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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

#271
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 a measure of how easy it is to afford home servants (I.e. the amount of income inequality near the low end).

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's 365 million Americans vs. Europeans countries none have more then about 85 million.

No US state has more than 40 million people...

State is not a country and European countries are not states...their federal governments handle their healthcare and etc.

That's my point the US's federal government would be handling free healthcare directly or indirectly thru the states. As well the amount of money Americans would have in their pockets would be a lot less and that's not after over 300 years are what we are use to. Recent election shows the majority does not want change in many regards.

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

#273
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only one provoking a war in Europe is Putin. And the Germans destroyed their energy sector themselves.

Are you under the illusion that nuclear would have helped, or are you complaining they didn't keep burning coal?

I am under no “illusion” that prematurely phasing out a large percentage of a nations power generation , will reduce the amount of power generation available…

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

#274

But is the majority of the population thriving? It is very misleading (at best) to say the economy is strong when a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck. A handful of companies are thriving, but barely any of its employees.

I know plenty of people making $250K/yr or more who are living paycheck to paycheck.

At that point, it's not really the company that's the problem...

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

#275

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]

Your comment is interesting to me as a comment further up sates that: "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." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42321211

So while expensive holds, the low wages does not.

> no safety net There are safety nets in the US, just not one singular one nor is it always easy to apply or get benefits.

> car and health insurance are mandatory What countries don't have mandatory car insurance? Which ones don't have mandatory health insurance?(Universal health care doesn't count, as that is mandatory and taken from taxes.) Further, you can eschew health insurance in the US. Many people do(for various reasons, cost being one of them), it is just not that wise of a move as healthcare here is very expensive.

> gun violence is rampant We have pockets of areas where violence, not just gun, is rampant. I think a fairer analysis shows that it is the intersection of poverty and also drugs but I can not speak fully to this topic.

>the government is a dictatorship disguised as a democracy. Is this talking about the current government(Joe Biden?), the future administration(Donald Trump) or the administrative government(deep state?)?

I would agree that our government is not functioning as well as it could, I am also not sure if I have seen any other governments do any better.

Japan: Due process with police holding suspects and trying to force confessions.

South Korea: Recent Martial Law issue

France: Numerous protests occurring

Great Britain: Prime Minister just told all farmers "If you don't like the changes we have implemented, you can leave." Protests and counter protests with violence on both sides but police seem more focused on arresting people for social media posts.

I can't think of any recent issues from the Scandinavian countries but that is more likely due to my lack of exposure to media than lack of issues.

Please let me know which countries you find to be great.

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

#276

But is the majority of the population thriving? It is very misleading (at best) to say the economy is strong when a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck. A handful of companies are thriving, but barely any of its employees.

Article: "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. Market competition is limited and millions of workers endure unstable employment conditions."

That's pretty stark. But the U.S. outperformance on GDP growth and productivity growth is very real over the last 5-15 years especialy and has been documented in numerous stories like this. The looming questions seem to be

1. can Europe maintain its social benefits and living standards with such anemic growth (that is, is the goal of more humane and equal society compatible with a robust economy)

2. can the U.S. preserve its competitiveness and overall GDP performance if it imposes more regulations/taxes designed to reduce income disparities, provide more social services, etc.

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

#277

But is the majority of the population thriving? It is very misleading (at best) to say the economy is strong when a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck. A handful of companies are thriving, but barely any of its employees.

We need to differentiate living paycheck to paycheck out of necessity vs. choice. It might be surprising but there are a lot of people who choose to do so because why save when you could die tomorrow.

Judge much?

It's more like, how save when you need the money right now.

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

#278
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 Germ…

I still think the real goal is achieving energy indepedence, so that Europe does not have to import fosil fules from some very questionable and problematic countries.

Currently this also simulatenously gives those contries more money, so they can be even bigger pain in the ass in the future.

The sooner this flow can stop, the better.

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

#279

But is the majority of the population thriving? It is very misleading (at best) to say the economy is strong when a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck. A handful of companies are thriving, but barely any of its employees.

We need to differentiate living paycheck to paycheck out of necessity vs. choice. It might be surprising but there are a lot of people who choose to do so because why save when you could die tomorrow.

Or they get caught up living a lifestyle that they feel like they need to give the appearance of success!

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

#280

But is the majority of the population thriving? It is very misleading (at best) to say the economy is strong when a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck. A handful of companies are thriving, but barely any of its employees.

We need to differentiate living paycheck to paycheck out of necessity vs. choice. It might be surprising but there are a lot of people who choose to do so because why save when you could die tomorrow.

As if those are the only two choices. And as if those choices are ones that most individuals can independently make.
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