Posted on 10/26/2005 5:58:43 AM PDT by Eurotwit
MILAN - I have just finished a two-week trip to Europe -- my honeymoon, if you must know -- and, as usual with a European trip, I have come away with two completely different impressions.
Europe, or at least the parts I go to, is a wonderful place to live and to visit. It's beautiful; the food is great; the people are generally warm and relaxed. If there is a greater pleasure than eating a plate of Insalata Caprese (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil) on a sunny terrace on the Amalfi Coast with the islands where the Sirens lured Ulysses in the distance, then I haven't found it yet.
But, when it comes to public policy, Europe has taken a wrong turn. Its welfare state has sapped initiative and driven jobs abroad; its treatment of immigrants is shameful; unemployment is in the double digits; health policy is making people sicker; and foreign policy is based on isolationism and moral posturing.
The results are predictable: The countries that use the euro will grow 1.2 percent this year, according to The Economist; the U.S. will grow 3.5 percent. Similar disparity has prevailed for a decade, and Americans today have a living standard about one-third higher. The notion that Europe will be able to compete with resurgent China and India in the next 30 years is laughable.
Certainly, however, there isn't just a single Europe. The countries on the outer edges -- Britain, Poland, Ireland, Portugal, Estonia, and so on -- remain fairly aspirational, leaning in the direction of American liberalism (in the best sense of that word -- a tendency to place freedom, economic and personal, number-one on a list of values). They haven't given in to the smug complacency of France, Germany, Belgium and (I'm sad to say) Spain. Italy, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are somewhere in between.
It's also true that Europe is changing. By a whisker, Germany just elected a new coalition government, headed by Angela Merkel, a woman who understands that her country's welfare and tax system can't endure. There are signs that even the French recognize the dangers of nationalized industries and 35-hour work weeks imposed from above.
Still, don't expect much soon in the way of European economic transformation. This is the life they have chosen -- one in which, they believe, the state relieves them of the stress of a market society. But the price is very high. Surveys show rampant European unhappiness and pessimism. European birth rates have fallen so sharply that populations are headed for steep declines. Why? Sadly, couples don't place a high priority on bringing children into the paradise they've created.
But Europeans will have to find their own path. My concern is with Americans. Is it inevitable that, as we grow more prosperous, we will become more like Europe -- losing initiative, insisting that our governments coddle us?
I worry that we are beginning to see the initial signs of just such a turn for the worse. A distinguished 20-member panel of experts convened by the National Academies, America's top science advisory group, has warned in a new study that the U.S. "could soon lose its privileged position" as the world's top innovator and growth engine. With competitors "who live just a mouse click away," we stand to lose high-paying jobs, especially to Asia.
Key statistics: The number of U.S. doctorates in science and engineering peaked in 1998. In 1970, the U.S. accounted for more than half such degrees; by 2010, just 15 percent. By 2010, China will produce more science and engineering doctoral graduates that we will.
The whiners think that we can opt out of a globalized world, cocoon ourselves in protectionism. In fact, if we take that course, the crack-up will come sooner.
The Academies panel takes a more constructive course, with a list of that focuses on science teaching in high school and college and on more government spending on basic research in science. I agree. It's also imperative that we cut our lofty corporate tax rates, which are sending thousands of good jobs abroad.
But government action is only part of the solution. The personal counts more. America has a choice: more like Europe, or more like Asia. Actually, Asia has become more like America in recent years, so the real choice is whether we want to be complacent Europeans or to our hard-working, compassionate, imaginative American selves.
People like kerry and biden think we ought to be more european too.
It's not just the personal, it's the elected officials on the left who want to make us more like france and germany.
G-D save us from these idiots.
I've been reading about the decline of the American work ethic for 25 years. It has yet to materialize, and won't any time soon.
I would suggest a refresher course in grammar for Mr. Glassman.
The issue of the U.S. leading in innovation and growth has more to do with our freedom and our economic structure as a mostly capitalist system.
Even if we don't produce the majority of the doctoral degrees or engineers in the world, many of those that are produced will be employed by U.S. companies directly or indirectly.
If we attempted to monopolize intellect, we'd stagnate. We just need to adapt the changes in the world and continue to innovate and grow, and the best way to do that is to keep our economic and commercial structures unencumbered.
I lived in Germany for 3 years (1982-1985) when I was in the service. Of course it was during the height of the cold war and they were glad to have us there, at least those who lived near the East German border. It was one of the most enjoyable places I have ever lived. The city of Fulda was clean, virtually no crime, no slums, no panhandlers, all the cars were well maintained, never saw one junker on the streets. Hausfraus would sweep their lawns with a broom. We had beer delivered weekly much as the old milkman used to deliver milk. If you wanted you could take your dog into a restaurant, and the germans did just that and you never knew they were there. Then there was the bier at the Kruezberg monastery, none better anywhere. (Sigh) I miss it, but not the times the siren would go off and we would have to go in on practice alerts at 3 AM.
Sweden has had 3.2% GDp growth this year and 5% unemployment. It goes to show the value of a well-trained workforce. One of the problems we will face in the future is the fact that a sizeable chunk of people are just "unproductive." They don't have the skills or will or worth ethic. Unless schools rise to the challenge, this could become a serious structural problem as India and China begin to nibble away at basic functions like R&D. The number of patents coming from labs in those countries is slowly but surely rising.
Not at all.
In far less time than that the standard of living in Europe will have dropped well below that in China or India, and Europe will have become a prime source for cheap, unskilled labor!
"I lived in Germany for 3 years (1982-1985) when I was in the service."
No offense meant, but to this NYer, it sounds awful!
I would say we are half way there. 90% of democrats act like them already
"The city of Fulda..."
Ah yes. The infamous Fulda Gap where Soviet tanks were going to barrel through to the plains of West Germany and beyond.
I used to do the occasional stint up on Mt. Meissner, waiting for "The Bear" to come...the good ole days!
I then went back 9 years later and noticed that it changed. There was grafitti everywhere and the people seemed disenchanted and cynical.
Maybe it was because the reunification with the East had not worked out as planned.
But tell us about the taxes in Germany - how was all this municipal perfection financed?
(Hint: I know the answer...)
The taxes were horrific, for the Germans. But because of the SOFA American service members were not required to pay the VAT, plus the exchange rate was great. I bought a new (1985) BMW 528e just before I left and paid $18,000, then priced the same car when I got back stateside, the sticker was $31,000.
This was early 2000.
Even while I was there, the further you got from the border the worse the Americans were treated. The germans who lived within sight of the fence and guard towers knew we were the only ones between them and the cossacks. I don't think they realized we were there only to slow them down until corps elements could be moved to meet an attack.
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