Their biggest brand, BYD, is also relatively the "oldest."

It's the governemt priorities, local gov in China is building EV companies, AI companies. EU governemnt, US local gov is building shelters, or people who kick out people from a shelter on a voters mood swing.

A friend from the EU visited recently. He said, "At least the Netherlands is doing much better than 10 years ago...we have lights, roads." That one sentence captures the entire mindset gap.

The bitter irony: Philips literally built ASML and TSMC, then sold both. Now those companies dominate global semiconductor supply chains while Philips sells... healthcare equipment at a loss.

And ASML is about to lose it's dominance too.

But yeah...lights on the streets. Built with Chinese LEDs. Powered by Chinese solar panels. Bought using budget deficits. In debt.

And the deficit keeps growing. Some EU countries faster, some slower. But the trend is unmistakable.

▲

anonzzzies 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

My homecountry the Netherlands is the worst. The push for becoming 'small America' had us sell of everything we could possibly be proud off to other countries, including the US (mostly Blackrock and Vanguard) and India and China. Privatize everything because it works so well in the US, sell it all (private and public) off to the highest bidder and hope for globalization and the market. NL is doing well economy wise still, but I wonder how much better we could've done if we kept it all to grow.

I studied math at the University of Eindhoven which, at the time, basically meant you would work at Philips or one of its companies. I did not and in hindsight I don't think I could've handled the downfall of that company up close.

▲

tw1212893178 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That generation is the worst across Europe. They sold out entire industries, bought up all the land, let in millions of immigrants. Then they demanded to be kept alive during COVID, leading to massive overspending and health care premiums rising.

In return, they raised rents and health care premiums are still rising. And they are the last generation with massive egos (early boomer and before).

▲

adventured 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The US didn't privatize everything: it was largely private to begin with. The US had a near laissez-faire economy until the WW1-WW2 era. The 1850 to 1910 era is incredibly devoid of government regulations on the economy, which was of course undergoing a gigantic industrial expansion. European states were not formed in any manner similar to the US. The modern European nation was largely constructed in the post WW1 and post WW2 environment, they were heavily remade by the wars and what came after, including their social welfare structures and their various private/public ownership models. If you go back and look at the governing structures of most any of the European powers prior to WW2, they were nearly all: kingdoms or fascist. The US is floating on centuries of continually accumulating cruft, whereas most of the European nations have had hard break points where they reset the board and started fresh.

	▲	anonzzzies 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> The US didn't privatize everything I did not mean that; i meant NL thought all privatised would be better looking at the US so they did (mostly). So they took the US as blueprint rather than repeat their steps.

▲

thelastgallon 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

To close the loop, the debt is treasury bonds held by other countries?

▲

joseangel_sc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

can you expand on ASML losing its dominance? i have not heard that

	▲	bluGill 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It hasn't happened yet. However China has demonstrated they can make the same thing now and just need some improvements. Time will tell but it isn't looking good for them long term.

▲

cromka 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Amen. This is some of the best descriptions of the current mid to upper class mentality in Europe. Frankly, I think only the common man feels what is really happening here.