Yes, Europeans Are Poorer Than Americans

How often in the US does a "bunch of friends drive over to barbecue and watch TV on your giant screen"?

My experience is that it's rare. Even the math doesn't work out that well -- if "a bunch" is 6 friends, then are those visits rotating around to each person's house? Or are 5/6ths of those friends failing to achieve that dream?

My experience is also that barbecue events are for socializing outdoors, while watching TV is indoors, but that may be just me.

> Here’s a map of the net migration difference between some European countries and the U.S., as a percent of each country’s population, for 2024

Ohh, interesting choice of date. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2026/... says there's been a big drop in Net International Migration (NIM) between 2024 ("Peaked at 2.7 million in 2024") and the expected NIM in 2026. "Currently, the estimates of NIM are trending toward negative net migration. If those trends continue, it would be the first time the United States has seen net negative migration in more than 50 years.

> There aren’t any European countries where significantly more people move from America to Europe than the reverse

Quoting from https://www.irishpost.com/news/net-migration-to-ireland-drop... (August 27, 2025) "According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 9,600 people relocated from the United States, up from 4,900 the previous year, a rise of more than 95%." while "More than 6000 people moved from Ireland to the US in the last year, which is a rise of 22%."

I think 9,600 is significantly more than 6,000.

Yeah, just not in any measure that actually counts for quality of life.

Also what's "America" and what's "Europe"? Should we jump with joy if one or another is "richer" in some aggregate sense?

If Bill Gates and Elon Musk and Ellison and the rest are in America and are mega-rich, does that offset the American struggling middle and working classes magically? Does it help with the unlivable cities or the crap public infrastructure?

There's an entertainer I follow sometimes on social media who argues that America is a hellhole due to all the crime and corruption. Really just going to ruin, in economic, business, cultural dimensions. So maybe it's not all good.

He seems quite popular, even in America so I feel like I can trust his opinions. He did win nearly half the popular vote after all.

wow, so many apples and oranges comparisons. No wait, I mean apples and cars comparisons.

Anyway, this is clickbait.

That article reads like Noah’s cognitive dissonance trying to cling to something that no longer exists (if it even existed in the first place). Like using the net migration numbers from 2024 and talking about it as if this was the present - there is no way I am going to believe the green in that chart is not going to turn red when numbers from the Trump 2.0 era are there.