Let em yap.
Old Europe, once again, doesn't get it. New Europe does.
This is not surprising.
The French and Germans are mad because if Saddam isn't around, they won't be able to get kickbacks for the oil for food program anymore.....
I really wish someone, an Army, The Germans, Latvia or a boy Scout troop would make France surrender again....
Germany's economy is collapsing under the weight of its socialist welfare programs, and she thinks she can lecture about 'democratic strength? Shut the f*ck up.
Objection overruled. Now sit back down France and Germany before I have you placed in shackles and removed form this court.
Cut bait or fish.
They have to say this. If word gets to Hussein that the French and Germans are supporting his execution, Hussein will start talking about all the little deals he had going with them during the 90's and even while we were bombing Iraq.
They secretly want him dead ASAP. But they are scared of what he'll say.
In the words of a local drunken coach "f--- 'em, no really, f--- 'em"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!
(I've decided to self-censor as I don't want to be suspended for saying what I'm really thinking.)
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Europe vs. America
Germany edges out Arkansas in per capita GDP.
The growing split between the U.S. and Europe has been much in the news, mostly on foreign policy. But less well understood is the gap in economic growth and standards of living. Now comes a European report that puts the American advantage in surprisingly stark relief.
The study, "The EU vs. USA," was done by a pair of economists--Fredrik Bergstrom and Robert Gidehag--for the Swedish think tank Timbro. It found that if Europe were part of the U.S., only tiny Luxembourg could rival the richest of the 50 American states in gross domestic product per capita. Most European countries would rank below the U.S. average, as the chart below shows.
The authors admit that man doesn't live by GDP alone, and that this measure misses output in the "black" economy, which is significant in Europe's high-tax states. GDP also overlooks "the value of leisure or a good environment" or the way prosperity is spread across a society.
But a rising tide still lifts all boats, and U.S. GDP per capita was a whopping 32% higher than the EU average in 2000, and the gap hasn't closed since. It is so wide that if the U.S. economy had frozen in place at 2000 levels while Europe grew, the Continent would still require years to catch up. Ireland, which has lower tax burdens and fewer regulations than the rest of the EU, would be the first but only by 2005. Switzerland, not a member of the EU, and Britain would get there by 2010. But Germany and Spain would need until 2015, while Italy, Sweden and Portugal would have to wait until 2022.
Higher GDP per capita allows the average American to spend about $9,700 more on consumption every year than the average European. So Yanks have by far more cars, TVs, computers and other modern goods. "Most Americans have a standard of living which the majority of Europeans will never come anywhere near," the Swedish study says.
But what about equality? Well, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line has dropped to 12% from 22% since 1959. In 1999, 25% of American households were considered "low income," meaning they had an annual income of less than $25,000. If Sweden--the very model of a modern welfare state--were judged by the same standard, about 40% of its households would be considered low-income.
In other words poverty is relative, and in the U.S. a large 45.9% of the "poor" own their homes, 72.8% have a car and almost 77% have air conditioning, which remains a luxury in most of Western Europe. The average living space for poor American households is 1,200 square feet. In Europe, the average space for all households, not just the poor, is 1,000 square feet.
So what is Europe's problem? "The expansion of the public sector into overripe welfare states in large parts of Europe is and remains the best guess as to why our continent cannot measure up to our neighbor in the west," the authors write. In 1999, average EU tax revenues were more than 40% of GDP, and in some countries above 50%, compared with less than 30% for most of the U.S.
We don't report this with any nationalist glee. The world needs a prosperous, growing Europe, and its relative economic decline is one reason for growing EU-American tension. A poorer Europe lacks the wealth to invest in defense, a fact that in turn affects the willingness of Europeans to join America in confronting global security threats. But at least all of this is a warning to U.S. politicians who want this country to go down the same welfare-state road to decline.
My bet is that is EXACTLY what the Iraqis are saying when they hear about this.
You really should have pinged 'GRRRRR' to this thread.
;^)
France? Germany? Are those places still around? Why?
I'll bet they put more effort into thwarting his execution than they did to HELP us!
It is also clear that Chirac has had comparable gifts but, of course, the French would never even admit that.
So long as Saddam's money is still out these and being spent on his behalf, the old Eirinal thieves will back him. I am not as positive about the new Eurinals; it may just be sour grapes on their part because they didn't get any Iraqi money in years past like the French and German leaders have.
They are old world countries manifestly against freedom. Ignore them.