Again I am not speaking of R&D as in engineering, but rather ideas in the human experience, creativity, marketing, etc.

Of course size matters. The gross GDP of the US is vastly bigger than that of Switzerland. Does that mean Swiss individuals are poorer?

The US is still innovative in some areas with good R&D. In other areas its pretty marginal. However, its certainly not the world’s R&D lab as somebody was suggesting above. Germany and Japan are also both very innovative, and if we include among innovation making things that people want (i.e. design), rather than simply technologically new – Italy and Sweden both do pretty well.

”The US is innovative in some areas, but its marginal in most.”

Wrong, bucko. Do a search for patents issued by country. The U.S. leads the world by a substantial margin, even adjusted for population [which, when you think about it, should not matter very much; California received more patents than 46 other states].

But nice try, and thanx for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts for you on your way out.

No, I was simply making the point that comparing the raw numbers tends to be meaningless. Different countries measure it differently, and direct comparisons can be misleading. Its acknowledged in the UK across all political parties, for example, that the disability benefit is used as a convenient way to improve the long term unemployment statistics. However its not included in international comparisons. Given that its relatively easy to claim unemployment benefit in France and they have a small prison population, their disguised unemployment rate is likely to be lower.

Who exactly is the US protecting the French from? I don’t think Iran is really a credible threat to anybody but its neighbours. And the French actually have quite a large military force, relative to the size of their country, particularly given that Europe is peaceful and likely to remain so in the forseeable future. The US has a very large military because it wants to be the world’s leading superpower.

All forms of social security are pay as you go, and social benefits in France are paid out in the present (just as they are in other countries, accounting fudges in the US notwithstanding). Currently they can afford them. If they are unable to afford them in the future, that will be a problem for future Frenchmen to worry about. Given that France is successful economically, with a growing GDP they may well be fine.

France is in the highest ranks for EU, not too bad compared to US

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=fr&v=29

but what you gain with births, you lose it far much than France with deaths

By the ways, didn’t Charles de Gaulle fired out the GI in 1967 ?

and while he started his nuclear programm, it was surely not for awaiting a cover from Americans

The burden sharing is another good topic. Naturally if there is consensus on defense goals, sharing is only right. It’s not clear from the U.S. side, however, how much sharing is desired, since that means less domination by the U.S. There seems to have been a long-standing lack of U.S. pressure for sharing, except in crisis periods when some sort of specific cooperation is demanded by the U.S.

Paris — I don’t have the #s at hand right now, but the U.S. advantage in R&D may be waning.

Cian’s point is germane to the birthrate issue. A trade surplus means more wealth accumulation, a factor that helps later on if there is a population issue.

Well, if we are going to go into unofficial numbers and vague generalities, we could say just about anything. What country in the world doesn’t have a disguised unemployment, including France? So we are to compare the official French numbers to some vague unofficial US numbers? This is a nonstarter.

The French version of Social Security is pay as you go. They have a major demographic problem–they are not producing enough children (future tax payers) to pay for the lavish social benefits. Demographic trends cannot be reversed in short order except via major social upheavels through massive immigration, which of course undercuts the whole notion of being “French”.

Yes, there are political choices in addition to economic ones, including the political choice by the French to have a small military and let the US cover them.

ParisParamus: I have really no idea how you might measure entrepreneurialism. These days the main R&D labs seem to be Japan, Germany, Scandinavia, SE Asia and northern Italy. The US is innovative in some areas, but its marginal in most. The exceptions are software (though Europe is rapidly catching up), pharmaceuticals, biotech and aeronautics (where Europe is at about parity). In other high tech areas the US has been left behind, including areas where it assumes dominance (like the internet). The US still has the universities, but increasingly the students are from SE Asia and are choosing to return after their doctoral work.

I am not talking about flows of capital, but rather, inspiration for entrepreneurship, new products, and just economic optimism. I’m sure that more than a few fran√ßais have been inspired by visting, studying and working in the US (conversely, I was inspired by French women and food when I lived there…) The US is, inevitably a R&D lab for the rest of the world on many levels.