Relative Strengths of Economies

Scuttlebutt
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There were some posts re: relative strengths of world economies on other threads. They were getting off-topic so I started this one.

This chart spells the subject out pretty well;

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Some comments:
Look at the performance of the US economy in a relative sense since 2017. It has never stopped climbing. The dollar amounts are deceptive because of inflation, true. But it’s the relative direction that matters.

Compare the US economy to China. Not only is China’s GDP far below that of the USA, more importantly the delta climb sputtered in 2023. Their GDP actually shrank. Probably grow again. More likely the years of phenomenal growth have ended

Japan’s GDP is not looking good. Inflation makes it difficult to compare years exactly but look at the drop between 2020 and 2023. Startling. Aging, shrinking population sent it on a downward trajectory. Like us they hit a demographic cliff re: retirements in 2021. Unlike us they have no immigration to grow their economy.

California, if counted as a standalone country has the 5th largest economy in the world. If its GDP continues to rise it will overtake Japan very soon. Maybe Germany in a few years.

It’s amazing that CA with a population of 42 million has a bigger GDP than India with 1.45 billion.

TX has a bigger GDP than the nation of Brazil.

New York has a bigger GDP than Russia! And most of that GDP comes from a single city: NYC. Utterly amazing.

And FL with a population of 23 million has a bigger GDP than the entire sprawling island nation of Indonesia with its 283 million.

Anybody that tells you that USA is a declining economic power is nuts (or lying to make money over outrage).

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Several years ago I had a friendly debate with an Ecuadorian about his currency being the US dollar. He thought it was great while I continue to feel otherwise. My argument was, our US Federal Reserve, US Treasury Dept, potus, congress, military etc. should all work together to advance the US economy & policies for the benefit of the American people. That’s what national governments are supposed do. But when the Fed adjusts the interest rate, congress passes a giant spending bill or the potus/us military makes a move on the world stage none of them think about how their actions affects Ecuador. Why should they, they all work for us, not the people of Ecuador?

I use that same line of thought when I think about EU nations, the Euro & their economies/GDP. Not as much as 50 or 100 years ago, but those countries/economies are still competing against one another. But they are now hamstrung by a unifying governoring body & a common currency that really prevents one nation from getting too much of the upper hand over the others. When one country starts to suffer too much like Greece did 15 years ago, all other EU nations need to make adjustments to get Greece up to speed. When one EU country’s economy gets too hot, many of the poorly managed governments try to get on the action, siphoning off the rewards for their own. So when rating countries in the global GDP race, I count all EU countries together & divide by the number of members. It roughly puts the EU countries at 1008 billion. The EU ranks about 15th, below Indonesia on the chart linked below that doesn’t include individual US states.