2 ms·

If you remove non-industrial and financial activity from US GDP, the economic picture is bleak. US and G7 have been steadily deindustrializing while BRICS have

If you remove non-industrial and financial activity from US GDP, the economic picture is bleak. US and G7 have been steadily deindustrializing while BRICS have been doing the opposite. US GDP is misleading in the sense that it increasingly includes a large portion of economic activity that isn't actually producing tangible wealth.

epolanski 2y ago
But as an average European I realistically have all I need and most of my needs are either food/commodities or non-industrial services.
- dyauspitr 2y ago
  But is it sustainable?
  - jimbob45 2y ago
    If cultured meat and EVs take off like they're expected to, it won't just be the US/EU having to retool their economies.
  - epolanski 2y ago
    What's more sustainable than buying little to nothing but food and petrol once a week.
zeroonetwothree 2y ago
That’s not how a global economy works (comparative advantage etc). An analogy would be that if you remove employment activity from my household finances then our economic picture is bleak.
- thuanao 2y ago
  Comparative advantage only works without trade barriers, and when the USA has something people want to import cheaper than elsewhere. The USA doesn’t have competitive exports. The USA is the largest net importer. By an order of magnitude. The USA is deeply in debt in both nominal financial terms and in real trade terms. What's the USA's comparative advantage? Nukes and dollars. Demand for dollars and rent seeking via the post WWII global financial system. But G7 is no longer the only game in town. They have become the consumers while the rest of the world has become the producers. Moreover, the leadership in China is fully aware of the macroeconomic situation and USA leadership doesn’t even appear to know how tariffs work.
  - csomar 2y ago
    You have just described the US top comparative advantage. There is no economy in the world that allows you to create a company, open a bank account and start trading. The UK come close but doesn't completely match the US. The US is the global engine of the world because it has accepted to be very negative on NIIP. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_international_investment_position https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_international_investment_p...) China or the BRICS or Russia do not offer an alternative and not because of lack of technical capabilities; they just don't want to do it. China can replace the US dollar "hegemony" in a few years. They keyword is can because they don't want to do it.
    - 0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago
      It seems to me that NIIP is very related to high US stock prices. Everyone, including Americans, wants to invest in the US. Americans own American assets, and so do foreigners, but Americans don't want to buy foreign assets. Hence the high prices of American stocks, and the NIIP thing.
  - 0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago
    >The USA doesn’t have competitive exports. The US exports almost as much as China: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/exports/country-comparison/ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/exports/country...
    - meiraleal 2y ago
      And the US exports from China and tens of other countries through corporations

epolanski 2y ago

But as an average European I realistically have all I need and most of my needs are either food/commodities or non-industrial services.

dyauspitr 2y ago
But is it sustainable?
- jimbob45 2y ago
  If cultured meat and EVs take off like they're expected to, it won't just be the US/EU having to retool their economies.
- epolanski 2y ago
  What's more sustainable than buying little to nothing but food and petrol once a week.

zeroonetwothree 2y ago

That’s not how a global economy works (comparative advantage etc). An analogy would be that if you remove employment activity from my household finances then our economic picture is bleak.

thuanao 2y ago
Comparative advantage only works without trade barriers, and when the USA has something people want to import cheaper than elsewhere. The USA doesn’t have competitive exports. The USA is the largest net importer. By an order of magnitude. The USA is deeply in debt in both nominal financial terms and in real trade terms. What's the USA's comparative advantage? Nukes and dollars. Demand for dollars and rent seeking via the post WWII global financial system. But G7 is no longer the only game in town. They have become the consumers while the rest of the world has become the producers. Moreover, the leadership in China is fully aware of the macroeconomic situation and USA leadership doesn’t even appear to know how tariffs work.
- csomar 2y ago
  You have just described the US top comparative advantage. There is no economy in the world that allows you to create a company, open a bank account and start trading. The UK come close but doesn't completely match the US. The US is the global engine of the world because it has accepted to be very negative on NIIP. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_international_investment_position https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_international_investment_p...) China or the BRICS or Russia do not offer an alternative and not because of lack of technical capabilities; they just don't want to do it. China can replace the US dollar "hegemony" in a few years. They keyword is can because they don't want to do it.
  - 0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago
    It seems to me that NIIP is very related to high US stock prices. Everyone, including Americans, wants to invest in the US. Americans own American assets, and so do foreigners, but Americans don't want to buy foreign assets. Hence the high prices of American stocks, and the NIIP thing.
- 0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago
  >The USA doesn’t have competitive exports. The US exports almost as much as China: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/exports/country-comparison/ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/exports/country...
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    And the US exports from China and tens of other countries through corporations