> What do Europeans think of the European economy?

First of all there is no such thing as "Europeans"; you have French, Germans, Italians etc.

> From my American perspective

Your American perspective is one created by American media, ie. corporate instruments whose job is to rationalize the American way of life and paint European regulators as some sort of backward ethnics not manifesting.

> No one seems to be building anything

You overestimate the amount of people/companies who are _actually_ building something. Watching red-eyed delusional Americans dropping by presenting an AI wrapper as innovation barely registers as "building".

> What am I missing?

The point.

Do you understand what the purpose of the government is? Do you understand how labour and capital work? Do you understand how the managerial class swindles semi literate investors by seeming to be building jack shit?

PS: Are there any hackers actually left in this site?