Unacknowledged, unseen, unmentioned: Poverty in Europe

Eurozine ^ | Unk. | Per Wirtén

[forkinsocket]

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[Bob J]

This guy is off the A list.

[edcoil]

All these countries have royalty that live in vast homes with massive wealth. Whine to them.

[ghost of nixon]

Un-freaking believable. We save your sorry asses from facism, then from communism, and you act like un-grateful teenage slackers who are way smarter and better than their parents...until one day you wake up and realize that you’ve turned forty, haven’t accomplished anything because you smoked too much liberal group-think, haven’t saved for retirement and are sliding back into a lower economic position than what your parents provided. Welcome to reality, EU!

[Chode]

nobody ever said that the eurotrash aren't smug, self righteous and delusional...

[Rudder]

sixty per cent of the poor in Romania have outdoor toilets.

Here in Appalachia, having an outdoor toilet is not a sign of poverty but that you have enough sense not to crap in the front yard.

[Migraine]

I liked the article. Ironic; just as Baraq Hussein and the NOMINATRIX vie for which of them can run us into a European paradigm, Europe itself becomes a monumental self-contradiction.

[arizonarachel]

I have ‘friends’ that are from overseas. It’s amazing how they seem to hate America but refuse to admit any of their own problems.

[Waco]

The average “poor” American has a higher std. of living than the average European! Heard Boortz mention that a couple of times.

[denydenydeny]

Interesting analysis. It's from a lefty point of view, of course, as we see when he clucks about "tax reforms producing inequality." The tax reforms are exactly what have lifted much of the EU out of their 90s socialist doldrums, but lefties can never admit that.

Still, you almost never read passages like the one below. The belief in glorious European social protections versus evil Americn capitalistm is a truism. Even if it's false.

Those without documents inhabit a spreading grey zone, where at the bottom end of the labour market wages are in free fall. They are black islands, sunk in silence, never featuring in any published income statistics. European politicians have always criticised the many low-paid jobs in the US, but they now accept that similar conditions, if not worse, are increasingly found at the heart of their own continent.

[Fee]

Problem is we view the EU as a friend. Europe has a long history of being uncomfortable with any power greater then them. When Britain became powerful, Germany and France ganged up on her, when France became powerful, Britain and Germany ganged up on her and the same happened to Germany. France, Germany and Britain has gotten over this but they will not hesitate to act in concert against any power greater then them, and in this case it is the United States, the sole super power after the Cold War. The EU cannot use military power because they do not have any, but they will use soft power to rein in and manipulate the US. They like to form international organizations, pass international rules and regs to undermind US economic might and attempt to force us to abide by them by using their media and academic inroads into our society to create public pressure on our officials. The international court, global warming, political correctness and a number of our current political hangups and self imposed limits originated from the leftist Europeons imported into our academia, media, the Democratic Party and even to our globalist corporate elites and legal thinkers. Net effect is a super power with great military power limited by a confused and self imposed guilt to act effectively. The EU is our worst enemy because unlike the Russians and Chinese who oppose us in a naked way (military weapons and exercises) the EU appeals to us on common ground (same culture, racial makeup, historical ties, etc, etc, etc) but at the same time will plot and plunge a dagger into our backs. Old Sicilian saying - your enemies always oppose you, but only a friend can betray you.

[BBell]

A typical European. Everything I need to know about America I learned from a Micheal Moore “documentary”.

[goodnesswins]

And,.....a typical US public school student!

[kalee]

We have Brit friends whose lefty son almost worships Michael Moore. You should see him when we say we think Moore is a nut or a loon and that no-one we know listens to anything he says.
He can’t believe it and I am sure he thinks we are the loons.

[AnalogReigns]

All these countries have royalty that live in vast homes with massive wealth.

Ummmm, Germany has had no royalty since 1918, and Romania since the '40s and the Communist era. You don't know what you're talking about.

It's Euro socialism, not royalty that is the problem.

[DB]

It’s been a “pure lie” for some time.

The standard of living of our “poor” is about the same as the standard of living of Europe’s middle class.

The more obstacles placed on moving up economically makes it so fewer are able to move up. Or in other words, if you punish success you get less of it.

[Sparky1776]

Hmmmm, bookmarked for future reference.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Socialism = Too many people trying to ride in the cart, rather than help push it. What is the inevitable outcome no matter how many times its tried? The cart stops moving.

[1066AD]

"Either income convergence will be made to happen in the poorer regions of Europe, or migration will swamp labour markets in the core countries. In the alternative scenario, the European project will fail and be replaced by a xenophobic nationalism and the social policies of the extreme Right."

Which is about the ways it's heading, at least as regards migration from the old Warsaw Pact countries to the UK, France etc. Couple this with near unlimited illegal immigration from the third world and IMHO you start to get a recipe for big trouble and not so far in the future either.

[adorno]

saving