Some would say the decline of Europe started in the 1940s, about the same time as America started to dominate. I wonder why???
Good article.
Wow, the truth packed into that one concluding sentence is pretty compelling, isn't it?
Ping
Typical lefty. Anyone who disagrees with their world view is 'irrational'.
Well said, but a distinction should always be made between western and eastern Europe. The eastern Europeans seem to be a tougher breed. For some reason - no one seems to know quite why - Poland experienced a baby boom in the 1980's and is now blessed with a youthful cohort coming of age at a time when youth in western Europe is a vanishing resource. One of the pleasures of visiting Poland is to see the abundance of young people.
a weak european ecconomy is NOT bad for the USA.
The EU is trying to become the regulatory force of THE world.
IOW USA regulations are irrelevant, obey EU rules. Or worse you now have TWO groups of pencil pushers to overcome.
When the EU as a regulatory force collapses, THEN europe will be able to recover.
Europe: See Eurabia.
500 years shot to hell.
Not to worry! Gay marriage will cure what ails them.
< /sarcasm>
In Japan, syndicates control prices of everything. Melons cost $40 or so, people live in tiny apartments, real estate is ridiculously expensive, and thus their standard of living, after looking at relative costs, is lower than that of the average American.
In Europe, things aren't as expensive as in Japan, but they're still more expensive than in the states. Gasoline costs over $5.00 per gallon. Real estate is, for the most part, more expensive. Taxes are higher. And then there's the little things. Store hours aren't as good, customer service isn't as good.
In Africa, life pretty much sucks for everyone, but not because of high prices. Latin America is a bit better, but not that much.
Australia looks decent, but I've never been there. Any country is probably fine if you're loaded, but I'm talking about if you're say at the 80th percentile. Would you really want to live anywhere except the US, except for a limited period of time?
This is about 90 years too late. The end of Europe began in August 1914. In the ensuing 30 years of war, depression and war, the material and cultural resources assembled in the previous centuries were largely destroyed.
Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West" was published in 1922.
An excerpt --
The future of the West is not a limitless tending upwards and onwards for all time towards our presents ideals, but a single phenomenon of history, strictly limited and defined as to form and duration, which covers a few centuries nd can be viewed and, in essentials, calculated from available precedents. With this enters the age of gigantic conflicts, in which we find ourselves today. It is the transition from Napoleonism to Caesarism, a general phase of evolution, which occupies at least two centuries and can be shown to exist in all Cultures. The Chinese call it Shan-Kwo, the "period of the Contending States." In the Gracchan revolution, which was already [133 B.C.] heralded by a first Servile War, the younger Scipio was secretly murdered and C. Gracchus openly slain---the first who as Princeps and the first who as Tribune were political centers in themselves amidst a world become formless. When, in 104 B.C. the urban masses of Rome for the first time lawlessly and tumultuously invested a private person, Marius, with Imperium, the deeper importance of the drama then enacted is comparable with that of assumption of the mythic Emperor-title by the ruler of Ch'in in 288 B.C..
The place of the permanent armies as we know them will gradually be taken by professional forces of volunteer war-keen soldiers; and from millions we shall revert to hundreds of thousands. But ipso facto this second century will be one of actually Contending States. These armies are not substitutes for war---they are for war, and they want war. Within two generations it will be they whose will prevails over all the comfortables put together. In these wars of theirs for the heritage of the whole world, continents will be staked---India, China, South Africa, Russia, Islam called out, new technics and tactics played and counter-played.... The last race to keep its form, the last living tradition, the last leaders who have both at their back, will pass through and onward, victors.
The idealist of the early democracy regarded popular education as enlightenment pure and simple---but it is precisely this that smooths the path for the coming Caesars of the world. The last century [the 19th] was the winter of the West, the victory of materialism and scepticism, of socialism, parliamentarianism, and money. But in this century blood and instinct will regain their rights against the power of money and intellect. The era of individualism, liberalism and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is nearing its end. The masses will accept with resignation the victory of the Caesars, the strong men, and will obey them. Life will descend to a level of general uniformity, a new kind of primitivism, and the world will be better for it.....