Yeah, I like to say the differences between the US and Europe are more like priorities here. The US is where you make it big and become a billionaire, but there's very little in the way of safety nets or social support. If you're interested in startups, economic success or other such things, the US is ahead of Europe for sure.

At the same time, Europe is about quality of life overall economics, at least to some degree. Taxes are higher on the richest folks and it's harder to become a billionaire or create the next FAANG company there. If your goals are "make a lot of money from AI/crypto/whatever", it's probably not the place to be.

On the other hand if you're working/middle class and just want a quiet lifestyle doing a normal job, then Europe is probably better for quality of life reasons. Medical care and education aren't astronomically expensive, workers rights are a lot better on the employee side and (sometimes) housing is more affordable.

Is either trade off the right one to make? Depends on what you think a country should be I guess.

GDP is "it depends" as well.

Absolute? Yes.

PPP? No. It's actually growing faster than the US.