Area Studies

Recently I’ve on business in a few of the former Yugoslav republics – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. They have made amazing progress over the past 15 years, and I plan to do a post on what they’ve become post-Socialism. But a post by Andy Jackson over at the Marmot’s and some of the comments have moved the Balkans post to the backburner for a bit.

One commenter (mook) went out on several particularly flimsily and treacherous ideological limbs, but I’ll only pick on one here:

If America had the wisdom to adopt a northern European type system, no country in the world would be able to compete with it.

That makes me chuckle. So, what parts of the European system shall we incorporate? The unions and paralyzing riots of France? The unemployment of France and Germany? The imposing taxes? The welfare-state models of Scandinavia? The superior “equality” of Europe vis-à-vis the U.S.? Consider this:

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. (emphasis added)

No thanks. Concerning taxes, the rest of Europe should look to one of their own for what works if their noses are too high in the air to look at the U.S.:

Other nations have cut tax rates deeply. Ireland doesn’t have a flat tax, but it has slashed its corporate tax rate from 50 percent to 12.5 percent. Combined with other tax cuts, this helped turn the “Sick Man of Europe” into the “Celtic Tiger.” Unemployment has dropped from 17 percent to 5 percent, and Ireland is now the second-richest nation in the European Union.

But the “northern European type system” must excel somewhere, how about GDP? Nope:

GDP per capita was a whopping 32% higher [in the U.S.] 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.

The Swedish study referred to above is available here, and an nice quote to go along with it:
“If the European Union were a state in the USA it would belong to the poorest group of states.”

No, I’m not taking the indefensible position that Europe is inherently inferior, or inferior in every field. The U.S. of course lags in K-12 education (although not in higher education), and only a fool would argue that American beers are preferable. I’m sure there are other examples. But even that has some unpalatable aspects. In Germany, for example, grade school teachers (I don’t recall which grade, fourth or fifth) decide which students will go on to trade schools, and which ones will take the university track. One does not decide, they are selected.

But aside from all the practical reasons for rejecting a shift to Euro-socialism in the U.S., there is a far, far better one: responsibility. Individual Americans are responsible for themselves, not the government. Although the concept has been under constant attack from the American left for decades, the freedom and responsibility to decide for ones self what to do in life is still there. Rights, but responsibilities, aside from paying taxes and letting someone else do the thinking.

That last is directed more at the welfare models and unions of Europe, which I personally despise. A commenter at another blog summed it up very well:

I have empathy for the guy who decided to spend his teen years chasing pussy and customizing his car instead of learning how to think or developing economically valuable skills. I really do. But damned if I’m overturning a system of free-choice outcomes so that Vinnie the Dumbshit doesn’t have to deal with any negative fallout from his stupid choices. Vinnie can stay in the gutter drinking himself out of his problems, or he can pick himself up. . .

Ole ‘mook’ got things completely backwards.

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Postings are likely to dwindle for the next few days, or even up to two weeks, as net access again becomes less certain.