Is Europe becoming uninvestable?

[Spekulatius]

18 hours ago, Charlie said:

+ 1

 

There is no question the U.S. is  the inventor of the world.

But life/business is no zero sum game and we are profiting from these inventions.

If you have a very good job in Europe or you are a Berkshire investor you can probably live better, because everything is relative. I like our democracy, no idiotic president, no ICE....

I heard of $20 beers at the world cup. 

 

+ tip. I bought one for $19 in Atlanta. Those stories are true. To be fair, it was a German Maß.

Edited Thursday at 12:53 AM by Spekulatius

[james22]

[james22]

[TwoCitiesCapital]

I think what most people are missing with the Europe vs America wealth debate is that Europe doesn't get to print infinite amounts of paper money out of thin air to buy global goods/assets/products with. At least not anywhere to the extent the US gets to. 

 

Every second the USD remains the reserve currency is a second that were trading something that is largely worthless and getting something of real value. Every fiat currency does this, but being the global reserve means we get to abuse the shit out of it. 

 

That small benefit across every int'l transaction every day for decades adds up. 

[Lazarus]

5 hours ago, james22 said:

 

That is a shocking graphic.

[changegonnacome]

On 6/23/2026 at 7:10 PM, Spekulatius said:

Wealthier  yes, but better I am not sure. Europe has a much better work life balance (work hours, vacation) and more livable cities. US has lower taxes , is much more entrepreneurial.

 

There is also one area where many European countries have the US beat and that is something else not measured in $ and €'s.....and thats trust....many European countries when measured still have all the hallmarks of high trust societies - citizens trust in the institutions and trust in fellow citizens...if you've never experienced this you probably don't realize what a quality of life enhancer it is......the US in its period of economic outperformance over Europe has seen both those metrics degrade meaningful such that many surveys place it as now a medium to medium-to-low trust society.

[Dalal.Holdings]

 

This is the most European/EU news story ever...shut off AC for lower level workers at the EU, but Ursula and her staff on the upper levels get to keep their AC on. AC for me, but not for thee.

 

Just like Davos where all the private jets fly in to discuss climate change...

[Loss Horizon]

On 6/25/2026 at 5:31 PM, james22 said:

 

Yet EU's GDP is 2/3 of US GDP.

 

US is clearly leading in market cap and hyper-growth startups. 

 

What's the comparison of Mittelstand?

[Marco Van Basten]

On 6/25/2026 at 5:45 PM, changegonnacome said:

 

There is also one area where many European countries have the US beat and that is something else not measured in $ and €'s.....and thats trust....many European countries when measured still have all the hallmarks of high trust societies - citizens trust in the institutions and trust in fellow citizens...if you've never experienced this you probably don't realize what a quality of life enhancer it is......the US in its period of economic outperformance over Europe has seen both those metrics degrade meaningful such that many surveys place it as now a medium to medium-to-low trust society.

I am afraid that you are thirty years too late.   I would argue that given the insane immigration, UK, Ireland, France, et all are low trust societies today.  If you go to a small town in the US, you will see a high trust society, NYC is not a good representative of the country as a whole.  

[cubsfan]

11 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

 

This is the most European/EU news story ever...shut off AC for lower level workers at the EU, but Ursula and her staff on the upper levels get to keep their AC on. AC for me, but not for thee.

 

Just like Davos where all the private jets fly in to discuss climate change...

 

That takes a lot of nerve.

[John Hjorth]

11 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

 

This is the most European/EU news story ever...shut off AC for lower level workers at the EU, but Ursula and her staff on the upper levels get to keep their AC on. AC for me, but not for thee.

 

Just like Davos where all the private jets fly in to discuss climate change...

 

3 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

That takes a lot of nerve.

 

LoLz - It's obviously Silly Season by now here on CofB&F about Europe being univestable. - It's also too hot by now!

[Spekulatius]

18 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said:

 

This is the most European/EU news story ever...shut off AC for lower level workers at the EU, but Ursula and her staff on the upper levels get to keep their AC on. AC for me, but not for thee.

 

Just like Davos where all the private jets fly in to discuss climate change...

Not to justify this, but the lower floors are much cooler than the upper floors of a building. My mom for example lives in the lowest floor of an older building and her apartment has remained reasonably cool in the current heat. Now if you have an apartment under the roof, you are cooked.

Edited Saturday at 08:29 PM by Spekulatius

[james22]

On 6/27/2026 at 8:52 AM, John Hjorth said:

LoLz - It's obviously Silly Season by now here on CofB&F about Europe being univestable. - It's also too hot by now!

 

 

[Milu]

My strategy is to live in Europe, but have a portfolio of mostly US stocks. Best of both worlds.

[Gregmal]

On 6/26/2026 at 11:30 PM, Marco Van Basten said:

 If you go to a small town in the US, you will see a high trust society, NYC is not a good representative of the country as a whole.

Oh totally. If you go outside places like NYC, LA, etc people are friendly, trustworthy, and in general of significantly higher quality. 

