821–830 of 1001 posts
Us 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…
These articles also gloss over the US market is 400m English speakers with one set of legislation, more or less. Europe is 20+ languages and 20+ sets of legislation. That’s a colossal advantage. And any clicks and mortar business gets the benefit of absurdly cheap shipping costs compared to Europe.
Us 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…
> The EU single market is largely a myth from the perspective of wanting to start a successful company that can compete internationally. It's not any easier now than it was before the EU existed. [citation needed] because I think this is extremely false. It is easy to underestimate the pain caused by having all the pre-euro currencies and pre-EU tax laws (yes there was the Schengen zone and EEC, but the EU uniformity…
Of the top of my head.
Uber, has to do all sorts of gymnastics to make rides work across different EU countries. And still they are routinely asked to stop serving in a country for some reason or another.
Amazon. It took them years to launch across EU, they went country by country and didn’t launch across EU at once.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perception can be manipulated in many ways. People get used to things and give for granted things that used to be luxuries a few generations back (see "hedonic treadmill") Combine that with active participants who control the media landscape and have a vested interest in painting a bleak picture so they can be the ones fixing it. And then of course there is the fact that things are of course objectively hard for many…
So the people who are fed up with how things are currently going are according to your argument here either - manipulated / brainwashed - entitled / spoiled - outliers (the few who have it bad are too loud). - the problems can’t be fixed anyway - don’t realise how much worse it was in the past ? I disagree that the sentiment of the general population is not a useful indicator of how good things are going for the gene…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the points you listed apply to India as well, with its multilingual states and conservative scarcity-driven mindset. Yet entrepreneurship is growing here at rates never witnessed before.
Indians don't coast like Euros. Average standard of living is much lower in India which motivates them to do things to raise it.
The US dollar is the world's reserve currency So countries keep huge stores of dollars in their reserves because they need it for trade Then what happens is the US starts the money printer to pay for US government services This inflates the dollar and means that everyone who holds the dollar has lost value Including Americans who are paid for their labour with dollars and do not own assets So wealthy Americans/compan…
The US Government does gain a lot of wealth doing this, but it doesn't necessarily trickle down to Americans or American companies.
Us 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 seems incongruous: > most people have zero investments outside their house. > stock market (even though many people's pensions are tied to it) To the extent the average American has any non-house investments, they consist of retirement savings in (defined contribution) pension accounts. How does this differ from your description of the average European?
While you can be aware of the details (and make your own pension fund choice), most people are blisfully unaware.
GDP 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…
Are you saying that you visiting your grandma one weekend is the same as someone washing, feeding and walking her every day?
Different regions play complementary roles in the global economy. The oversimplified description is that the US drives innovation and risk-taking, Europe prioritizes social welfare and sustainability and Asia powers manufacturing. Forcing everyone to compete in the US-style growth race would be disastrous - imagine the burnouts, resource drain and market instability if every country tried to be Silicon Valley. Plus,…
Your model works when every player provides something of value. What does Europe's self indulgent attitude bring to the international table?
Today's Europe is just milking what it can as it continues its decades long crisis of identity and pessimism. Demographics are destiny and it's extremely problematic for Europe's future. There's no real leadership and it's one large admin state that can only agree to fund people's lives today at the cost of tomorrows lives using whatever assets it has left from its golden age before the wars. It's no wonder no one is having kids as they know the future is bleak. Just let the admin state manage my life and take it easy and not worry too much and fade away into the future until it's all gone...slowly and then all at once.
The jungle produces strong creatures and much of the leading world is much more full of jungle animals than the zoo animals the people of the European continent have become generation over generation.
Us 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…
"The EU single market is largely a myth" People in the UK might disagree now.