KAG
Couple of points:
First, those are Purchasing Power Parity, not real currency at current exchange rates. It would look more in US favor if not PPP.
Yes true those are PPP. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing generalized differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries.
But there is an other possibility than PPP to calculate the GDP, the second method is nominal. The GDP dollar estimates presented here are calculated at market or government official exchange rates (nominal GDP).
And here the difference of GDP is even more important.
World54,620,000 1
European Union16,620,000
2
United States13,840,000
Source:
CIA World Factbook (for 2007)
Second, a fairer comparison is per capita numbers-American looks much better on that basis. The EU, on a per capita basis has a much lower standard of living and forget about China.
Maybe...
But even per capita all the nordic europe area plus Irland as a higher capita basis than the US.
And if in Europe they had a lower standard of living, why do they live longer than in the US ( 2 years more as an average)? Why university is free for most of the European students? Why when you lose your job you keep your social insurance?
I don' t think Europe has a lower standard of linving, I think US and Europe has different politics concerning the social organization, and both of them are successful in their way.
However, I agree the US is falling fast. Our infrastructure is way out-of-date, our political system is under stress and the dollar is down. Until the country makes some hard decisions, mostly on entitlement programs, taxes and a sustainable direction, it will continue a troubled path.
I have never said that the US is falling down, so I disagree when you say so. I only mean that Europe and China slowly take back their position they had before the second world war. It doesn't mean that US is falling down, it just mean that the world is in motion, as it has always been. US will recover the finance and economy crisis one more time. I have no doubts about that.
My point was to say that the world is moving and changing fast, the fuel cost is unstable, at the at same time Boeing and Airbus continue to sell aircraft... So very clever will be the one who will predict the future of the US aviation....