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I have not lived in the US, and I'm not an economist, so this is annecdonte, not data. 1. Things are cheaper because there are fewer rich[1] people. It makes s

I have not lived in the US, and I'm not an economist, so this is annecdonte, not data. 1. Things are cheaper because there are fewer rich[1] people. It makes sense to price things to the level where you make a little for each sale but keep your market large. There are intrinsically fewer people, which means less demand. A container of tin openers is still a container load to get rid of. Of course selling for less means you make less, meaning the seller does not become richer than his customers. There is also a massive difference in mindset between the US and everywhere else. In the US the only measure is money. If you have money, everything else flows from that, if you don't have money everything is harder. Outside the US, money is still a driving force, but not to the same degree. There is less opportunity to be a billionaire, so the top is somewhat pushed-down, but at the same time the bottom is higher, and the safety net is better. But we are all fish in water - we like what we know - Americans would not want to be Spain, and the Spanish would hate to be American. Europeans prioritize family time, vacations, shorter work weeks. Americans prioritize rich company owners. The latter allows for ordinary folk to become very rich. Or at least dream of it. [1] rich in the sense that they have disposable income enough to afford your thing.

Ultimatt 5y ago
Billionaires per million people is about 1.8 in the USA and 1.5 in Germany. The opportunity is extremely similar, compared with say China that has plenty of billionaires but its 0.2 per million people. The reality is very simple, all of Europe looks extremely socialist in comparison to the USA. People don't need millions throughout their lifetime to cover medical bills. Student debt is either non existent or orders of magnitude lower etc. Europeans also work less per week, so you should adjust incomes to reflect prorated time worked.
- wozniacki 5y ago
  This largely ignores the crucial role that the U.S. has played as global ensure-r of security, world order and enabler of global free trade. Peter Zeihan speaks at length about this.[1] For example Germany has recently said it would sharply increase its spending on defense to more than 2% of its economic output in one of a series of policy shifts.[1] Other European countries will be increasing their defense spending too. Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill. That will rapidly change. And that will also affect how much of the domestic spending it eats into. This has been largely ignored in past number crunching of living standards of various countries. [1] The places America cares about post Globalization | Peter Zeihan (2021) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oeG170bv7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oeG170bv7k [2] Germany to increase defence spending in response to 'Putin's war' - Scholz https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-hike-defense-spending-scholz-says-further-policy-shift-2022-02-27/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-h...
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    'Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill.' This is quite unfair portrayal of the situation. It is always portrayed as if US is paying biggest share of the tab - like if we were all paying for shared commitments. However in reality it's more everyone going out for a fancy dinner and one guy buying loads of dishes that turn out to taste terrible, or are left uneaten - and then bragging abiut paying the most. You can imagine that the budget would be quote a bit smaller without the war in Iraq, which was tremendously expensive, so was F-22 programm and littoral combat ship programms that came to nothing, etc. Clearly we have spent a lot of money bombing some poor people that should have never been harmed, and creating regime change that turned out to be a mistake. Like does anyone remember that time US installed a Fashist regime in Greece? Dont forget thaylt Nato's budget, without US, is still larger than Russia's or China's - i am not sure how much is enough, but there is still a lot of rich countries spending money.
  - gumby 5y ago
    > Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill. That’s not quite correct, though it’s true that the US spent more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. And that did turn out great: Europe had the longest stretch of peace in recorded history (about 70 years). Much cheaper for the US than getting into a war. This is another thing that the war in Ukraine has upended, though I suspect the cost of reconstruction will cause that spending to revert to the mean.
- buescher 5y ago
  The percentage of billionaires is not the whole story of social mobility. Social mobility in Germany is significantly worse than in the USA. Here's a German source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest-worse-than-in-the-united-states-oecd/a-44245702#:~:text=Germany's%20social%20mobility%20among%20poorest,says%20that%20needs%20to%20change https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest.... Besides, about 30% of German billionaires inherited their money as opposed to about 12% of US billionares. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-the-super-rich-inherit-their-wealth-infographic/?sh=84fb44a6fe02 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-... Europeans frequently have a very distorted view of the American social safety net - it exists and benefits are substantially similar. It has some unique problems - the working poor who don't qualify for Medicaid frequently go uninsured despite significant subsidies for their insurance. Student debt is a national fiasco, but it is quite possible, the norm really, to get an education in the USA without becoming one of the horror stories. Medical costs are out of control, but the American sport of posting the top line (before discounts and insurance coverage) on an insurance statement for an emergency room visit or major procedure to the internet is more a reflection of how bureacratic requirements for billing paperwork differ. Literally no one in the US needs "millions throughout their lifetime to cover medical bills" - max out of pocket in the US for an individual is currently $8700/year, which is significantly more than the 5000 euros/year for the privately insured in Germany, but not an order of magnitude difference. Germans also tend to recoil in horror at the notion of bankruptcy because individual bankruptcy in German-speaking countries is actually a horror. I think this is a civil-law vs common-law difference, but I'm not an expert. It's not easy going broke anywhere but the process in English-speaking countries is much faster and much less punitive - it is intended to get people back on their feet as quickly as possible rather than to discourage them from entering into the process at any cost.

