We definitely can compete. But we don’t really compete.
We have always given the US first pickings in exchange for the security umbrella.
Things like the Plaza and Louvre accords and supporting dollar supremacy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the obvious examples. But there are many, many smaller examples, such as not fully enforcing our tax codes on American multinationals.
If we would actually compete, we would be significantly richer and more powerful.
P.s. when comparing major economies, PPP makes more sense, because Americans paying $6 for a beer when we pay €3 doesn’t actually make them any richer in any real sense.
We definitely can compete. But we don’t really compete.
We have always given the US first pickings in exchange for the security umbrella.
Things like the Plaza and Louvre accords and supporting dollar supremacy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the obvious examples. But there are many, many smaller examples, such as not fully enforcing our tax codes on American multinationals.
If we would actually compete, we would be significantly richer and more powerful.
P.s. when comparing major economies, PPP makes more sense, because Americans paying $6 for a beer when we pay €3 doesn’t actually make them any richer in any real sense.
And the EU+UK is about 10% larger than the US.
China is 39T, EU+UK is 33T, US is 30T.