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> While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matte

> While it is undeniable that the US leads in these areas, it should be pointed out that the distribution of who spends and who has disposable income does matter. Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. > Europe is a lot more densely populated than the US. You really should be comparing urban areas in both, or rural areas in both. OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs.

gspr 1y ago
> Agreed. But the median American has one the highest consumer spending and disposable incomes in the world. Absoutely. But the differences are no longer insane when considering medians: US at 43 kUSD, and the rest of top 5 at 42, 41, 39, 37. While for the means, the US is 50% ahead of number 5 (top 5 goes 62, 47, 47, 42, 41). That's yaw-dropping, while the lead in medians is not. Randomly sourced from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposable-income-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/disposabl... , which I assume is at least in the ballpark. > OK. But housing in American cities is generally larger than the equivalent in European cities. And housing in American suburbs is likewise larger than in European suburbs. Sure. But it's still important to compare apples to apples. And when doing so, the difference, like for disposable income, is far less stark.