Why does America still have anything that resembles an economy??
Two word answer: reserve currency
Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
661–670 of 1001 posts
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#662Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking the same thing the other day. Like how much of the US GDP is tied to their suburb-living car-dependent lifestyle. What percentage of the GDP is all that infrastructure (sewage, heating, power plants, power transmission, car production, road maintenance)? Sure that create jobs, especially lower-skilled jobs which are important for society. But at the same time they didn't really need to exist. It feels…
Defense spending is necessary, if you want to keep your globalised markets and reasonable level of international security. Europe is now experiencing what happens if drop the "useless" defense spending too low.
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Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#663Us Europeans are more 'detached' from the economy than people are in the USA. We basically coast along. We don't live on credit, but debit, and most people have zero investments outside their house. We're content and risk adverse and don't care much for the stock market (even though many people's pensions are tied to it). In places where higher education is cheap, or even sometimes free (like Sweden), there's less pr…
This is so true. I’m a software engineer in Berlin, and I’m from Sri Lanka. It amazes me how many young people are still pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees in business management or related fields instead of specializing in STEM fields, where they’d have a better chance of securing a high-paying job and making a meaningful impact. It seems like everyone wants to work for big four audit firms, but they often end…
I think EU simplifies things a lot and accelerates the economy.
I'm from a small country. Almost whatever business you do, you usually start thinking export really fast. One thing to say about EU is what they say about Africa. It's not one, there are different places in there. If you've been in one, then that might not apply somewhere else.
I don't think EU countries have that many domestic businesses anymore. Companies operate in multiple countries and have supply chains crossing borders. People can freely just go and work wherever they want just like that. EU has removed so much friction and middlemen.
Maybe German and French people could learn English a bit better and it would be smoother for business. And taxation of work could be harmonized and simplified so it'd be easier to buy labor (and not just products or services) from anywhere. That's a hard problem though because of the different societies and services and thus different taxation.
What would you improve?
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#664GDP is a measure of the marketisation of society. If I go visit my grandma over the weekend, my activities do not register on GDP. If I hire a care assistant for $800 per day to do so, that's $800 to national GDP. The encroachment of the market into society correlates with record levels of mental and physical health crisis. US life expectancy has declined over the past three years, even as 'the economy' has surged ah…
How's that related to the magnificent 7 and then SpaceX/StarLink and the AI revolution (which is nearly virtually only happening in the US: even if there are a few models in France, China, etc. it's a US game)?
I don't think you realize what's going on in the EU (failing into a third world continent at an alarming rate) or in China (where "little" cities of 30 million inhabitants are all about tech and feeling like you live in the future: not that everything is rosy in China).
EU carmakers are all in big trouble while Chinese EVs and Tesla are soaring. The EU has nothing to answer the mag 7, let alone SpaceX (the ESA was already way behind NASA).
That the US is growing at a faster rate than most other nation and continents is a fact and it's got nothing to do whether you or a care assistant goes to visit your grandma.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#665One 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…
My theory is that other countries' trade is so closely tied to the US Dollar that when the Federal Reserve prints money it's not just diluting the US Dollar but all currencies. The US is effectively taxing the world, to pay for its own spending. As evidence that the US Dollar plays a large enough role for this to be the case, half of the banks bailed out in the TARP program were foreign to the US ( https://www.europe…
It's a little more complicated than that. US inflation is actually good for emerging economies which borrow in dollars, because it eases their debt burden.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#666My 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 US owes its "economic strength" to the ability to print $2T/yr in perpetuity and buy stuff with that money. Once that tap ceases to function (which eventually it will, though not anytime soon), the US is going to be fucked beyond any recognition.
Even if you are correct, it might be worth mentioning that the US is the top military power, which adds strength to the equation.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#667GDP is a measure of the marketisation of society. If I go visit my grandma over the weekend, my activities do not register on GDP. If I hire a care assistant for $800 per day to do so, that's $800 to national GDP. The encroachment of the market into society correlates with record levels of mental and physical health crisis. US life expectancy has declined over the past three years, even as 'the economy' has surged ah…
Feels more and more like it's the best of times and the worst of times... Things feel off,but you have (mostly well-off) people talking about how great things are going to be and are. I suspect a lot of this correlates to the stock market. For the median millenial atleast, whatever you were taught growing up is just the wrong guide to understanding the world today. I think social media by its very nature, has to be u…
As I complete my travels through Argentina and a layover in Lima
I realize that differences between poor and rich are much less stark in my opinion in the US and these LatAm countries where the percentage of population living below the local poverty line is 3 to 5 times higher than that of the USA
So whatever you feel - it’s all relative
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#668Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very good point because in my country elder care is free. Daily visits by an assistant is on the municipality. We're not a leader in GDP, but we take care of our citizens, whether they be sick or old.
That is not the point GP was making. The assistant you mention is still paid by the municipality, so they show up in GDP numbers just as much as if you paid them yourself. What doesn't show up in GDP numbers are cultures where people take their elderly relatives into their own homes and care for them themselves. Same as hiring someone to look after your kids, or taking them to day care, shows up in GDP; while having…
I can't believe you're actually arguing these semantics when one person has to pay 800 dollars for an assistant and the other person gets it for free.
One person's elderly parents never have to worry about being assisted, while the other can only do so if they can afford it. And you're arguing GDP semantics? There is something seriously wrong and sick with this.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#669And yet, mysteriously, somehow, as a European, I am pretty glad not to be a US citizen right now. I earn more than enough to live while working only 36 hours per week and my government is not run by lunatics.
Re: Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
#670If you go to the doctor with a problem and get a blood test and they say that everything looks fine, but you don’t feel fine, then you don’t say: “well the numbers are right, I should feel fine”. Rather you try to find what the numbers aren’t capturing, because you know something is wrong. Same with the economy. The perception of the economy being bad is really pervasive as demonstrated by the last election, and perc…
> perception of the economy being bad is really pervasive as demonstrated by the last election How does the election tell you anything about the economy? Are you injecting a bunch of your reasons why you think people voted for X or Y or is there a factual argument behind that sentence?
There is an argument that elections can be understood as a referendum on the previous 4 years. E.g. voting for the incumbent candidate/party means more of the same.