The U.S. also had a civil war, indian wars, and other wars. Japan was destroyed and rose from the ashes to become the second largest economy in less than 40 years. I agree, Europeans founded the U.S. and took high risks for high rewards. Unfortunately, Europe has lagged for too long. The Europeans created the E.U. and many world organizations to be more significant. It seems, Marc Faber would be satisfied if the U.S. dollar collapsed or some other economic catastrophe fell upon the U.S. I'd be interested to know the teaching differences of European economics compared to American economics. Europeans haven't won many Nobel Prizes, although they contributed a great deal to modern economics from the 18th century to the early 20th century.