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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

#281

Post by codr7 »

nradov wrote: post #222
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #201

Tech is the problem. The internet is global (or perhaps two or three regions), and winner takes all - so global value creation is being experienced everywhere, but being monetised in the US stock market. Take tech out of the equation and the US is pretty much on par with EU, and China and India are just burning the coal for everyone else.

How is that a "problem"? What is preventing other countries from building tech winners? The USA isn't launching missiles to destroy the next foreign Nvidia or Meta competitor.

I don't know about missiles, but there's no lack of sanctions.

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

#282

Post by deaddodo »

HellDunkel wrote: post #263

When younger, i often thought about moving to the US because it offered so many amazing and creative places to work. Most of these places seem to have gone completely or are in a somewhat unhealthy state (hollywood, video games). Boring tech companies took over and often times they stared with just a website - for gods sake- this is so lame! I‘m so happy i didnt go back then- I think it would have depressed me to exp…

What do you mean by "unhealthy state"?

Hollywood (the location) has always been skeazy/decrepit location (at least, after the 60s). Hollywood (the idea) is still going fine...other places have just developed their own media output too. One thing getting stronger doesn't mean the other is now sick, unless your only mental model is "defeatism". If anything, the US not being the only media producer in the world has made it easier for smaller/more indie/more culturally significant media to thrive in the US again.

As to Video Games, I don't even know how to tackle that. The US and Japan still dominate the video game market and have since the 80s (with the US solely dominating it before). And the American-led Independent/art games scene has been in it's golden age for about a decade now.

It's impossible to defend/explain something without a comparison point; but just your vague abstract comments are falsifiable on their face.

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

#284

Post by staunton »

seydor wrote: post #231
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #201

Tech is the problem. The internet is global (or perhaps two or three regions), and winner takes all - so global value creation is being experienced everywhere, but being monetised in the US stock market. Take tech out of the equation and the US is pretty much on par with EU, and China and India are just burning the coal for everyone else.

Tech is not a 'problem'. It has replaced Finance in the pecking order of power relationships. Since US controls it , it can exert control everywhere where its tech goes. China shielded itself from it early on.

> Tech [...] has replaced Finance in the pecking order of power relationships

Not at all obvious to me. Is there any particular measurable thing you're referring to, or is this just your personal feeling?

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

#285

Post by ajross »

luizfzs wrote: post #255

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.

> a good chunk of the population live paycheck to paycheck.

Is that not true in other economies? Was that not true at some (mythical?) point in the past? What number, specifically, would you like to see before you're willing to declare "The Economy is Good"?

Basically the point you made is an example of the Economics of Vibes. It's non-falsifiable and allows you to justify any position you want. We're about to start a global trade war, it seems, based on those vibes.

In point of fact household savings rate as a proportion of household income is not particularly low right now. In fact it had a huge spike during the pandemic (lots of assistance and nothing to buy, same thing that caused the inflation burp).

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

#286

Post by eduction »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #201

Tech is the problem. The internet is global (or perhaps two or three regions), and winner takes all - so global value creation is being experienced everywhere, but being monetised in the US stock market. Take tech out of the equation and the US is pretty much on par with EU, and China and India are just burning the coal for everyone else.

>Take tech out of the equation and the US is pretty much on par with EU

Disagree. It's not just the nature of the technology itself but the whole ecosystem -- including VC and education -- in Sillicon Valley that develops cutting edge computer tech, plus generally looser business regulation in the US and a culture of greater optimism nationally, especially relative to EU.

Certainly having a unified market (not just in regulation, government, and currency but also linguistically) has helped too especially given the network/winner-take-all effects of tech you mention. Yes the nature of technology is part of it. But it's not everything. It's a whole gestalt.

I mean, consider where we are right now, who set it up, who hangs out there, etc.

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

#287

Post by indymike »

mesk wrote: post #227

I'm thinking a lot lately about which country would be best for my future, and somehow US is never there. Maybe for me without family yes, but otherwise I see it like there, I would be one illness away from bankrupcy, one crazy kid with a gun away from family tragedy, one away from . Sure, being in top 10% is cool, but will my kids be also so lucky? And the middle class in the US already thinks they are struggling (h…

> And the middle class in the US already thinks they are struggling

Middle class financial issues in the US are age related. College debt, cost of raising children, buying a home combined with low entry wages put young people in a hole it takes 10-30 years to crawl out of. But when they do they quickly accumulate wealth. There are also a lot of people who choose to not save. That is a choice you don't have to make.

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

#288

Post by black_13 »

luizfzs wrote: post #255

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.

[dead]

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

#289

Post by tombert »

codr7 wrote: post #277
nightski wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not the OP but I don't think that is who they are talking about. People who don't have money to save obviously are going have trouble saving it.

There is a certain subset of people, though, that do make money and actively choose to not save it. Kind of a perpetual "YOLO" attitude.

I don't think the OP was judging.

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

#290

Post by makk »

eduction wrote: post #276
luizfzs wrote: post #255

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…

3. Can the US endure at all when the current path feels unsustainable for most of its citizens?
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