Europe is fine. Germany is a developed economy with a highly skilled population. It will eventually recover from its crisis.
You mentioned that the US economy is now double of Europe, but where did it grom from 2000? Big tech? Do we really need huge advertisement companies (google and meta) or a manufacturer of luxury toys (apple)?
Some people just really want to use a moment of crisis to push for less labor protections and welfare. Fuck that noise.
From what I can see through Google search, Germany's GDP was around $5 trillion in 2023 with around 20% from manufacturing (or $1 trillion)--or about 3 Apple's.
Another comparison: the U.S. and German automotive industries were about the same in 2023. The coming of EV's will likely impact both countries, especially with pressure from China (and potentially Japan and South Korea.) EV's will also likely disrupt the after-market repair and parts industries, since they technically require less maintenance.
Under other points of view, yes, Germany and Europe isn't turning in third world economy.
Maybe that is the issue.
The real purchasing power of the average German worker has been on a steady decline for the past 20-30 years with sharper declines in 2008 and 2022 while the US has only been surging up. When is this mythical recovery coming? Any day now?
>Ehh. No. Europe is fine.
Burring your head in the sand to slow decline is not fine. It's just ignoring the problems hoping they go away but that's not how it works.
That is not the only measurement of prosperity. It's just a data point you picked to push for a certain agenda.
> Burring your head in the sand to slow decline is not fine. It's just ignoring the problems hoping they go away but that's not how it works.
Neither is pretending that trickle down economics will do anything for the common man.