Posted on 07/29/2005 11:28:03 PM PDT by Cincinna
Americans tend to believe that we do everything better than anyone else. That belief makes it hard for us to learn from others. For example, I've found that many people refuse to believe that Europe has anything to teach us about health care policy. After all, they say, how can Europeans be good at health care when their economies are such failures?
Now, there's no reason a country can't have both an excellent health care system and a troubled economy (or vice versa). But are European economies really doing that badly?
The answer is no. Americans are doing a lot of strutting these days, but a head-to-head comparison between the economies of the United States and Europe - France, in particular - shows that the big difference is in priorities, not performance. We're talking about two highly productive societies that have made a different tradeoff between work and family time. And there's a lot to be said for the French choice.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
IMHO, most died because their kids were on vacation and couldn't even be bothered to take care of their own parents' corpses.
"values"? I do not think that word means what you think it means.
How can they be any good at health care when dozens die in any sudden heat waves. Ridiculous!
Because the French have so much vacation time, when the heat wave hit last year they were all out of town. That included the doctors and nurses at hospitals who were AWOL.
It is customary to leave the old folks at home in the city while the family goes to the country. FAMILY VALUES?
A funny film about this is "Tatie Danielle" about an elderly woman abandoned for vacation.
In such a great economy, one would think there would be air conditioning for the Nanny State's Old Age Homes and hospitals.
Krugman is always a moron, but this pushes it right over the edge.
We're just not nearly as resolute as they are about that. We cave right in and take showers. We even use soap. Daily, even.
Kudos to the French for withstanding that smell the way they do.
Here's my take...the social welfare states of Scandinavia are based on some sort of national collective principle, i.e. they believe in a centralized social service engine and they're willing to pay for it.
But France and Germany are just operating on a money-for-nothing political scam. Not to mention their short work weeks (32 hrs in France?) and long vacations.
Ask anyone who works at a startup or small business, and more than likely they work twice that. Combine that with America's willingness to import talent from Asia and Europe and you have the basis of the United States' tremendous innovation. In electronics, medicine, military technology, and on and on.
My fear about France and Germany isn't that they don't have good people - they do - but that they lead a vanguard of a Europe that doesn't want to pay the price for having a sound society. Instead they pat themselves on the back for their 'socially conscious' policies and break out the brie and bier.
Here's the previous go at this article:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1452980/posts
Ya know, the French, the Canadians, the Germans, you name it, seem to hate us a lot more than we hate them. They are obsessed with us and I think it bugs them to no end that we not only don't hate them, we simply don't spend any time thinking about them. When was the last time any of us had a discussion about those "Canadians." It's not that we think we are better than them, we just don't want to be them.
Jerry Lewis could never even make it the "The Four Stooges"....
Jerry Lewis was never funny...ever...he just acted stupid.
....we not only don't hate them, we simply don't spend any time thinking about them....
????????????????????????
Just read again the previous twenty or so conributions...
Every time France mentioned on these pages, the knee jerk reaction of the usual stereotypes automaticly appeaers here regardless the meaning of the article.
It is America who never can forgive the french for not supporting the war.
It was not the american wine flowing on french streets and not boycott of american goods.
In contrary the word "french" was banned from french frise and french toast...
In these pages I have seen calling for bmbing Paris...
You can not see even remotely similar rethorics from france.
So.... come on.... let's se who hates who more?
ribbit... ribbit... ribbit...
Excuse me friend?...this is not the "I support France web site"...so...if the last twenty contributions chop poor France off at the knees..you should expect it....
Paul Krugman should be sent to the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan.
He'll be perfectly safe...
If he can evade bullets the way he evades reality, he hasn't got a thing to worry about!
It's kind of hard to raise a stable family if you can't get a job.
I remember the struggles alot of people had getting jobs when unemployment reached above 6% here, I can't imagine how hard it must be in a country with 10% unemployment.
Although I would run to the side of an emerging conservative movement in France in a second.
Then you could "Feel the love".
But nah, I just don't like 'em right now.
..."I support France web site"...
Ooops... maybe I was hitting the wrong key...
Never mind...
I know citing facts sometimes can be annoying.
Hating the french just for the sake of it or because it force us to look into the mirror does not make much sense.
I guess here is rather the situation as we stepped on so many peoples toe, therefore they must hate us, so we hate them back with a force...
I am not qualifying here France at all...
But I find it pathetic that any time the word "france" appears, the chorus start the singing, and always the same thing....
A bit like Pavlov's dog...
Let the choir sing loud and strong!
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