Europe never recovered from the 2008 recession.

GDP per capita (current US$) - Italy, Greece, France, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, United States, Germany from the World Bank.  Makes the point I can never seem to communicate to Americans - just how rich the US is compared to the rest of the developed world.  In this graph, nearly twice that of the main economies in Europe.  

Our prosperity has numerous consequences such as the capacity to indulge the unadulterated nonsense of Critical Race Theory/Social Justice Theory.  Another consequence is our people's capacity to take risks, particularly commercial risks. Nothing encourages wealth creation like risk taking facilitated by prosperity.

What is even more striking though, to me, is that European economies are still below the level achieved in 2007-2008.  The US economy hit a small speed bump and then resumed its steady growth.  The European countries?  Their economies are down 10-20% from 2007-8.

Almost certainly part of this is due to China's continued displacement.  Certainly part of this reflects the greater regulatory and tax burden in Europe.  I suspect part of this contraction might reflect the state and private indebtedness in Europe.  In 2008, there was much discussion of European debt levels in general, but with an especial focus on the usual suspects (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, etc.).  

European, especially German, bank balance sheets received a fair amount of attention.

And then, just like that, attention shifted away to whatever the hysteria de jour was.  We continue to assume the European bloc remains healthy and a stalwart ally, an equal partner in the world.  That becomes less and less true as their economies continue to underperform.