Well, many believe that Europe is falling so much behind US and China in areas such as economy, technology, innovation that it basically is just a tourist destination at this point, with no power or relevance in shaping the world's future.
Oh, yeah I've read comments like that from US people towards Europe. On the other hand, non-US people often feel that US people genuinely believe that the rest of the world dreams of being like the US.
due to amount of regulations it is hard to start business in europe and thus they mainly have old business (like BMW etc.) that are in decline. but innovation happens in other places.
There are two exceptions though - France (partially) and Sweden.
Problem is European youth and pensioners can't see the connection, so they keep voting for more taxes on the middle earning class to pay for more welfare and higher pensions.
The connection I see is fossil fuels. Europe needs to start preparing for a world with less energy. The US don't have to care yet, they can keep screwing up the climate full speed for a little longer.
