Comments by "Posthumanist" (@thornelderfin) on "Why is the US Economy Outperforming the EU?" video.

  1. Because exchange rates between currencies are NOT comparative powers of their economies. Otherwise Japan would be extremely poor country (salaries are in millions, 1 EUR = 158 JPY). Exchange rates do not represent strength of economy (most people think that).
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  2.  @Poctyk How does Australia having higher average wage prevent EU from recovering? What is this nonsense?
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  3. ​ @Poctyk Alright, what you wrote now at least makes sense. Now the real world data: GDP (PPP) per capita (I chose PPP to compare standard of living which influences someone's decision to move abroad / brain drain, not just GDP nominal, as higher wage is useless in a country that is extremely expensive to live in - PPP accounts for that) Germany = $ 63,150 (World Bank, 2022, but IMF has very similar number) Australia = $ 62,625 (World Bank, 2022, but IMF has similar number again) I just run comparison of 30+ economy factors are Germany and Australia are remarkably similar in almost every aspect (per capita). Even very low uneployment rate. Now average wages (no access to nominal ones): Germany = $ 57,958 Australia = $ 63,864 In Australia, you earn a little bit more, but also life expenses are little bit higher, in the end you couldn't tell a difference on your personal finances living in one or another. Go and check the actual data. GINI (income inequality index - important for wellbeing) Germany = 29.7 (2017) Australia = 34.3 (2018) (slightly worse) Human Development Index (HDI) Germany = 0.942 Australia = 0.951 (very slightly better) You picked Germany as a representation of Europe/EU, not me. You have some self-created image of Europe that is not based in facts and numbers. Europe is a mix of most developed and rich countries in the world (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland) with developed, and several "on the way to be fully developed" (Central and Eastern). If Europe experiences slowdown in growth or even stagnation, it is still a very rich place with incredibly high standard of living. That's like saying that if US economy shrunk by -2% everyone would be starving and it would be a horrible place to live. No. Japan had 30 years of stagnation, and they are still incredibly powerful economy with very high standard of living.
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  4.  @oli3492 Yes, if you don't care about how poor people are doing then USA is doing great! It just depends on human values and priorities. Check list of countries by GINI (income inequality index). But rich and upper middle class in the US are doing really well, I am not denying that.
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  5. ​ @insu_na That's what I meant to say. We agree. But saying EUR being "stronger" than USD has any relevance to comparative strength of economies is wrong. As you said, only relative movements can indicate that, not absolute exchange rate at any point.
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