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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

#461
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.

Given European demographics and the changing political landscape, it's hard to imagine that the quality of life in Europe can remain as it was through the 1990-2010's. Additionally, many European cities are essentially museums, riding on what was built centuries ago, with little innovation. If you don't believe this, just go to a German city that was completely destroyed during the war.

I'd imagine that Europe is at or near the peak in terms of its quality of life.

At least some of the European lifestyle has been due to peace on the Continent. Up until now peace in Europe has been funded by US taxpayers. The situation in Georgia and in Ukraine is what you get when European affairs are left to Europeans. Without the US providing military aid to Ukraine, Ukraine would have fallen and you'd have Putin banging on your back door.

Additionally, the EU's inability to supply Ukraine with basic military equipment such as artillery shells is indicative of how Europe is devoid of industrial capacity and couldn't rally in its own defense if it had to.

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

#462

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…

US will unwind like all declining empires in history have. The rich will move their wealth out of the currency while the currency is debased via inflation (the debt will be "monetized" in contemptory econspeak). It's already happening.

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

#464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But is the majority of the population thriving? It's important to understand that the stock market is a leading indicator . Everyone doesn't immediately get laid off when the stock market tanks. Everyone doesn't immediately get a raise when the stock market is roaring. A lot of people are just now experiencing the stock market mini-crash of 2022, when the pandemic helicopter money dried up. In two years a lot of pe…

> the stock market is a leading indicator I don't think so. It is probably loosely correlated with the economy at best. The stock market can soar in times of cutbacks which hurt non-asset owners but which benefit profit margins. The stock market can boom on liquidity surges that do not translate into economic investments. The stock market can crash while the overall economy does fine(wasn't 2000 basically this, with…

Honestly nowadays industry seems to be just about maximizing stock value through hype and CEOs are basically hired just for that. Like all stocks are meme stocks now, profits be damned because you can always do some accounting maneuver, and as long as stock goes up you're all getting your bonus.

I wonder if my impression that this has increased a lot in the last decades is correct, and what would be the impact of this on the whole "stock market as indicator of economy" thing.

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

#465
post #108

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 s…

> the U.S. owes much of its economic strength to its robust legal framework Pretty much. This is the mainstream institutionalist view which won AJR a Nobel Prize. This is also the reason why China began the Guiding Case Project with Stanford Law before it got shut down due to Xi 2's crackdown.

[deleted]

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

#466

I've never known more homeless people before in my life in America, seems like its only the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and less healthy.

That really depends where you go. Many places you will see zero homeless. Other places you can't throw a dirty syringe without hitting a homeless person.

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

#467

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.

> But is the majority of the population thriving? It's important to understand that the stock market is a leading indicator . Everyone doesn't immediately get laid off when the stock market tanks. Everyone doesn't immediately get a raise when the stock market is roaring. A lot of people are just now experiencing the stock market mini-crash of 2022, when the pandemic helicopter money dried up. In two years a lot of pe…

The "mini-crash" is already a non-event for any medium or long term investor. Anyone who invested since the beginning of 2021 is still up 50%. I'm assuming VTSAX or similar index fund. It's not even a blip.

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

#468

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.

The population is not the economy.

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

#469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Not to mention that A LOT of millenials are about to inherit a ton of money from the Baby Boomers. The Boomers are just lasting longer because of advances in health care, all of whom are on Medicare which is government funded health insurance. In fact, about 40% of Americans on are federal healthcare between Medicare and Medicaid.

How much of that wealth is tied up in home equity? Unless people want to move into their dead parents houses you have millions of millennials trying to sell their dead parents houses to each other, but no one can afford to buy them, and the values drop.

Either that or private equity firms buying all the nursing homes siphon off the wealth transfer as the boomers wither away.

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

#470
post #252

These opinion pieces are so tiring. Talking points: - The sanctions induced energy crisis exists, but is not the reason. - The lazy Europeans are the problem. - We need more tech. - Trump will ruin everything. All of this is false. There is no mention of the dollar status as the reserve currency, which enables the reckless U.S. deficit spending while shielding it from the consequences. There is no mention of German i…

>There is no mention of the dollar status as the reserve currency, which enables the reckless U.S. deficit spending while shielding it from the consequences. This isn’t a given. People around the world like to use USD because they trust USD to buy the things they want in the future.

Oh boy, you should pick up a history book.
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