The GDP gap between Europe and the United States is now 80%
The GDP gap between Europe and the United States is now 80%
COLUMN. As after every crisis, Europe has been stalling since Covid-19, observes Arnaud Leparmentier, Le Monde's correspondent in New York.
It was early this summer, before Americans started crossing the Atlantic to savor the sweetness of European life. Prices are very much affordable for them there, and the Wall Street Journal gave the reason as being Europe's inexorable impoverishment: "Europeans are facing a new economic reality, one they haven't experienced in decades. They are becoming poorer," wrote the business daily. In 2008, the eurozone and the US had equivalent gross domestic products (GDP) at current prices of $14.2 trillion and $14.8 trillion respectively (€13.1 trillion and €13.6 trillion). Fifteen years on, the eurozone's GDP is just over $15 trillion, while US GDP has soared to $26.9 trillion.
As a result, the GDP gap is now 80%! The European Centre for International Political Economy, a Brussels-based think-tank, published a ranking of GDP per capita of American states and European countries: Italy is just ahead of Mississippi, the poorest of the 50 states, while France is between Idaho and Arkansas, respectively 48th and 49th. Germany doesn't save face: It lies between Oklahoma and Maine (38th and 39th). This topic is muted in France – immediately met with counter-arguments about life expectancy, junk food, inequality, etc. It even irks the British, who are just as badly off, as evidenced in August by a Financial Times column wondering, "Is Britain really as poor as Mississippi?"
Europe has been (once again) stalling since Covid-19, as it does after every crisis. The Old Continent had been respected as long as Germany held out. But Germany is now a shadow of its former self, hit by Russian gas cuts and China's tougher stance on its automotive and machine tool exports. The Americans don't care about these issues. They have inexhaustible energy resources, as the producers of 20% of the world's crude oil, compared with 12% for Saudi Arabia and 11% for Russia. China, to them, is a subcontracting zone, not an outlet for high-value-added products. The triumph of Tesla is making Mercedes and BMW look outdated.
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This article, while interesting, seems a bit sensational.
Bottom line for me as an American: Is it a good time to vacay in the Eurozone?
Yes, the whole place is on sale right now. I’m going in a few weeks. Hotels are insanely cheap compared to the states. I’m staying in renovated monnestaries and castles for less than a low end chain hotel costs at home.
Airfare is fucking brutal though, so it’s almost a wash.
Generally, yeah. I would avoid the summer, though. Europe is not equipped for high temperatures.
It really is. I did a small one this summer and the US dollar went far. Third time in Germany and had a blast. Beer is everywhere there! Imagine walking into a restaurant and getting a craft beer quality drink served to you for $1.50. I can't get an IPA for that price even at my local liquor store.
Belgium is next on the list. I keep running into people from there telling me how underrated it is.
That is a SUPERDOUBT. I seriously doubt the price was that even for a shitty Heineken/becks/dreher beer. We had inflation growing almost everywhere (except Switzerland but they simply keep repeating it to themselves, hotel prices are at least 15-25% more expensive than pre-covid) Also, euro/dollar exchange rate is now the same as it was pre-covid
I'm not saying you cant find good deals but that beer price in a restaurant is unrealistic.
Don't know what to say. This is what I paid for house beer at 2 different places in Stuttgart. I guess I got really lucky?