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| Europe | |
| Europe could (but won't) bridge the economic gap with the US | |
| 2007-02-15 | |
| Hamish McRae Most European countries are still losing ground to the US in economic terms and most of those that are closing the gap are doing so very slowly. That is the somewhat dispiriting conclusion of the latest report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Going for Growth, which looks at comparative international performance within the developed world and what might be done to lift the laggards.
As for productivity, those two plus the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Ireland, are the only ones that have higher productivity per hour worked. Among those, Belgium and France have high unemployment (thereby excluding their less productive workers from the statistics), the Netherlands has high concealed unemployment and Ireland has benefited from massive high- productivity inward investment. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 Frozen Al: In America money goes toward productive enterprises whereas in Europe they go toward white elephants (see Airbus). Don't be too sure. This country spends billions of dollars a year throwing money at non-productive enterprises such as the Department of Education, public schools which are not performing (or even turning out educated students), and such stupid venues as the National Endowment for the Arts (while I believe in art for art's sake this idiotic organization funds pustulescent orgasms of anti-Americanism the likes of which only Stalin could love). There's even a joker who likely makes millions telling people how to cheat the government (and thus the taxpayer) out of money by applying for government grants (he wears a green suit with dollar signs all over it). American taxpayer money goes towards far too many of these kinds of ridiculous boondoggles and it's high time the give-aways were stopped. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-02-15 19:51 |
| #9 One of the aspects he doesn't mention is the much higher return on investment in the US: In America money goes toward productive enterprises whereas in Europe they go toward white elephants (see Airbus). Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-02-15 13:18 |
| #8 So what is to be done? -- V.I. Lenin, 1917 |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-02-15 10:46 |
| #7 It's the Alzheimer's phase of a one time player in history. That's a summary for the ages! A keeper, Proc! |
| Posted by: BA 2007-02-15 10:35 |
| #6 Did you expect the people who have no stomach to confront the anti-thesis of civilization both in the 20th Century and 21st Century have any stomach to confront the thesis of a modern energetic capitalistic economy? The usual routine of denouncements, conferences, meaningless if not self-defeating legislation and regulation to follow. It's the Alzheimer's phase of a one time player in history. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-02-15 09:44 |
| #5 You know, it's a sad state of affairs when the Uro-Peons can't even do some introspective soul-searching and see that socialism/communism has freakin' failed (or is on it's way to failing) in every nation tried. I guess their attitude is "I'm an expert, dang it, and those others just didn't do XYZ right in implementing socialism." What's sad is that most of these people know how to run a business, come up with a budget and stick to it on a personal level. But apply that to gov't or a national scale? Nah, someone else is paying for it. I learned all I needed to know about the rest of the world when I learned that California alone has the world's 5th or 6th largest economy. |
| Posted by: BA 2007-02-15 09:22 |
| #4 There is no magic ability or skills that Americans have that Europeans do not have. Yes there is. Most Americans believe you work hard, you get ahead. Most Europeans believe that you show up for work, and the government should take care of you. We want to make our lives better, Europeans want the government to make their lives better. The "magic ability" is simply the desire to better one's own life. Which is why many of American ancestors left that pit called Europe in the first place. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-02-15 08:24 |
| #3 Europe's power elite have all of the information of history at their fingertips, and are unable to apply logic to the data at hand. The descendant philosophies of the French revolution have - all of them - been brutal, demeaning, spectacular failures. (Actually, the most recent version can't even deliver "spectacular" to its failure, since the socialist/highly regulatory/evangelically secular welfare capitalist state is dying in a sort of weak, amasculated, and boring fashion.) Given the proven failure of any and every derivative of July 14, 1789 - failure which is not hidden but rather on display (particularly in an age o' internet), you would think that otherwise rational adults could look at the facts and draw the only possible grownup conclusion, which is that there is another system (U.S.) which came out of the Enlightenment which is superior. Then again, there are people who smoke cigarettes knowing the risks. Free to do so, but I'm free to question their brains and sanity. The point is, all decisions are not reached using rational thought, and it seems that Euroland is unwilling to apply rational scientific conclusions to the data set they have. Emerson's comments on foolish consistency may apply: it is intellectually easier for them to stubbornly hold onto ideas, even ones that don't work, than to go through the difficult process of rebuilding your meme set from the ground up. Oh, well, we'll take their scientists and entrepreneurs in trade for our "artists" and activists any day. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-02-15 06:07 |
| #2 You noticed his assumptions about the social and cultural advantages of being European? Me too. Wanker. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-02-15 06:01 |
| #1 HHHHHHHHMMMMMMM, 2007 figures > CHINA >1.3-plus Bilyuhn Chinese get by on US1.0 a day GDP = US$30.00 a month; RUSSIA > US$27.0 Bilyuhn ESTIMATED/ROUGH GDP, ergo its the MINIMA US$500-plus Trilyuhn - MAXIMA $1.0 Quadriyuhn GDP America thats going down, AND D *** NG IT DON'T YOUSE FERGIT IT. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-15 01:17 |