Ultimatt 5y ago

Billionaires per million people is about 1.8 in the USA and 1.5 in Germany. The opportunity is extremely similar, compared with say China that has plenty of billionaires but its 0.2 per million people. The reality is very simple, all of Europe looks extremely socialist in comparison to the USA. People don't need millions throughout their lifetime to cover medical bills. Student debt is either non existent or orders of magnitude lower etc. Europeans also work less per week, so you should adjust incomes to reflect prorated time worked.

wozniacki 5y ago
This largely ignores the crucial role that the U.S. has played as global ensure-r of security, world order and enabler of global free trade. Peter Zeihan speaks at length about this.[1] For example Germany has recently said it would sharply increase its spending on defense to more than 2% of its economic output in one of a series of policy shifts.[1] Other European countries will be increasing their defense spending too. Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill. That will rapidly change. And that will also affect how much of the domestic spending it eats into. This has been largely ignored in past number crunching of living standards of various countries. [1] The places America cares about post Globalization | Peter Zeihan (2021) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oeG170bv7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oeG170bv7k [2] Germany to increase defence spending in response to 'Putin's war' - Scholz https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-hike-defense-spending-scholz-says-further-policy-shift-2022-02-27/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-h...
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  'Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill.' This is quite unfair portrayal of the situation. It is always portrayed as if US is paying biggest share of the tab - like if we were all paying for shared commitments. However in reality it's more everyone going out for a fancy dinner and one guy buying loads of dishes that turn out to taste terrible, or are left uneaten - and then bragging abiut paying the most. You can imagine that the budget would be quote a bit smaller without the war in Iraq, which was tremendously expensive, so was F-22 programm and littoral combat ship programms that came to nothing, etc. Clearly we have spent a lot of money bombing some poor people that should have never been harmed, and creating regime change that turned out to be a mistake. Like does anyone remember that time US installed a Fashist regime in Greece? Dont forget thaylt Nato's budget, without US, is still larger than Russia's or China's - i am not sure how much is enough, but there is still a lot of rich countries spending money.
- gumby 5y ago
  > Formerly it was just the U.S. footing the lion share of the NATO bill. That’s not quite correct, though it’s true that the US spent more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. And that did turn out great: Europe had the longest stretch of peace in recorded history (about 70 years). Much cheaper for the US than getting into a war. This is another thing that the war in Ukraine has upended, though I suspect the cost of reconstruction will cause that spending to revert to the mean.
buescher 5y ago
The percentage of billionaires is not the whole story of social mobility. Social mobility in Germany is significantly worse than in the USA. Here's a German source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest-worse-than-in-the-united-states-oecd/a-44245702#:~:text=Germany's%20social%20mobility%20among%20poorest,says%20that%20needs%20to%20change https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-social-mobility-among-poorest.... Besides, about 30% of German billionaires inherited their money as opposed to about 12% of US billionares. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-the-super-rich-inherit-their-wealth-infographic/?sh=84fb44a6fe02 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/10/where-... Europeans frequently have a very distorted view of the American social safety net - it exists and benefits are substantially similar. It has some unique problems - the working poor who don't qualify for Medicaid frequently go uninsured despite significant subsidies for their insurance. Student debt is a national fiasco, but it is quite possible, the norm really, to get an education in the USA without becoming one of the horror stories. Medical costs are out of control, but the American sport of posting the top line (before discounts and insurance coverage) on an insurance statement for an emergency room visit or major procedure to the internet is more a reflection of how bureacratic requirements for billing paperwork differ. Literally no one in the US needs "millions throughout their lifetime to cover medical bills" - max out of pocket in the US for an individual is currently $8700/year, which is significantly more than the 5000 euros/year for the privately insured in Germany, but not an order of magnitude difference. Germans also tend to recoil in horror at the notion of bankruptcy because individual bankruptcy in German-speaking countries is actually a horror. I think this is a civil-law vs common-law difference, but I'm not an expert. It's not easy going broke anywhere but the process in English-speaking countries is much faster and much less punitive - it is intended to get people back on their feet as quickly as possible rather than to discourage them from entering into the process at any cost.