[lit-ideas] Re: Another Lit-Ideas idea
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 07:44:23 -0800
I'm not sure what you're saying here, John. The last time I was into this
(probably in 2002 or 2003), The U.S. economy was about the same size of all
the Western European nations put together. The conclusion I was reading was
that Europe was fading dramatically and the U.S. was rising. The context of
the articles had to do with evaluating of the European economies, and the
conclusion the writers of the articles were drawing was that the days of
Europe having the biggest economies in the world was definitely over.
Beyond that, the U.S. at 300+ million people was expected to overtake
Europe's 400 million sometime in this century. An increasing population is
necessary for a growing economy the way things stand today. We have it.
The Europeans don't - unless they assimilated their immigrants and seek
more, but they are not doing well in that regard.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of John McCreery
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 7:18 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Another Lit-Ideas idea
Nowadays, "the world's richest country" needs to be taken with a grain
of salt. On the one hand, I recall hearing from an economist who works
for the American Chamber in Hong Kong, that as of 2000, the combined
GDPs of the countries in Europe, East Asia and North America
respectively were roughly equal in size. The days when the USA was the
undisputed biggest economy in the world are over.
Also, turning to savings rates and national debt, the US looks more
and more like the profligate neighbor maxing out her credit cards to
support a way of life beyond her means. Remember Dickens: Something
along the lines of, debt 20 shillings, income 21 is Heaven. Debt 20
shillings, income 19 is Hell....
It doesn't look like our kids will enjoy the Heaven we did.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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