The_Mac wrote:
Bertster7 wrote:
The_Mac wrote:
uhh...the US economy is more sound than the Europeans...
No it isn't. The EU is the biggest and strongest economy in the world.
pfft...what's your reasoning for that? lol...
Collectively, the economy of the European Union's twenty-seven member states is the world's largest economy, accounting for 30.3% of the world's total GDP in 2005 (World Bank figure). As such, it is the world's principal agricultural, industrial and service provider.
Top 15 countries in the world by GDP per capita.
1 Luxembourg 87,955 2005
2 Norway 72,306 2005
3 Qatar 62,914 2005
4 Iceland 54,858 2005
5 Ireland 52,440 2005
6 Switzerland 51,771 2006
7 Denmark 50,965 2005
8 United States 44,190 2006
9 Sweden 42,383 2006
10 Netherlands 40,571 2006
11 Finland 40,197 2005
12 United Kingdom 39,213 2005
13 Austria 38,961 2006
14 Canada 38,951 2006
15 Belgium 37,214 2006
Bringing PPP into the equation give this:
1 Luxembourg 80,471 2005
2 Ireland 44,087 2005
3 Norway 43,574 2005
4 United States 43,444 2005
5 Iceland 40,277 2005
— Hong Kong, China 38,127 2005
6 Switzerland 37,369 2005
7 Denmark 36,549 2005
8 Austria 36,031 2005
9 Canada 35,494 2005
10 Netherlands 35,078 2005
11 United Kingdom 35,051 2005
12 Finland 34,819 2005
13 Belgium 34,478 2005
14 Sweden 34,409 2005
15 Qatar 33,049 2005
The US also has higher inflation and a lower valued currency than the majority of member states of the EU.
It isn't even debatable that the US economy is a strong as the EUs, because it simply isn't. You'd have to be a retard to think it was. The EU is an economic hyperpower.
In an article which compared the US against averages of varying states of the EU, the US figures looked pretty good. But there is only one US and about 30 members of the EU.
Average gross domestic product (GDP) in the US is about 40 per cent higher than average GDP of the EU-15 when measured at purchasing power parity (PPP). The gap is slightly greater if we consider either the twelve Eurozone members (EU-12) or add the accession states (EU-25). Although GDP is a poor indicator of measure of welfare or happiness, let’s agree to use it for the sake of comparison.
The main reason the US is richer is because, first, a higher proportion of Americans are in employment and, secondly, they work about 20 per cent more hours per year than Europeans. When we look at GDP in 2005 per person per hour worked, there is virtually no difference between Germany, France and the US.
The article goes on to conclude that neither economic model is great, but that the EU have a better one than the US, who are borrowing massive sums of money to keep the economy ticking over, a policy which will collapse on itself at some point.
Comparing the economic performance of the European Union and the USA does not lead one to conclude that America has the more dynamic economy, or that it has performed better in the past or will do so in future. The most crucial feature of the comparison’ is neither the growth nor the unemployment record of the US and the EU. It is, rather, that US growth, unlike that in the EU, is funded by a dangerously high mountain of foreign debt. US external indebtedness in turn is driven by the US house price bubble, enabling US consumers to spend more than they earn. Ironically, it is the EU which, together with China and Japan, continues to lend the money to the US which keeps their households spending and their economy growing.
The truth is that neither side ‘wins’ in this beauty contest. Europe merely does less badly than the USA in some crucial respects. Yes, while it is true that the core Eurozone countries could perform far better, Germany, France and Italy have quite different problems - in comparison both to the US and to each other - which require quite different solutions. Anybody who claims that the US provides a model which the EU should copy needs to consider the basic economic facts of the case.
Looking at US economic growth and its correlation with US borrowing, it becomes clear that a large proportion of US economic might is actually just temporary.
In any case, it is typical for studies of US and EU economies either to focus on averages for EU states or for the economies of just the EU-12, 15 or 25.
When sources for total economic purchasing power are compared, the EU comes out on top across the board.
Last edited by Bertster7 (2007-05-14 17:42:36)
