It is the prevailing idea in both Brussels and Washington: America is soaring, while Europe is falling behind. This refrain even appears in the White House’s now-famous National Security Strategy. “Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP – down from 25% in 1990 to 14% today – partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness.”
European conservative parties have echoed this argument in order to call for deregulation and lower taxes: an end to the Green Deal, challenges to a corporate due diligence rule and scrapping the minimum tax rate on multinational companies. The US envoy to the European Union spoke with the same tone last week, claiming that even the poorest US states, such as Mississippi or West Virginia, now enjoyed a higher standard of living than Germany.
Yet all of this has rather little basis in fact. The idea of a sclerotic Europe facing a supposed American El Dorado, which serves as the foundation for the deregulatory offensive that currently prevails in Brussels, rests on three myths.
The US envoy to the European Union spoke with the same tone last week, claiming that even the poorest US states, such as Mississippi or West Virginia, now enjoyed a higher standard of living than Germany.
Could have stopped here, to be honest. This statement by the envoy is so absurdly false that it can’t even be claimed to be hyperbole. A better comparison would be Mississippi and South Sudan.
It is the prevailing idea in both Brussels and Washington: America is soaring, while Europe is falling behind.
No, it isn’t.
