Unless I wanted to start a company, then yeah, probably bigger market and lax laws is advantageous… but other than that, it would be a huge downgrade from life perspective.

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

#152

Post by tokioyoyo »

DataDaemon wrote: post #80

You are so lucky to be born in the USA: - Easy to do business - Great economy, high salaries, and funding - English native speaker, so you can speak with everyone and everyone can speak with you The EU is in a deep hole, with socialism and green communism next.

I swear, I’ve been hearing that since 2010. That and big Chinese collapse. It’s like the US just wants everyone else to fail just because they don’t share the same attitude towards life. It’s been almost 15 years. That’s a lot of time!

I’m mostly annoyed by the recent “Canada should just become an American state” talks, otherwise I would ignore such takes. Apologies for that.

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

#153

Post by jandrewrogers »

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.

The higher quality-of-life was likely true at one time but I think it is quite arguable now in much of Europe. There is a palpable sense of decline that weighs too heavily on everything. How "quality" is a life without meaningful optimism for the future? It is the quality-of-life of a pensioner waiting for the graveyard.

An underrated benefit of the markedly higher standard of living in the US is that people can choose to trade standard of living for quality of life if they wish. American culture seems to preference maxing standard of living but that is optional, and there are plenty of people that make other choices.

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

#154

Post by YetAnotherNick »

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.

Even within EU there is a clear correlation between economy and quality of life between countries. While yes more social policy improves quality of life, it can't compensate if the economy difference is too high.

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

#155

Post by TeaBrain »

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…

PPP is only useful for measuring regional purchasing power within a country. As a metric for comparing the relative strength of global economies it is irrelevant.

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

#156

Post by WalterBright »

tossandthrow wrote: post #88
WalterBright wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> endure unstable employment conditions It's also correspondingly easier to get another job. In Europe, making it hard to fire people means it becomes equivalently harder to get a job in the first place.

While it sounds great to add some zero-sum game to it, it is not entirely precise. > For all its economic power, the US has the largest income inequality in the G7. Had the job market been a zero-sum game like you propose, then the income inequality would not have been so dire in the US.

Why is it "dire"? Who is harmed by someone else having more money?

BTW, all attempts at income equality have ended in miserable failure, some of them with millions of dead people.

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

#157

Post by amrocha »

naming_the_user wrote: post #148
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.

This feels like a huge generalization to me. The US, UK, EU and realistically most developed countries I would say have fairly similar quality of life within margin of error. I've travelled a fair amount and everywhere is basically the same. For an individual it's really going to come down to lifestyle and what you prefer. Some people like urban living and walkability, if that's you then you probably want Japan or ol…

[flagged]

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

#158

Post by anon291 »

EZ-E wrote: post #29
shiroiushi wrote: post #5

The US is a great place to make a lot of money if you're lucky and successful, but a terrible place to retire.

Terrible place to be poor more like. Being poor is not enviable in any country, but you're better supported in some countries compared to others. Obviously this comes at a cost for the economy as a whole. At some point you need to think about what kind of society you want to live in.

I honestly think this idea just needs to die. So many people I know don't even bothering applying for welfare because they think they won't get it.

In reality, most US states are insanely generous.

I recall once my mom had to help a friend's dad who was uninsured and dying of prostate cancer simply apply for benefits. He didn't think the state would pay for it and had just resigned himself to death. My goodness, how silly... Instead, he applied and it was paid for.

I myself have fallen into this trap. When I was laid off, I was going to pay COBRA, instead of just biting the bullet and applying for medicaid. There's almost always a free government provided option if you need it. Literally people don't even bother.

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

#159

Post by amrocha »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #153
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.

The higher quality-of-life was likely true at one time but I think it is quite arguable now in much of Europe. There is a palpable sense of decline that weighs too heavily on everything. How "quality" is a life without meaningful optimism for the future? It is the quality-of-life of a pensioner waiting for the graveyard. An underrated benefit of the markedly higher standard of living in the US is that people can choo…

How is the “standard of living” in the US in any way higher than europe?

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

#160

Post by rootusrootus »

JohnFen wrote: post #91
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.

As a US citizen, I look with envy on the quality of life in many EU countries.

I love living in the US and visiting the EU. For me, that seems to be the very best arrangement. Early on, I was infatuated with the perceived better quality of life in the EU, but I see now that I could not easily create something comparable to what I enjoy in the US unless I was an elite member of EU society. My guess is that this is true for the majority of US residents on HN.
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