Proud American: Study Shows If EU Were A U.S. State, Would Rank Dismal 47th In Per Capita GDP

The Atlantic ^ | 8/20/04

[dukeman]

If the European Union were a U.S. state, it would rank forty-seventh in per capita GDP, according to a report from Timbro, a Swedish free-market think tank. (Yes, there really is one.)

In annual income the average European is on a par with residents of Mississippi, West Virginia, and Arkansas. (And the report excludes the newer, poorer EU nations of Eastern Europe.)

The picture isn't much rosier even in wealthier European states like France and Britain, both of which have per capita GDPs slightly lower than Alabama's. Only tiny Luxembourg scores better than the American average. The United States' material advantage extends beyond income: Americans spend 77 percent more annually than Europeans, own more appliances, and (presumably thanks to our wide open spaces) have homes providing, on average, 721 square feet per person—nearly twice the average size of European residences. The study's authors allow that fast-growing GDP is "not the be all and end all of happiness and prosperity," citing more "intangible" (and quintessentially European) factors such as equality, leisure time, and the environment. But they note, with a defensiveness undoubtedly endemic among Swedish free-marketeers, that "material resources" are a "precondition of much of the wellbeing which people like to call intangible."

—"EU versus USA," Fredrik Bergström and Robert Gidehag, Timbro

[dukeman]

So, you may fare better if you live in the "Redneck Riviera" along the northern Gulf of Mexico as opposed to the original French Riviera.

To my European forebears: Thank you for coming over here long ago so I wouldn't have to be a European!

[saveliberty]

If the SU were a US state, the rest of us would vote it out of the country. I would think that the response from the non EU states would be overwhelmingly against it.

[jbwbubba]

This is why Europe has such a problem with America, We out do them on every turn and they can't stand it. Heck California with all of its problems has a bigger economy than France. They thought the EU would pull them even or beat us, didn't work and they started going nuts.

[pepsionice]

So what we are really saying here...is that Alabama is actually ahead of the EU on the per capita GDP? If true, then the EU really doesn't have much to say. Alabama ought to be saying what it thinks of Arafat or the Iraq war...its standing is about the same as the EU.

[elbucko]

To my European forebears: Thank you for coming over here long ago so I wouldn't have to be a European!

Same here!
The tourist cities like London, Paris, Rome, Bonn, Brussels, are all "Potemkin Villages". The rest of Europe is poor. When the average American gets out to where the average European lives, the American appreciates the USA. The problem with the Left is that they never leave the urban centers of Europe and see the real Europe for what it is.

[Migraine]

Great article; thanks for posting it!

[wideawake]

The actual full-length study from the Swedish think tank is available in English and it is excellent.

http://www.timbro.com/euvsusa/pdf/EU_vs_USA_English.pdf

[dukeman]

Perhaps Alabama can export RC Cola and Moon Pies to France to give them some culture. :-)

Seriously, I would love to see France lose its seat on the Security Council. This was only a bone tossed to them after WWII. These wimps have a major chip on their shoulder and a major stick up their a**!

[dukeman]

Hey, thanks for posting that URL!

[Sir Gawain]

The tourist cities like London, Paris, Rome, Bonn, Brussels, are all "Potemkin Villages". The rest of Europe is poor.

Yep.

[RAY]

Visited Europe several times to work and vacation. I haven't lost a damn thing there and have no interest in going back. You jet setters can have the EU.

[dukeman]

I have a teenaged daughter and I really relish the opportunities to demonstrate to her how good she has it in America. Things like, "If you did that in an Islamic country, you'd have an appendage cut off," or "If you were born into the wrong caste in India you might aspire to be a latrine cleaner at most." She hates it, but it's my duty as a father to educate her. Now I have more ammo!

[wideawake]

I was amazed when I visited Florence and Venice by how shabby the properties were and how poor the locals seemed to be.

I had a long conversation with a couple of Venetians and they basically said that there were no jobs except in government and the tourist industry in the whole Veneto and that the reason why so many Venetian homes were in visible disrepair was that you can either fix your house or you can pay the astronomical taxes on it - you can't do both.

[ikka]

So basically a bunch of hicks and rednecks (as they are thought of), given the conditions in the USA, can out-produce, out-earn, and out-spend the sniffy French and the ubermenschen Germans?

That must tick them off... [very big grin]

[wideawake]

You're welcome. Thank you for providing the path. I suggest you read it.

It's concise, it's clearly written, it presents the data in a very straightforward, logical fashion and it is damning.

[dljordan]

Have you ever noticed that the U.S. states with the biggest socialist populations is where the biggest load of crap and perversion comes from?

[dukeman]

So basically a bunch of hicks and rednecks (as they are thought of), given the conditions in the USA, can out-produce, out-earn, and out-spend the sniffy French and the ubermenschen Germans?

And we invented rock 'n roll, the cheeseburger, and Monday Night Football, too! :-)

[dukeman]

shabby Venice

We visited there in July, 2001. I liked it more than I thought I would. I agree on the general run-down look, but some might call that Old World charm. Now I know it's not by choice. Anyway, I'd consider going back and also seeing other parts of Italy, but I probably won't get my wife to travel over the Atlantic again after 9/11.

[ElTianti]

HA HA! (Nelson Muntz laugh)

[wideawake]

Oh, I loved the city. It was wonderful.

I've often wondered about the feasibility of buying a property there and fixing it up.