I found an interesting Article about productivity.
It says yes Americans are the most productive BUT and here it comes not per hour just overall. Because they actually spend more time then other countrys:
"American workers are most productive, but some Europeans do better per hour"
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-09/01/content_260191.htm (Study UN)
The difference in productivity between Europe and USA is non existant if you count it per hour.
I think its a good idea to export more stuff. I dont think they can do this much but its good if the economy has two strong areas if one is weaker then the other can help out. In Germany the export is 47% of the total economy. Its a point of weakness here because we rely on exports too much germans dont spend their money they safe it since the 50s (they just dont get that its not that good to safe money) But USA is the other extreme they spend to much and make to much debts and export is to small.
Thats why Chinas national bank is the place on earth were they have by far the most dollars. They have even more Dollars then any bank in USA.
And because of the Myth that USA gets the highest wages thats not true since decades:
I show you an example here is the List for all Countrys in the world which shows that aslong as counted in INT Dollar the real Income of the USA cant be showed. First method is unfair because prefers USA because it counts in Int Dollars and second method is unfair because it prefers Europe because its counted in US-Dollars.
I explain what an International Dollar is: It is a fictional currency which represents the purchasing power of the Dollar at a given time. Mostly 1990 or 2000 nowadays. If a currency lost value because of Inflation the international Dollar shows the real worth the currency has. Exchange rates have nothing to do with it. The Euro is way less worth then in 2000 the International Dollar is worth more then the Euro because it nevr loses value.
That works fine if you compare all countrys except the USA as seen in the first chart it is all counted in International Dollar in the second its all counted in US Dollar. But surprisingly the US has still the same number because International Dollar and Dollar are transfered one to one. But the US Dollar has lost a lot compared to the Dollar 10 or 20 years ago.
First rank shows the rank of all countrys except US it should have been lower. Second shows everything just calculated in US Dollar with the Exchange rate in 2008 but here the Europeans are prefered due to the exchange rate. US should be higher there it should be between 6th place and 15th place.
Link: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Länder_nach_Bruttoinlandsprodukt_pro_Kopf
Ok here it is in international Dollars and then US Dollars:
Rang Land 2008 BIP (PPP) pro Kopf
Int. Dollar
1 Katar/Quatar 85.868
2 Luxemburg/Luxembourg 82.306
3 Norwegen/Norway 53.451
4 Singapur 51.142
5 Brunei 50.117
6 Vereinigte Staaten/USA 46.859
7 Hongkong 43.811
8 Schweiz/Switzerland 42.783
9 Irland/Irland 42.539
10 Niederlande/Netherlands 40.431
11 Island/Iceland 40.025
12 Kuwait 39.850
13 Österreich/Austria 39.634
14 Kanada 39.183
15 Vereinigte Arabische Emirate 38.830
16 Australien 37.299
17 Dänemark/Denmark 37.266
18 Schweden/Sweden 37.245
19 Vereinigtes Königreich/Uk 36.523
20 Belgien/belgium 36.235
21 Finnland/Finnland 36.217
22 Deutschland/Germany 35.442
23 Bahrain 34.605
24 Frankreich/france 34.208
25 Japan 34.100
26 Taiwan 30.881
27 Spanien/Spain 30.621
28 Italien/italy 30.581
29 Griechenland/greece 30.535
30 Zypern/cyprus 29.830
Rang Land 2008 BIP pro Kopf
US-Dollar
1 Luxemburg/luxembourg 113.044
2 Norwegen/ norway 95.062
3 Katar/Quatar 93.204
4 Schweiz/Switzerland 67.385
5 Dänemark/Denmark 62.626
6 Irland 61.810
7 Island/Iceland 55.462
8 Vereinigte Arabische Emirate 54.607
9 Schweden 52.790
10 Niederlande/Netherlands 52.019
11 Finnland 51.989
12 Österreich/Austria 50.098
13 Australien 47.400
14 Belgien 47.108
15 Vereinigte Staaten/USA 46.859
16 Frankreich/France 46.016
17 Kuwait 45.920
18 Kanada 45.428
19 Deutschland/Germany 44.660
20 Vereinigtes Königreich/UK 43.785
21 Italien/Italy 38.996
22 Singapur 38.972
23 Japan 38.559
24 Brunei 37.053
25 Spanien/Spain 35.331
26 Zypern/Cyprus 32.772
27 Griechenland/Greece 32.005
28 Hongkong 30.755
29 Neuseeland/New zealand 30.049
30 Israel 28.365
(Somehow I wasnt able to Post the charts so I had to transfer them, for some countrys I made a translation). If someone wants to know why Iceland and Ireland ranks so high in the Int dollar income it was a chart before the crisis. And they are small economys so but had gigantic Bankprojects due to some tax advantages which has influenced the chart.
This numbers are from the IMF (headquarter washington DC) so they are reliable. But still it doesnt reflect the real wealth of the people in those countrys. The Prices are different for the goods in each country also taxes and so on. Infact there is no real way to measure the income and compare it to different countrys. For example the gas prices are way higher in Europe than USA also the duty to insure your car. And the duty to have a health insurance. It all affects how much money actually someone has in the pocket. In Scandinavia you pay insane prices for alcohol or Luxury goods.
So even if you have less in some Countrys you can actually buy more stuff. But also there are things which used to be cheaper in Europe (ofcourse not now from US perspective because of the exchange rate).
What I want to say is that there is no real difference between the countrys in the western world the differences are there but they are smaller then ever. Also USA and EU have comparable economys. EU has a bigger Economy due to the fact it has more people. But USA is still the single country with the biggest Economical Power. I just want to stop that myth USA is better in all disciplines because thats not true.
I remember the times were Clinton was still President and USA was filthy rich they almost drown in Dollars because evrything worked so well. Today it is in really bad condition. If USA gives Obama enough time I think the economy should be ok again. Its good for us all if US is strong. Because of the weak Dollar the US Citizens cant buy our stuff anymore. its a way to increase sells of products produced in US but its also a way to damage the dollar. China and other big economys start to switch to the euro. And especially for a Nation like USA which likes to import stuff it is contra productive over a longer time period. I really hope that USA will be healthy again. I dont like the vision of China beeing Number one Economy in the world. And Hopefully USA will gain strength to be the counter weight for china. Is good he increase exports and the financial crisis has also its opportunitys. A crisis has to happen the bigget the crisis the higher the following economic upturn.
