Live data from Hacker News

Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals

ft.com

181–190 of 1001 posts

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

#181
post #165
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 matters on an individual level, but not at all on a national level. GDP at market exchange rates is what actually matters in terms of what a country can accomplish on the world stage. And even on an individual level, PPP struggles with accuracy, because things are only ever roughly equivalent. There's a reason why so many individual people are trying to move from China and India to the US and EU, despite all the…

Wrong. People move from China to India despite the higher prices in America precisely because the increase in wages is more than enough to offset the higher prices.

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

#182
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 EU could be a powerful neutral third block, focused on providing the best for its citizens, but for that they would have to keep up economically. The EU is currently a massive laggard, worse than China in a lot of metrics, yet having dalliances with some levels of Chinese authoritarianism. Not to mention the current unsustainable state of its welfare state.

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

#183
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…

Europe is willingly self sabotaging their industry and energy production, in the name of some completely irrational environmentalist ideology that states that saving the planet is achieved by making Europe poorer while allowing China, India and a few others to pollute without any restrictions.

So yeah, we are getting poorer by the day and on the brink of a major economic crisis. Just look at what is happening in Germany.

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

#184
post #17

I'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 ev…

> How do I reconcile this? I'm curious why you care that some people have more money than you do? If you want mo' moolah: 1. upgrade your job skills 2. minimize spending (like get a roommate, eschew restaurant food, buy a used car) 3. invest the money you save If you really want to make big money: 1. start your own business

> If you really want to make big money: 1. start your own business

I'm pretty sure that in my case that would be a fast way to lose a lot of money, but YYMV, I guess.

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

#185

Thomas Sowell says that equality of opportunity leads to inequality of outcome. And this is the main difference between America and the rest of the world. The articles cites innovation-growth v cost-cutting as sources of increased productivity, and this parallels this dichotomy. People interested in equality of outcome and a level playing field have to compete on cost. There's a social stigma against sticking out and…

>This, combined with America's relative freedom from prejudice, is an unstoppable juggernaut. It is absolutely insane how easy it is in the United States to be handed money with limited liability to go and do whatever you want with it. This is a true blessing, and we see it not just in venture capital, but in the plethora of small businesses, as well as the plethora of credit (for better or worse). I was with you unt…

As the child of non-white immigrants to this country... I simply disagree. We faced more discrimination in the country my parents left than we did here. My father was unable to be employed due to his skin color and social status in his native country, and became successful mid-level exec here in America, was given a mortgage, etc.

Capital is available for people here without reference to social standing.

Is it perfect? Of course not. I literally said that.

However, if you want capital and aren't whatever platonic ideal your country has decided you ought to be to access that, America is literally your best bet.

> That translates to how the last half of that paragraph doesn't apply to a significant amount of American's who struggle to access the resources they need to survive let alone innovate and thrive..

I'm not going to claim every american is able to thrive, because obviously that's not the case. But even the poor American is able to access credit, which is what my entire post was about. You are changing the goal posts a lot.

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

#186

> Globally, the top R&D spenders are increasingly concentrated in software and computer services I always find these sorts of statements strange because most software is not intended to be software but rather something else. For example, Adobe's suite should be classified under 'art supplies' or 'video production'. While true that it's software, in my mind, it's like classifying a car builder as a metal fabricator. T…

> Adobe's suite should be classified under 'art supplies' or 'video production'... Under this taxonomy, I think things would seem much more diverse. Will someone who has shopped at Blick for 20 years be able to develop a Photoshop plugin? It would be a stretch.

It's clearly not just software etiher though

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

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

What you read online can definitely sway your opinion, especially if you’ve never traveled to or lived in that country for an extended period of time. It can give you a misleading perspective.

I’ve lived in both EU and US, and EU definitely has the better quality of life for the average person. I 100% agree.

However if you are at all an ambitious youngster with huge dreams, the EU is where dreams go to die lol. EU living is what i’d call “coasting in life”. It’s a safe, sheltered life, the government is very functional and “takes care” of you which i’m sure is comforting for many. It’s not for everyone though.

In other words, I would recommend the typical person moves to the EU if they have the opportunity. Their quality of life would improve and they would be happier. For anyone that’s very ambitious or very talented at something, your efforts will pay off 10x in the US, and you’ll have a better quality of life than your EU counterparts.

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

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

American wages are quite a bit higher than European on average: https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php?utm_source=cha...

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

#189
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…

“Find some way to present the data so the bigger number is actually worse”

PPP is cope.

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

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

Are you saying that for people making median level of income, the US is a horrible place to live compared to the rest of the world?

As someone who was able to experience both perspectives (immigrated to the US and became a citizen) I cannot agree at all with this statement.

Post reply on HN