The Netherlands were the richest region in Europe since the late middle ages (at least). They were also the richest province of the Spanish empire during it’s h

The Netherlands were the richest region in Europe since the late middle ages (at least). They were also the richest province of the Spanish empire during it’s height. So yes if California or NY declared independence and left the US would become economically weaker. Also Spain didn’t exactly steal money from their nobles (generally tax burden in the Netherlands was considerably higher than in most other places) they just flooded Europe with silver from the Americas which over time resulted in massive inflation.