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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   32279 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 17, 2023

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Worth noting that whether or not you think Europe has fallen behind largely depends if you accept nominal or PPP as the basis for your GDP accounting. By PPP, Europe and the US are largely neck-and-neck.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.CD?locations=EU-US

There are also other, non-economic metrics, that determine quality of life such as far lower crime/homelessness/drug epidemics and more vacation days. That's why we don't see a surge of European migrants to the US. QoL is largely similar between the two countries, but Americans prize money and work whereas Europeans prefer leisure.

The US is above most of Europe in median disposable income by PPP, which seems like a far better measure than GDP if you're talking PPP figures.

True, but that measurement still doesn't adjust for working hours. Americans work far longer hours than e.g. Germans, Danes, Dutch etc. Once you adjust for both PPP and working hours, the distance between Germanic Europe and America isn't nearly as radical as is often claimed. Also worth noting that Europeans are taxed at higher rates, hence lower disposable income but this means higher education is largely free from out of pocket expenses, healthcare far cheaper etc. It can be debated whether this is ultimately a better social choice, but certainly by some outcomes (e.g. life expectancy) it isn't clear that the US has the better system.

It's different for Southern Europe (stagnation for 20+ years) and EU Eastern Europe (spent half a century behind imposed communism).

So now we're onto "Americans are richer because they work harder"? But... it appears Germans work about 34.6 hours per week compared to Americans 38.7. According to the tables linked, Americans made $46,600 to Germans $32,100. If the Germans worked as much as Americans and were paid accordingly, they'd be up to $35,900. So it doesn't look like working hours are going to help much. For the household numbers in those tables, in-kind social benefits are accounted for.

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Our stereotype here in the states is basically that Europeans are wealthier and happier than Americans, with their social services protecting the poor and public services like transportation representing a genuine difference in wealth in which the US doesn't come out on top.

Yeah, that's kind of a standard narrative from the left (not just the far left) and has been for a long time. Balance of immigration says otherwise. Sometimes you'll hear the same sort of thing from (well-off) immigrants in the tech field, so far I haven't been quite rude enough to say "Well, then why are you here?" directly.

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