Posted on 10/06/2026 5:56:47 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
2008 EU (then including the UK) nominal GDP was larger than the US, not “similar sized.”
Common figures from IMF/World Bank-sourced compilations: EU ≈ $19.3 trillion vs. US ≈ $14.8 trillion (EU roughly 130% of US). Other series show EU around $16.3–16.4 trillion vs. US ~$14.8 trillion. In either case the EU was clearly bigger, boosted by a strong euro (near all-time highs vs. the dollar) and enlargement. Visualcapitalist
“Similar sized” is therefore inaccurate for nominal GDP in USD. (Euro-area-only comparisons were closer in some contemporaneous accounts, but the statement refers to the EU.)
2025–2026 US nominal GDP is in the $30–32+ trillion range (2025 estimates/actuals often ~$30.5–30.8 trillion; 2026 IMF-style projections commonly ~$31.8–32.4 trillion). EU nominal GDP is in the low-to-mid $20 trillions (2025 often ~$19.5–21.2 trillion; 2026 projections commonly ~$23 trillion). The statement’s “USA $30.5T / EU only $20T” is directionally correct for recent/near-term figures but a bit low on both, especially the EU side for 2026. Visualcapitalist
Context on the gap Nominal USD GDP comparisons are heavily influenced by exchange rates (euro strength in 2008 vs. later weakness) as well as relative real growth, inflation, demographics, energy shocks, the eurozone debt crisis, Brexit, etc. PPP-adjusted measures show a much smaller relative shift. Real per-capita and productivity trends also paint a more nuanced picture than headline nominal totals alone. Bruegel
Bottom line: The claim that the economies were similar-sized in 2008 is false (EU was larger in nominal USD). The later size gap is real in those terms, and policy/growth differences played a role, but the precise 2008 framing and exact 2026 round numbers are imprecise.
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All them massive Somali imports didn't do them much good.
They’re not doing us much good either.
If by some miracle the EU manned up and expelled the invaders (as opposed to legal immigrants with skills to offer and a willingness to assimilate), the next democrat president would give them all asylum in the U.S. and then go all in on non-citizen voting.
Somali’s sitting on the dole don’t buy American products, either. We get the follow on effect that Europe is buying less and less from us.
EU keeps falling, UK has fallen. 15 years max till total collapse of Europe. So our focus now should turn to securing the UK’s nuclear weapons asap. Whether by agreement or by force. Otherwise we’ll be facing a nuclear armed Islamic state within easy striking distance of the US.
Good news is that the UK deferred procurement of almost a dozen new nuclear capable submarines. They’re excuse, as always, is no money. But it is very possible a few remain in their military who understand their future and have begun to purposely dismantle the UK military so that it does not fall in the hands of Islamists. Pray that is so.
Not going to happen for a long time.
Democrats are not going to win the presidency on a mass importation of criminal illegals policy.
When Democrats get crushed in 2028 they will start reconsidering their position.
EU keeps falling, UK has fallen.
———————
Cycles, most don’t realize just how fractured Europe was just a century ago….not to mention centuries ago. The EU was formed to challenge the US, they have failed. They were never our friend, only in times of need….WW1, WW2, Germany reunification, the Soviet threat, ….we should have ditched them when the wall fell and the Soviet empire fell.
They squandered the $$$ trillions we poured into them. Best thing to do is withdraw from NATO., ASAP.
Europe is always there for us when they need us.
When Democrats get crushed in 2028 they will start reconsidering their position.
————————
IF Democrats get crushed in 2028 they will start reconsidering their position.
Cycles, most don’t realize ..
we should have ditched them when the wall fell
“EU keeps falling, UK has fallen. 15 years max till total collapse of Europe.”
It’s quite possible that Russia’s Ukraine policy, now, is to simply WAIT OUT the EU/UK’s final collapse and then get back to rebuilding their own neighborhood with whatever countries want to join. Obviously Ukraine won’t be given a choice, but other countries that may not want to go Muslim, like Poland and Hungary, and others, may well prefer going with Russia, as opposed to going with the future Muslim-run EU.
Time will tell...
But Canada will help the EU help increase their GDP... 🤣
Plus the EU has 100 million more people than the US and China has 1.05 billion more people. Policy definitely matters.
😀
I am hopeful that the lover’s-spat in Ukraine has made Trump aware of the dangers of a modern NATO. The Greenland agreements make me think he wants to make it possible to leave that wretched organization, for good.
Perhaps, similar agreements support the obsolete and anti-American UN and that organization can be sent packing, as well.
+1
I hope you’re right.
Let me try to bring some sense to this:
The EU has a larger population. Even so, the US has a larger GDP.
Necessarily, the US has a larger GDP per capita.
In addition, the US is growing and has been growing a bit faster than the EU.
While some places in Europe, such as the Netherlands and England, got out of the gate quicker than we did at the start of the industrial revolution, we overtook those places (and Europe as a whole) and never looked back.
In one sense, the advantage of the US is and has been a more vibrant, free market-oriented economy.
Having said this about the US versus the EU overall, both the EU and the US has some relatively fast-growing, and some relatively slow-growing regions. Within the US, think of Florida and Texas (fast-growing) and California and New York (slow-growing).
The concern expressed by some on this thread, about the moochers, looters and violent immigrants, is well placed. Our (shared western) society and economy has been, in net, attractive to immigration. And, has been helped by immigration historically.
However, our current policy of putting immigrants, including illegal immigrants, on welfare, enables many of them to live here supported by tax-taxpayers, not supported themselves. This fosters hatred of us by them.
They say you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you. But that is exactly what happens.
If you want foreign-born persons to hate your country, to act like they are morally-superior to you, to live in ethnic enclaves, to resist learning your national language, and to assault your women, then put them on welfare.
BTW this formula also works with domestic-born minorities.
Time is as noted, an important variable.
However, the lack of stainless valves and fittings, and all sorts of things that go into rebuilding damaged refineries is also a factor. Many of the host of parts meeting required specifications were imported into Russia and are no longer available.
Duct tape and bailing wire can only go so far before failure
I remember all the talk back in the 1990s about how the EU was going to be a superstate that was going to compete with the US. In retrospect, the EU just imposed the worst policies from each state on all other states that joined. It added a layer of bureaucratic sludge and corruption on top of the already massive bureaucracy that each state had. Government on top of government and with authoritarian, anti-democratic inclinations no less. It didn’t create a massive common market. It created a massive common bureaucracy. In retrospect, its no wonder that the economies of each member state are stagnating.
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