[lispm]

The US stock market are driven by speculation, financial products are useless, the economy is fueled by printed money, the health system is expensive, consumption is largely useless, ...

Check out Germany sometime. It does not look or feel a lot poorer.

[adventured]

The US is not fueled by printed money (quite a thing to say at a time in which the EU is launching a large QE program). The Fed's balance sheet is $4.5 trillion, while the US economy has added $3 trillion to its GDP since 2007 (during that time Europe has added $0 to its GDP, with Germany effectively adding $0 to its GDP over the same time). It's clear that US growth, in both GDP and assets, drastically exceeds the Fed's help.

All assets are valued by speculation in some form or another. Saying the stock market is driven by speculation does not lessen the fact that the value of the companies is real - as real as any other asset you can name. All assets on earth are supported by the same confidence requirements of buyers and sellers as equities are.

What asset would you list in Germany that is somehow more real than publicly traded companies in the US? Euros?

A stock certificate for one share of Berkshire Hathaway A shares, is as legitimate a value as the cash in your pocket or any other asset you could possibly name.

The US is the world's second largest manufacturing economy, and was only passed by China finally a few years ago.

[lispm]

> The US is the world's second largest manufacturing economy, and was only passed by China finally a few years ago.

It's just that Germany is manufacturing more, per capita.