[eru]

Ireland is richer if you look at labour income, too. I agree that its GDP numbers are a bit weird.

China is poorer than the EU.

> The regulations put in place in the 30s after the great depression were relaxed by Reagan, and unsurprisingly it lead to the reemergence if financial crisis after half a century of financial stability.

The US had inane financial regulations right from the start. And I'm not sure what you are smoking: have you heard of the Great Moderation? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moderation

[littlestymaar]

> China is poorer than the EU.

Per capita, so far. But it used to be a third-world country and it's now the industrial superpower.

> The US had inane financial regulations right from the start.

“FDR didn't exist”.

> And I'm not sure what you are smoking: have you heard of the Great Moderation? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moderation

Dude, the “great moderation” is about inflation, business cycles and macro trends more generally, not about financial markets stability.

[eru]

> Per capita, so far. But it used to be a third-world country and it's now the industrial superpower.

They moved from dirt poor to middle income largely by strangling their economy quite as hard as the did under Mao. If they liberalised further, they could become richer.

> “FDR didn't exist”.

Huh?

[littlestymaar]

> They moved from dirt poor to middle income largely by strangling their economy quite as hard as the did under Mao.

They did move from durt poor to “higher life expectancies than the US” because the state made it an actual goal, with policies designed for that.

> If they liberalised further, they could become richer.

That's just your religious belief. But it has strictly the same factuality as “if you went to church, God would help you be happier”.

> > “FDR didn't exist”.

> Huh?

Maybe document yourself on the massive financial regulations tightening that happened under FDR before saying it has always been the same.