Comment by tenacious_tuna
14 hours ago
One of my coworkers points out to me every sports reference that pops up in our internal company communications (e.g. "WINNING", "Going to put together a winning team," etc). It seems like everything in the US is couched in competitive language.
Yeah, its no accident that the U.S. is the number one economy, it comes from that kind of thinking across the populace. Complacency gets you conquered.
As a non-American I agree with this. There is a whole different energy to Americans in terms of mindset compared to Europeans (not just in business). I think Europe have outstanding talent, and when it comes together it can be exceptionally good and often in a more sustainable way than the American equivalent, but it's a somewhat sad fact that many of the most successful European companies have been successful by emulating (parts of) the American culture.
> its no accident that the U.S. is the number one economy
Sure, it's the largest by GDP, but how much of that GDP is filtering down to the regular people? Are Americans, on average happier and have better life outcomes than other developed nations?
> but how much of that GDP is filtering down to the regular people?
An absolutely insane amount. It's ridiculous just how wealthy and the quality of life the average American has compared to the world.
> Are Americans, on average happier and have better life outcomes than other developed nations?
Yeah for the most part they are in the same ballpark.
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So much that millions of people risk their lives or leave their families to come to this country. By this objective metric, it's literally the best country in the world's history.
Is there another country that comes close?
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Number one economy if you ignore the comical debt. The US is borrowing from the future. Those chickens are going to come home to roost.
it kind of is an accident that ww2 didn't effect the united states but did effect europe and asia rather a lot.
We could do with a little less of it IMO. But I have heard plenty from European expats about the entrenched complacency over there. I'm told people looking to improve some system or product run right into a wall of "Why bother?".
The flipside of that is that Europeans generally get way more vacation and free time, and as a consequence, can enjoy life more.