Why did he reduce Europe to north Europe in the beginning of the article? The EU is not just North Europe. It sounds to me a bit like cherry picking to make his case.
Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
41–50 of 115 posts
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#42> What should worry Europe, instead, are the geopolitical implications of US/Chinese leadership in advanced technology. We used to have a global economic system overseen by a mostly benign and in any case law-abiding hegemon. That system was, however, gradually eroding with the rise of China, and has now taken a drastic hit with America’s abandonment of the rules it largely created. This is the underlying theme of Eu…
> We used to have a global economic system overseen by a mostly benign and in any case law-abiding hegemon
Shall we starting to list chronologically US's interference with foreign states now, or... ?
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand your point but YouTube isn't a good example as it has its global development team headquartered here in Zürich. Multinationals really confuse comparisons - when I bought a macbook here in Europe it got shipped to me directly from china. My money went to apple Switzerland. At no time in the process was the USA involved.
> Multinationals really confuse comparisons Well, yes, but in both cases of Youtube revenue and Apple, that money is eventually going to show up in the accounts of the US parent company and its share price, even if it's in a Swiss bank account. It's very hard to say where internet economic productivity ""is""! That might cause it to be over- or under- counted.
Multinationals are disincentivized to send revenue back to the USA because they are taxed twice on it - they're taxed in the country it was earned in and they're taxed again in the USA as income because they are essentially completely different companies.
Trump had a tax holiday in his first term where companies were allowed to send revenue back to the USA without being taxed. If I remember correctly apple sentt back billions and used it for stock buybacks.
So money earned outside the USA rarely makes it back.
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Benelux, the Nordics, Baltics, most of Central Europe don't have a need for AC. It might make life more comfortable during some days of heatwaves but it's definitely not a need to survive. Southern Europe has experienced more scorching heat the past 1-2 decades and AC is going to become a necessity given the trend of climate warming but it's not Arizona. Also I think people aren't aware…
If "need" is defined as directly required to survive, but that isn't how I would define it. (So many things aren't "needed" then.)
A need is a necessity, is AC a necessity or a comfort? It's only a need if without it your life would be so insufferable that you cannot live normally, otherwise it's not a need but a comfort.
Many things aren't needed, survival doesn't mean biological survival so you don't need to bring up "a smartphone isn't a need" since without one a life in modern society becomes quite insufferable (banking access, government access, etc.).
Is AC a need or a comfort to you given this?
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#45Krugman so badly wants this to be true. But handwaving away massive difference in IT innovation and in practical data like housing size and vastly greater American consumption does not make it true. Just 20% of European homes even have air conditioning. European industrial energy costs are more than 2x the U.S. Don't ignore the data. Europe is behind and falling behind at an ever-faster clip. And the strategic issues…
Air conditioning is not needed in most of Europe, no idea why that would be a measurement of economic advancement. Krugman presented arguments with data, it'd be nice to see your data that counters Krugman's argument, not a whole different set of measurements that you are defining as the basis of comparison. It's just a strawman with makeup.
>Air conditioning is not needed in most of Europe
Uhh... https://imgur.com/a/MTTMKDr
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#46I'm European. I think Europe’s main problem is that its leaders and citizens are more concerned with how to distribute wealth than with creating it. In many countries, much more importance is placed on pensions than on the education of the younger generations.
Krugman’s analysis may well be accurate, but the problem is that China is now beginning to assert itself in sectors where Europe used to be strong (manufacturing, automotive, etc.). If our software is American and our hardware is Chinese, who will pay for the pensions?
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might want to look up the value of those "fat pensions" - a lot of them are substantially less than US Social Security. e.g. in Ireland, the state contributory pension (aka what you paid egregious social security taxes for) maxes out at about $18,000 per year. The equivalent pension from US Social Security is about $45,000.
This depends on the country. Austria is doing quite well here. Why are there so many homeless people in the USA? If your assumption were to work, it would not be the case. You are simply making an incomplete analysis here. See: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbiggs/2019/03/15/u-s-reti... It is from 2019, but things are still somewhat similar today.
5 European countries have higher homelessness rates than the US, total EU numbers also dwarf the US (1.3m vs 750k)
https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/how-common-is-homel...
https://www.notus.org/us-news/homeless-report-hud-president-...
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-sees-rise-in-homelessness-amid-hous...
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#48Krugman so badly wants this to be true. But handwaving away massive difference in IT innovation and in practical data like housing size and vastly greater American consumption does not make it true. Just 20% of European homes even have air conditioning. European industrial energy costs are more than 2x the U.S. Don't ignore the data. Europe is behind and falling behind at an ever-faster clip. And the strategic issues…
This comment probably won't go down well but your point irked me. > And the strategic issues of continued vast unskilled migration into Europe If only there wasn't a global power invading countries for oil reserves over the years and causing mass migration and destabilising those places? Also have you considered 100% of the EU doesn't NEED air conditioning? Come back when you have a minimum wage and universal healthc…
[deleted]
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Air conditioning is not needed in most of Europe, no idea why that would be a measurement of economic advancement. Krugman presented arguments with data, it'd be nice to see your data that counters Krugman's argument, not a whole different set of measurements that you are defining as the basis of comparison. It's just a strawman with makeup.
That does not seem to ring true. 175k people die annually of heat in Europe. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/01-08-2024-statement--h...
There is really no similary between the most populous areas of Europe and, say, Columbus or Chicago or .... The summers in eastern America are savage and inhuman; the winters, by contrast, are ... savage and inhuman.
People complain about the weather in England, but in fact there are palm and eucalyptus growing in Oxford, though it's bad taste and you might lose one in a bad winter. It never gets hot and never gets cold.
I realized after living in UK and Germany that the religious fanatics who founded USA must really have been oppressed to put up with it.
Re: Challenging the Narrative of European Decline
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
If "need" is defined as directly required to survive, but that isn't how I would define it. (So many things aren't "needed" then.)
A need is a necessity, is AC a necessity or a comfort? It's only a need if without it your life would be so insufferable that you cannot live normally, otherwise it's not a need but a comfort. Many things aren't needed, survival doesn't mean biological survival so you don't need to bring up "a smartphone isn't a need" since without one a life in modern society becomes quite insufferable (banking access, government ac…
Some people live their lives quite ok without a smartphone in Germany, for example - so not a need there either.
I don't like the heat, so need for me - comfort is a need.