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Posted on 07/15/2026 10:33:03 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
This video explores the reasons behind the European Union's current economic struggles compared to the United States and China. The continent is facing a "moment of reckoning" characterized by low productivity, a reliance on traditional industries, and a lack of investment in transformative digital technologies. Key Takeaways:
Economic Stagnation: The EU economy is estimated to be roughly 18% smaller than it might have been, resulting in a €3 trillion shortfall in annual income (0:36-0:45, 4:11-4:20).
The Draghi Report: Former ECB president Mario Draghi warned that Europe's competitiveness is weak. He emphasized that the EU must invest hundreds of billions of euros annually in innovation and infrastructure to prevent its share of global GDP from dropping below 10% by 2050 (1:26-2:22). The Innovation Gap: Europe has failed to translate cutting-edge technologies into large-scale businesses, largely due to a lack of venture capital markets and a heavy focus on regulation over growth (4:25-5:17). Sectoral Challenges: Automotive: Traditional giants like Volkswagen are struggling to transition to the digital and electric vehicle era, facing competition from Tesla and Chinese manufacturers (5:58-6:28).
Fiscal Instability: France is facing political deadlock and significant debt, while Germany grapples with an potential employment crisis, both of which threaten the stability of the entire union (6:29-7:55).
Geopolitical Risk: The declining value of the Euro against the Dollar and the threat of populism (such as calls for exits from the currency) highlight the existential risks posed by these economic trends (8:35-9:14).
Future Outlook: While the situation is dire, experts suggest that Europe's strength in precision engineering and traditional manufacturing (particularly in regions like Northern Italy, Southern Germany, and Switzerland) could provide a foundation for future competitiveness if properly directed toward modern technological goods (9:15-9:45).
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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Maybe energy/power is an issue?
One thing they didn’t mention - demographics. Their birthrates collapsed a generation earlier than America’s did and they collapsed far harder. The population is aging. Older people aren’t known for their innovation. Its hardly surprising they aren’t keeping pace with cutting edge technology.
Nations with citizenry who are force to serve are nations with unenthusiastic workers. It’s why the South struggles to create wealth, compared to the North.
China’s numbers may have been untrue for a long period.
struggled, not struggles.
I meant pre-1861.
Europe is comprised of aging societies with declining populations. Compounding the demographic problems is the admission of millions of uneducated third world immigrants, legal and illegal. They are disproportionately on welfare and commit crimes at a far higher rate than the native population. Many are Muslims. They are not being assimilated.
The other problem hobbling Europe is low cost energy. They have succumbed to the climate change mythology and renewables. Industries are leaving Europe seeking low cost energy to make them more competitive in the global economy.
“… Europe’s strength in precision engineering and traditional manufacturing (particularly in regions like Northern Italy, Southern Germany, and Switzerland)”
I’m sorry. It’s near impossible to teach an adult Chadian or Sudanese to operate modern machinery, especially if they can’t read. At least the Turks had some tradition of civilization.
Correct on both counts. Gaia Worship and Open Borders are the two biggest problems.
Of course, the standard European socialism was already a huge problem but that’s one thing when its your own people. When you offer lavish public benefits to ILLEGAL ALIENS, it serves as a giant magnet for anybody in the 3rd world looking to improve their standard of living.
This last point is true of the US too though its on a different order of magnitude in Western Europe. Simply ending food, housing, education, medical benefits for illegal aliens would cause millions of them to leave.
Europe is facing all tall of the above - plus a serious lack of investment capitol because they do not possess the economic growth to fund projects internally and President Trump is bringing all the foreign investment to the United States.
In the tech world, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and it looks like Europe is on a path to poorer
I trust you don't mean the South in the US as its been growing faster than the North for decades.
If you mean the global South...as in the 3rd world, you have a point that makes sense.
And, this is even with their hollowing out America with their trade policies and relieing on our military. The EU is a lost socialist cause, best to give it to Putin!
Europe is finished - promised to much free stuff to too many illegals, and even native citizens largely believe everything should be free - much of Europe is unrecognizable from the Europe I knew growing up - and 10-20 years from now will be unrecognizable.
We may need to start bombing Europe in order to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Muslims.
The price of electricity and gasoline in Europe is ridiculously high!
The greens are destroying Europe.
To “save the Earth”, they are committing suicide.
Because it is run by Commie immigrants. Same thing is happening here in the U.S. We’ve got communist colonies popping up all over our country.
This led to the abandonment of a lot of the “hill towns”. Internal immigration to the northern area where all the higher paying jobs are located. In addition, the exodus from Italy entirely and moving to other EU countries or America.
All those famous Italian brands are manufactured in Northern Italy. What is interesting are the retirees/pensioners from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia that have been relocating to Italy over the last ten years. This started when they advertised 1 Euro homes available in Sicily, Abruzzo and other depressed regions. Eventually, this even effected the price of real estate in Tuscany. Meaning estates that had once been worth multiple MILLIONS were suddenly available for 1 million or less.
This does not mean you can buy a cheap place in Portofino, Bellagio, Amalfi, Florence or Positono. Those high tourist locations have been drastically effected by the AIRBNB effect. Meaning that the average Italian can no longer afford an apartment in Florence because it can be RENTED nightly for $300-700/night for 7-9 months a year.
What it does mean is that you can buy a house or 2 bedroom apartment within site of the Mediterranean for 200-500K Euro/dollars in southern provinces like Calabria and Sicily.
In the areas that are not popular with US/UK/Japanese/South Korean/Australian/Canadian TOURISTS.
Yes, this is the other major problem. However, with the exception of coal, Europe is generally not blessed with the so called “fossil fuels”. Norway and UK(North Sea) is the only exception. Which is WHY Norway has the highest standard of living in Europe.
Which is why France has so many nuclear power plants.
The stupid thing is that Germany decided to shut so many of theirs down with no real replacement. Except windmills and solar panels.
Italy, Switzerland, France have several hydro electric dams on the rivers coming out of the Alps. I believe Italy also has some geothermal power plants due to the volcanic activity around some areas.
What Europe does not have is Methane. So, they pipe it in from Russia and other places.
Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Greece would like to build a pipeline to eastern Europe.
Denmark was the first to cover all the ground and Baltic with wind turbines. Which is the most expensive electricity you can have. Plus, you need huge battery storage for when the wind is not blowing at the right velocity.
The Exception of coal.
___________________
Europe is blessed by huge coal deposits which triggered and supported all the industrial revolutions and powered the whole European industry.
And, it could still be doing that!
Unfortunately, the “global warming” idiocy caused Europeans to abandon its greatest natural resource and instead switched to imports and costly unreliable sources.
The same idiocy happens right here in the USA too.
For example, Kinder Morgan proposed building a natural gas pipeline from PA, through NY, MA, NH and back into MA.
Over much of the ROW it would have replaced a 1’ diameter existing pipeline with a 3’.
However, it got defeated by the NIMBY effect.
Meanwhile, the electricity here in New England is primarily(55%) generated by burning natural gas. Yet, to meet that demand a significant percentage needs to come into the port of Boston via LNG vessel from Houston or elsewhere.
Making the cost delivered to New England having to compete with other places on the Atlantic Ocean. Like Europe.
SO, when that little Russian gas pipeline in the Baltic got a BOO BOO (oops). The price of LNG delivered to Boston DOUBLED.
Then ALL the Karen’s on the local Facebook page complained when their Eversouce electric bills DOUBLED.
The same Karen’s that did not want that new Kinder Morgan pipeline to go through MA & NH.
The STUPID it HURTS everyone.
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