For some definitions of wealth, surely. By most quality of life metrics, the average (Western) European is doing as well or better than the average American.
And as for AI DeepMind is HQ’d in Europe!
Supported by something also said by others [7] https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/02/26/europe-is-the-fr...
The underlying issue seems to be an incompatibility between egalitarianism and inspiration to individual exceptionalism.
Why be great in Europe, if the rewards to being great elsewhere are better, and you can afford to relocate?
To benefit from European social benefits? If you're that successful, you've far exceeded that standard from personal wealth!
Consequently, you're stuck in a weird middle ground with misaligned incentives papering over a fundamental incompatibility.
As an American, I've heard some variant of this for literally my entire life.
Europe is technologically conservative in ways that the US is not. It's unclear that this has, is having, or will have any impact on the actual material wellbeing of the people who live there.
Compare life expectancy[1], or just about any self-reported QoL metric[2] (where the US doesn't perform badly, just not better!).
[1]: https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/data/euro...
I don't think it makes sense to wave away life expectancy as a demographic anomaly: there are counterbalancing anomalies that favor the US (such as tobacco and alcohol consumption), and yet Europe still averages out on top. But even if it was: obesity (and societal compromises made to accommodate it) are part of self-reported QoL metrics. Why ignore that?
The same is true for the Better Life Index: Europe is not exceeding the US in many (or even a majority) of metrics, but is consistently at par with them. The conclusion to draw is that the OECD's framing can be biased, but that bias doesn't actually appear to favor Europe.
As for income: it turns out that perception is everything. Joe Schmoe in America might have more disposable income than the average German or Italian, but he's also aware of his country's lopsided income distribution[1]. That kind of inequality permeates through QoL perceptions.
[0] https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-disposable-income.htm
[1] https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-net-worth.htm#indicator-...
I’ve travelled to quite a few places in Europe and coming from the American Midwest, we are beating much of Europe in most/all QoL metrics by a mile.
Much larger and nicer homes, larger properties, mincer automobiles, more variety of all consumer goods, higher incomes, more wealth and social mobility to name a few and I live in “flyover” country.
Very interested to hear specific ways the Europeans are beating us and where exactly they are hiding all that prosperity!
I, like many Americans, would take a strong safety net, sustainable urban development and a smaller home over the US's mess of a safety net, socially devastating suburban sprawl, and a 4000 sqft McMansion.
[1] US suicide rates https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/suicide-mortality/...
[2] EU suicide rates https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/e...
This is what we refer to as "europoor". Sure they have taxpayer funded "healthcare", council "housing", public "transportation" but it's not really what i would want for myself. Those things only exist because the middle class in europe is foced to give up a lifestyle of freedom/autonomy to average it out so the folks below them can get (1 + 0)/2. It won't stand on its own otherwise.
Thankfully the decision isn't being made for me by making those things prohibitively expensive to force me to live in urbania.
It's a decent house out in the suburbs vs some dense urban inner city apartment or something attached to other people with people of varying crazyness for lack of a better word living around you. And if you do want to own a house, it's going to be crazy expensive and cars you can't drive unless it's tuesday and you have an odd numbered license plate.
The people living in the villas are the actual wealthy who gets to bypass the system (ie billionaire flying a private jet to a climate change conference to try to get the government to ban cars to force you to use a packed train). I'm advocating for freedom/autonomy for the middle class instead of grouping everyone who isn't a billionaire together. I'm just saying we add one more partition.