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Along with Europe's incompetence and divisiveness, you must also consider that the US has kept it so tight under its umbrella that it has squeezed it. The US wa

by jimbohn 10mo ago

Along with Europe's incompetence and divisiveness, you must also consider that the US has kept it so tight under its umbrella that it has squeezed it. The US wants a rich market to sell into, a suitable ally for oil campaigns, but not a competitor. The US is also still cultivating divisiveness, at the EU level, they groom a politically aligned minority that conveniently opposes any long-term improvement (Looking at Meloni's Italy, Hungary, etc.), at the country level, where possible, they again groom divisiveness by propping up yet another sovranist party. Of course, that's what a "normal" competitor does, and of course China russia are also taking part in it. But the ambiguous situation of the USA-EU friendship needs to be solved. I don't see how the EU can get out of this without recognizing that the US is not a friend anymore, and enduring a few decades of protectionism at the services level to try to pull a china on key sectors.

Workaccount2 10mo ago
As long as the European psyche is at "40 days PTO, 4 day work weeks, and generous worker protections" the US doesn't have to worry about Europe getting out from under it. Europe is in the intractable situation of needing to double defense spending, slash taxes, gain energy independence and bankroll it with an aging population skilled in mostly legacy industries. And doing all this with a working population that has only ever known generous work/life conditions.
- greatgib 10mo ago
  Surprisingly, from France, Hen I work for US companies, the American employees were on holidays more often than the french ones. For example, here "sick leaves" days are not considered normal holidays that have to be taken in the year to not be lost.
  - Workaccount2 10mo ago
    Thankfully we don't have to rely on anecdotes, and can just check data. The average American works 300 (!) more hours a year than the average Frenchman. 37.5 days more, That's huge. And France isn't even the lowest in the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_a...
- jimbohn 10mo ago
  I disagree about that being the root cause of the issue. It's true that in some countries there is a sort of permanent work contract that essentially means once you are in, you cannot be fired; that's obviously bad. In my experience, work ethic, or perhaps, bargaining power, is generational, long story short: young people have to work much harder/longer for lower pay than boomers, due to the lack of leverage of their generation and overall market conditions. Agree with your second paragraph, just disagreeing with the generous work/life conditions part, that's something that was enjoyed by boomers (through country-level debt, even!), but new generations work harder for a salary that in US terms looks like scraps.

by jimbohn 10mo ago

Workaccount2 10mo ago

As long as the European psyche is at "40 days PTO, 4 day work weeks, and generous worker protections" the US doesn't have to worry about Europe getting out from under it. Europe is in the intractable situation of needing to double defense spending, slash taxes, gain energy independence and bankroll it with an aging population skilled in mostly legacy industries. And doing all this with a working population that has only ever known generous work/life conditions.

greatgib 10mo ago
Surprisingly, from France, Hen I work for US companies, the American employees were on holidays more often than the french ones. For example, here "sick leaves" days are not considered normal holidays that have to be taken in the year to not be lost.
- Workaccount2 10mo ago
  Thankfully we don't have to rely on anecdotes, and can just check data. The average American works 300 (!) more hours a year than the average Frenchman. 37.5 days more, That's huge. And France isn't even the lowest in the EU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_a...
jimbohn 10mo ago
I disagree about that being the root cause of the issue. It's true that in some countries there is a sort of permanent work contract that essentially means once you are in, you cannot be fired; that's obviously bad. In my experience, work ethic, or perhaps, bargaining power, is generational, long story short: young people have to work much harder/longer for lower pay than boomers, due to the lack of leverage of their generation and overall market conditions. Agree with your second paragraph, just disagreeing with the generous work/life conditions part, that's something that was enjoyed by boomers (through country-level debt, even!), but new generations work harder for a salary that in US terms looks like scraps.