The World Cup is not just a sporting event: it is the perfect excuse every four years for the customs and conceptions that govern societies to come to light. And this year, social media were filled with comments from Europeans – Spaniards, Germans, French, English – who could not believe what they saw in the United States.
They were amazed by the abundance of supermarkets, the size of cars, the roads, the houses, the food portions, the free refills. A mix of fascination and bewilderment. Some seemed to discover a country completely different from what they had been told in Europe.
Those comments led to wondering how two societies that just decades ago were at similar levels of development ended up so far apart. The answer lies in a column by Axel Kaiser, which compiles devastating data on European decline. But beyond the statistics, there is a key idea: Europe did not suffer a historical accident. It is living the consequences of a self-destruction it freely decided many years ago.
It was not a war, nor a natural catastrophe, nor an invasion. It was a political decision. Like when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he aspires to a society “with fewer Lamborghinis and more bicycles.”
For decades, Europe abandoned the principles that had made it prosperous. Economic freedom was replaced by state planning. Competition, by endless regulations. Merit began to be viewed with suspicion. Success went from being admired to being taxed. Wealth creation became almost a moral sin.
While the United States rewarded innovation, entrepreneurial risk, and private investment, Europe built a bureaucratic machinery that prevented producing too much. The continent that gave birth to capitalism began to be ashamed of it. The perfect example is Germany.
For decades it was the world’s industrial engine. But it decided to shut down operational nuclear plants, replace them with energies incapable of guaranteeing constant supply, and depend on Russian gas. It spent 500 billion euros on solar and wind infrastructure in a country without sun or wind. It was not a foreign imposition: it was a sovereign decision, celebrated as a moral triumph.
When Vladimir Putin turned off the gas tap, Europe discovered that physics does not negotiate with ideology. Electricity became extremely expensive, industry lost competitiveness, investments emigrated, factories closed. Today, if Germany were a US state, it would be the poorest except Missouri, measured by GDP per capita.
And we are talking about Germany, the flagship. Imagine what is left for Spain, France, Italy, or the United Kingdom. The extraordinary thing is that, faced with failure, Europe’s response was to deepen the same policies.
This decline is not only economic: it is cultural, demographic, political. For years, it was promoted that the West should apologize for its success. National identity was weakened, the family was discredited, religion was ridiculed, merit was relativized, education was bureaucratized, economic growth was demonized.
While Europe discussed pronouns, inclusive language, and impossible climate goals, the US kept producing, innovating, and growing. Decline never comes all at once: first confidence disappears, then investment, then growth, finally hope.
According to World Bank data, in 2023 the average European GDP per capita was $41,500, while that of the US was $82,800. In 2008, both economies were of similar size, but in 2023 the US economy was 80% larger. In the previous 15 years, the eurozone grew 6%, while the US grew 82%. If this continues, in 10 years the difference will be like that between Japan and Ecuador today.
Real wages fell in Europe and rose 6% in the US. Since 2008, Americans have become richer and Europeans poorer. 15 years ago, both accounted for a quarter of global consumption; today the ratio is 18% to 30%. The US creates 50% of the world’s unicorns; Europe only 14%, the same as China.
The most worrying thing is that a large part of the European leadership insists that the problem is that the policies have not yet been deep enough. More taxes, more regulations, more subsidies, more planning, more interventionism. Always the same recipe for the same failure.
Meanwhile, millions of Europeans cross the Atlantic and discover, with childlike surprise, supermarkets full, cheaper fuel, higher wages, huge vehicles, and a vibrant economy. They do not discover another country: they discover the result of two different philosophies. The US is not perfect, it has enormous challenges, but it never stopped believing that wealth must first be created before it is distributed. Europe believed it could indefinitely distribute wealth whose generation it systematically discouraged.
Civilizations do not die only from external enemies. They can also commit suicide.
Para mí Europa se fue al carajo con tanto progresista de mierda y burócratas que no laburan. Mientras ellos hacían marchas del clima acá en USA se rompían el lomo. Axel Kaiser la clava: el unicornio europeo se extinguió por ideologías pelotudas. Yo creo que hay que copiar a Trump no a Macron. Firmado: El Gaucho Libertario.
ta bien el yanqui este nos viene a hablar de prosperidad mientras europa se desangra con sus politicas de mierda axel kaiser y su librito neolibelulista un aplauso la brecha la hicieron ustedes recortando derechos nosotros queremos estado social de verdá igual europa se hunde porque la derecha la entregó a los mercados no por el estado de bienestar firmado el che de la pandemia