[Paarslaars]

On 6/27/2026 at 10:28 PM, Spekulatius said:

Not to justify this, but the lower floors are much cooler than the upper floors of a building. My mom for example lives in the lowest floor of an older building and her apartment has remained reasonably cool in the current heat. Now if you have an apartment under the roof, you are cooked.

Not to mention that the majority of people working for the EU commission have extravagent wages (even your typical blue and white collars) and are allowed to work from home...

[Paarslaars]

On 6/27/2026 at 5:30 AM, Marco Van Basten said:

I am afraid that you are thirty years too late.   I would argue that given the insane immigration, UK, Ireland, France, et all are low trust societies today.  If you go to a small town in the US, you will see a high trust society, NYC is not a good representative of the country as a whole.  

You are correct here. Though similarly to US, high trust is still present in small towns.

Immigration ruined that in the cities though... 

[Paarslaars]

Perhaps a European perspective is more helpful here.

• I have 45 vacation days a year + 10 annual holidays
  • This will increase to > 50 days when I reach 50.
• Get 20 days off for the birth of each child and am allowed to take 4 months off unpaid per kid (government subsidizes a little)
• I pay 46% taxes on my base income
  • Companies offer a variety of additional extra-legal benefits that avoid the high taxation.
  • In my country specifically, capital gains are taxed at 10%, dividends at 25%.
• My doctor visits cost me 3€
• Health insurance covers almost everything, hospitalization insurance covers the rest.
  • I am in a rare situation with a daughter that has a serious condition, probably been hospitalized >100 times by now. This literally has had no impact on our financial health.. in the U.S. I would be ruined.

Despite the high taxes, most people I know would gladly choose extra holidays vs extra salary.

The thing is, making substantially more money is not likely to get you a better lifestyle... we don't have 100M beachside mansions and that sort of extravagant stuff. 

 

We don't feel insecure about American exceptionalism. In fact we celebrate it... if this is how Americans love to spend their lives then this is great, you are building the future of the world. But we prefer to spend our lives more on quality time with family, friends, etc... We do consider your tipping culture borderline insane though.  

 

I think most Europeans understand that if you have a healthy work-life balance and live in a country where 'bad luck' is covered by the government, you don't really need to build a large amount of wealth.

 

An ow, our food is just way better & healthier. Can't believe the kind of stuff you guys are allowed to put in food and sell to kids...

 

 

 

[Kizion]

1 hour ago, Paarslaars said:

I think most Europeans understand that if you have a healthy work-life balance and live in a country where 'bad luck' is covered by the government, you don't really need to build a large amount of wealth.

 

Makes you wonder how long that can last, though. As a fellow Belgian, you'll know we're not exactly in the strongest fiscal position — borrowing to keep all those commitments going, with growth that hasn't really kept pace. At some point, something's got to give. 

 

That's actually my main motivation for investing and building wealth in the first place — to be able to retire on my own terms, independent of whatever the government can or can't deliver by then. And to have a nest egg for the children to start with, because I have the idea that the social/economic mobility will be a lot more difficult in the AI future. 

 

And honestly, I think the EU needs to move closer to the US model. Incentives are better aligned. When people have a bit more skin in the game, they tend to push harder — I think we've gotten a little too comfortable here.

Edited 1 hour ago by Kizion

[Paarslaars]

19 minutes ago, Kizion said:

 

Makes you wonder how long that can last, though. As a fellow Belgian, you'll know we're not exactly in the strongest fiscal position — borrowing to keep all those commitments going, with growth that hasn't really kept pace. At some point, something's got to give. 

 

That's actually my main motivation for investing and building wealth in the first place — to be able to retire on my own terms, independent of whatever the government can or can't deliver by then. And to have a nest egg for the children to start with, because I have the idea that the social/economic mobility will be a lot more difficult in the AI future. 

 

And honestly, I think the EU needs to move closer to the US model. Incentives are better aligned. When people have a bit more skin in the game, they tend to push harder — I think we've gotten a little too comfortable here.

 

The US is suffering from a similar problem though, they keep borrowing to fund their innovation.

US debt to GDP is 122%, Belgium is 110%.

 

Belgium needs to practice more austerity with their social security, too much is taken advantage of. It would indeed be better if that money is more spent towards innovation to increase our GDP, that I agree on.

 

However, I don't believe this needs to result in Belgians working 80hour weeks to get by and pray to god they never need an ambulance.

[Kizion]

12 minutes ago, Paarslaars said:

 

The US is suffering from a similar problem though, they keep borrowing to fund their innovation.

US debt to GDP is 122%, Belgium is 110%.

 

Belgium needs to practice more austerity with their social security, too much is taken advantage of. It would indeed be better if that money is more spent towards innovation to increase our GDP, that I agree on.

 

However, I don't believe this needs to result in Belgians working 80hour weeks to get by and pray to god they never need an ambulance.

 

Don't want to turn this into an intellectual battle of ego's - I don't root for 80 hour work weeks, I'm just saying we could definitely return more ownership towards the people. My opinion is that we shouldn't take current government support for granted and I'm having a more positive image of the US in 25 years compared to EU. For EU I see more risks and less opportunities vs. US.