He contradicts himself. Europe, in particular Spain, France and Germany are still manufacturing goods. And yet their economies are stagnant. Because those industries have seen no growth for decades already.
It's not true there was no growth for decades there, but otherwise I agree.
He is not far off from the truth that a lot of the American economy is phony with wrong incentives. I submitted an article recently that makes the same argument, about e.g. the 2008 crisis "we used to sell mortgages to so we can build houses, not build houses so we can sell mortgages".
But his solutions fall on their face. The contradiction you mention is not the only one - his wrong way involves "protectionist economy" which is actually exactly what is happening right now.
It's also a bit funny the current backlash against globalization I'm the US government is led by the people that profited the most from it. That right there tells you their intentions are not noble.
I cannot speak for Spain and France, but for Germany, stagnation was primarily due to long-standing internal political issues. Wolfgang Münchau discusses this in his book Kaput [1].
„An often reported story, not presented by Münchau, takes the case of BioNTech’s miracle mRNA vaccine that is now being applied to the treatment of common cancers.“
Germanys role in the fight against covid should not be forgotten. Germany is not just cars.
