Eh idk if I should take the word of people who praise governement bailouts and try to protect big tech companies by saying they aren't really monopolies since they have some competiting elements
Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
101–110 of 112 posts
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#102A lot of (not all) European regulation is at it's core about trade. Things this author feels are "obstructions to trade" are to enable trade of the things we value. For example Europe might regulate what fish species you can sell if you call a fish "Anchovy". Additionally some regulation applies minimal standards, for example regulation of the angle of what's visible in the rear view mirror of a car. On top of that s…
>sometimes we favor safety, standard of living or social safety nets above short term profit. Did you read the whole article? The current European standard of living is built on debt and unsustainable without an increased rate of growth (to outgrow the debt). And it potentially poses an existential threat, because if Europe's GDP and industrial capacity relative to its neighbours continues to fall, it faces the risk…
You want increased growth? Governments currently are forced to limit their spending to 103% of their budget. This will, essentially by definition, being (much) less than inflation, reduce money in circulation.
Increase that to, oh, say 105%, and it'll turn around fast. And debt, which is more or less the single leftover untaxed source of income for the EU's rich, will lose value far faster. This will then immediately make it much harder for the EU's countries to lend, which will therefore immediately achieve exactly what conservatives claim they want.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but this only works as long as the economy remains competitive. Europe is rapidly squandering the human and economic capital it has accumulated over centuries, while the US and Asia continue to grow. Welfare exists as long as someone pays for it.
In the US and Asia, wealth is concentrating in a few individuals. Those don't pay welfare anyway and pay less taxes than me.
This is a problem, but unrelated to what the parent is saying. If you taxed 100% of the wealth of all US billionaires it looks like it would pay for social security, medicare, and medicaid for about a year and a half.
You still need a strong economy and middle class tax base to have any sort of welfare state.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#104Japan had a similar turn in the 80s, but unlike Europe they seem to have more of an alternative view of society and future. Europe seems to effectively follow American culture and practices with a dampener. Being America with healthcare and college funds has not been much of a vision for the future.
> Europe seems to effectively follow American culture and practices with a dampener.
That's a complete misunderstanding of Europe.
> Being America with healthcare and college funds has not been much of a vision for the future.
It provides much lower costs (healthcare) and a healthier and better educated citizenry and workforce.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#105What is never mentioned in articles like this is that the post-war period was a truly exceptional period in one respect: literally almost everything was supply-limited. A bit less so in the US than in Europe. Now it's the opposite: almost everything is demand-limited. If you asked a good economist "what factory needs building?", the answer would be none. Or the answer would be something like "the EU is about to outla…
> almost everything is demand-limited. If you asked a good economist "what factory needs building?", the answer would be none.
Could you give examples of economists saying that? There are current economic problems but those are self-inflicted. Before that, labor was in high demand in the US, in order to build and operate factories, etc.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
They do not need to because their social systems are structured around public goods and services for humans instead of profits. Americans have to get rich to buy into a functional system, because they were unlucky enough to be born on the wrong soil. My health insurance for a family of 4 in Spain is $2k/year. In the US, $20k+ (premiums, copays, etc). Why? Combined market cap of UHC and CVS as of this comment is $391B…
Yes, but can you eat out once a week without breaking the budget on a European salary?
Yes, even most days in the week if you want.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US and Asia, wealth is concentrating in a few individuals. Those don't pay welfare anyway and pay less taxes than me.
This is a problem, but unrelated to what the parent is saying. If you taxed 100% of the wealth of all US billionaires it looks like it would pay for social security, medicare, and medicaid for about a year and a half. You still need a strong economy and middle class tax base to have any sort of welfare state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...
The top 1% of the people hold 30% of all the wealth. The top 10% hold 60% of the wealth.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
But haven’t many countries not only imagined but tried very different alternatives to capitalism? What have we learned from those countries? It seems to always come back to the fact that people who get power always attempt to use that power to get more resources and power, violating all their supposed values and stealing resources from the public. Personally, I am far from enamored with the apparent equilibrium state…
> It seems to always come back to the fact that people who get power always attempt to use that power to get more resources and power, violating all their supposed values and stealing resources from the public. Seems no different in capitalism. Ever considered that the failures of other methods does not inherently mean the success of the current method.
Nobody said it did, but the other methods fail much harder. A fuckton more people died of starvation under Lenin, Stalin and Mao than will ever die of starvation in even the most right-wing capitalist country, because communist and extreme authoritarian socialist countries have all the same moral failings of their leaders as capitalism has, but also ruins their economies as well.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Especially given that odds are better than 50% that you will find yourself in a new, larger Russia at some point in the next 5-10 years. Not cheering the prospect, but it seems like Putin knows the US won’t get involved in Europe anymore, and therefore Russian expansion into all former Soviet territory, at minimum, just makes sense.
Latvia is more likely to defend itself successfully than Ukraine, Latvia joined NATO in 2004, an aggression there spells the end of the whole Russian oil industry, and after that Russia's North Korea.
NATO is dead. Latvia, if defended, will be defended only by anemic EU forces. Trump has made clear that he views alliances as purely transactional, and he’s obviously correct that due to geography the US has nothing to fear from any non-nuclear scenario. Therefore, I doubt either Europe or America will honor Article 5 for the other anymore.
Re: Europe converged rapidly on the United States before stagnating
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know about Spain, but when I did some brief research it looks like senior software engineers in the UK make often substantially under £100,000. Away from London even £60,000. Most seniors at my company in the US make about £150,000. £50-70k of incremental salary pays for a hell of a lot of health insurance premiums and retirement contributions.
UK is not Europe since Brexit happened. You earn locally and spend locally. It's about local buying power and wealth, not about $197.644,50 > £60,000.
I only know Britain because that’s what I researched for my own reasons. But are you suggesting EU salaries are better? And also, that cost of living is like a third of US?? Remember that you can earn $200k working remotely from Ohio. Not just talking absurd SF or Palo Alto rents.