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There's more to USA vs Europe than success and wealth. For instance, Europeans are far snappier dressers and they have better castles.
I know people always say that Europeans are better dressers but I don't see it.
I mean, are Romans better dressers than Tulsans? Probably.
But the average European isn't really that good a dresser. Germans are horrible dressers. UK and Scandanavia aren't much better.
I will admit that Spanairds and Italians are very good dressers, and French are pretty good. But if you go to NYC or LA, you will see that Americans are very good dressers too.
For the record I am not saying at all that I think "blueness" causes/correlates to higher economic activity. Just that your argument here is very petty and has huge gaping holes.
My original point was not about politics. My original point is that European countries are poor.
I remarked additionally that it is funny that they are poor but are endorsers of heavy welfare through laziness-inducing social policies in an era that is much more competitive than ever before (read: China).
Do note that the whole of the US is capitalist, red or blue.
Last edited by sadgirl80; 09-03-2013 at 09:19 AM..
The article links to the table that doesn't support the numbers in the article. That was my point.
The professor explained in detail in his paper - the GDP per capita of the international countries are PPP figures, meaning cost of living is adjusted against USA.
Only the most stubbornly blind (or ignorant...actually ignorance is more likely in this context of usually white...American Europhiles) would even dream of disputing the economic superiority of the US over western European countries.
All of Europe was in almost complete ruins and shambles after WW2 and it was USA's FUNDING ($$$$) (I have no freaking idea why we did that..) that rebuilt many of the European countries (along with Japan and South Korea). Well at least in Japan's case, we did drop an A-bomb on them and for South Korea, we did choose to fight a war on their land blowing more of their cities up to fight the North Korean commies.
After WW2, as they chugged along, they did manage to improve for sure, because time passed, but the USA continued to forge ahead in steam while almost all the European countries to varying degrees, curiously adopted the laziness-inducing welfare state model, which widened the gulf between the European countries and the US further. The US's prosperity continued to grow and advance, high points during major technological innovations and advancements (fueled by capitalist ideals) in pharmaceuticals and the 'invention' of the Internet, the dot com boom, etc that came from breakthroughs in Silicon Valley.
Like somebody mentioned here, they have good castles. That's something even Donald Rumsfeld wouldn't disagree with. He did say "Old Europe", that is why a good number of European countries turned their attention to making money from tourism.
In another two decades, the continent will function as nothing more than a tourism wonderland with its quaint buildings, castles, cobblestone streets for American and Chinese tourists. I think this is already the case for the past 15 years (for Americans) and 5 years (for the Chinese)....
If you like to spend a lot of money, you have to work hard for it.
This is a simple truth that even Housewives in Atlanta know..funny how heads of fairly big countries don't seem to.
Last edited by sadgirl80; 09-03-2013 at 09:21 AM..
The U.S. is clearly richer than Western Europe; that's not in dispute.
Anyone with half a brain who has traveled to Europe can tell that people generally have less money and less "stuff".
But there are other ways to measure prosperity besides just money. You can look at public health, safety, quality of life, etc.
So while I agree the U.S., overall, has the advantage, it's closer than one would think than if you just looked at wealth. For example, Europe has excellent transit, and the US, excepting NYC, generally doesn't. So that means the typical family will need two cars in the US, and in Europe, you could get by with just one. There are many other examples that make the conclusions somewhat muddier.
I've been to western European countries and the richer Asian cities a lot. The reason for the above is because we have land, land, land, land. Go find out what's our population density vs Asia and Europe. We still have huge swathes of untouched unused land in comparison and the North American continent has the lowest population density after Australia (and Antarctica). That's also why we have such big houses.
Also, Americans like to drive. It's linked to the whole individualism/independence thing. Yeah don't come back and say, oh I don't like, blah blah, okay I get that you might be more Un-American in your mentality (relocation is an option, and I don't mean this snidely, I know many Americans who are working in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and love their experiences), I'm talking about the whole country culturally in general.
Last edited by sadgirl80; 09-03-2013 at 09:37 AM..
Only the most stubbornly blind (or ignorant...actually ignorance is more likely in this context of usually white...American Europhiles) would even dream of disputing the economic superiority of the US over western European countries.
I will admit that Spanairds and Italians are very good dressers, and French are pretty good. But if you go to NYC or LA, you will see that Americans are very good dressers too.
The average Parisian or Londoner dresses better than the average Manhattanite. Much better. I though we had squashed this in a different thread already.
With such dismal horrific productivity, yet the "Old World" continent is the continent that is most renowned for the widespread and extreme adoption of left-wing socialism and welfare,....I really wonder how it intends to ever try to even stay on top of a rising China and the rest of Asia that is as hungry as it is large. At least (1/2 of) the US is still working hard.
When I said this, I meant that famous 1/2 of the country, who are hardworking and productive taxpayers. This isn't a red-blue divide comment. Just realized it might be a possible misunderstanding so thought I should clarify.
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