[friend_and_foe]

Well let's put it in perspective. The GDP of germany is smaller than the overwhelming majority of US states. That's not the whole US, that's each state by themselves. Americans are more productive by an order of magnitude.

Not that the various European nations don't have things to offer or aren't doing novel things. There's plenty that they do, but the sheer volume that the US produces across the spectrum including novel things is unmatched by a long shot.

[dmurray]

Actually, Germany has a higher GDP (4.4t USD/year) [0] than any of the 50 US states, led by California [1] at 3.6t USD/year.

Perhaps you meant GDP per capita, which would make you correct, but your post certainly wasn't phrased that way.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Germany [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...