Comments by "Tim Tursonoff" (@timmietz) on "" video.

  1. As somebody who travels to Europe, 2 to 5 times a year and spends a lot of time(2+ months a year) and money in many European countries every year, I mostly disagree with you assessment. And, consequently, I do agree with the article. I’ve been traveling to Europe since 2006 so, I have 17 years worth of observations and opinions. Overall, it is very clear that in the majority of European countries, an average person has become poor, and I don’t think it’s an argument that an average American has done substantially better in this period of time.. They are some exceptions, of course. Switzerland appears to be doing well still Sweden, Norway, and to a lesser extent Denmark, do it a lot better today than they did 15 years ago. Germany appears to maintain status quo. The rest of the countries that I frequently visit, which is about 15 of them, including the pseudo socialist estates of France and Italy have definitely declined since my first visit 17 years ago. I don’t think that any economist in Europe would argue that the United States overall has dealt with Covid substantially better from the economic perspective than most European countries. Real wage growth in the United States i, pardon the pun, REAL. I can attest to that as I employ over 100 people here in Florida. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that when the unemployment is running at a significantly lower than 5%, real wage growth will become a real issue. I am, yes, the cost of living in the absolute majority of European countries today is significantly lower than it is in the United States. We frequently joke. If we go to Europe, even to places like London, Monaco, St. Tropez and Lake, Como to save money versus, for example, Miami, NYC, Chicago, or Los Angeles. but, the average wage discrepancy today is order of magnitude higher between the US and most European countries versus what it was as recently as 10 years ago. Don’t even get me started on the top 5% average earnings in the US versus Europe today versus say 2013. if you need any proof to that point, the only thing you have to do is look at the production distribution patterns for Lamborghini and Ferrari today versus what it was even as recently as 2017. A much higher percentage of their product now goes to the US versus the European market. As they say, money talks. The last thing I’m going to say, that the conversation about Europeans, being lazy, is complicated as the Europeans, on average, look at the earnings versus quality of life equation differently than the majority of the Americans. It is a fact of life, just like a it is a fact that any, hard-working American in almost any industry today, is going to make 20, 30, 40% more than an average European counterpart. For some industries and some occupations, that number is going to be 200% and 300%. And yes, my opinion is clearly from a guy that pays almost a $1.0MM/yr in federal income tax here in the US. The American economic system is not perfect. The American economic system definitely favors the top 20% end even more so the top 2%. However, over the last five years, on average, American has done substantially better than an average European. Finally, like I always say, if you are anywhere close to being well to do, you want to live in the United States, if you are poor, you are much better off in Europe.
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