Wall Street Journal: Europe "A Dying Continent"

This is another classic response from the op/ed page of the WSJ.  The world would be so much better off if people would just sit back and let the United States run the show:

The rise of anti-Americanism, a form of irrationalism deliberately whipped up by Messrs. Schröder and Chirac, who believe it wins votes, is particularly tragic, for the early stages of the EU had their roots in admiration of the American way of doing things and gratitude for the manner in which the U.S. had saved Europe first from Nazism, then (under President Harry Truman) from the Soviet Empire--by the Marshall Plan in 1947 and the creation of NATO in 1949.

Europe's founding fathers--Monnet himself, Robert Schumann in France, Alcide de Gasperi in Italy and Konrad Adenauer in Germany--were all fervently pro-American and anxious to make it possible for European populations to enjoy U.S.-style living standards. Adenauer in particular, assisted by his brilliant economics minister Ludwig Erhardt, rebuilt Germany's industry and services, following the freest possible model. This was the origin of the German "economic miracle," in which U.S. ideas played a determining part. The German people flourished as never before in their history, and unemployment was at record low levels. The decline of German growth and the present stagnation date from the point at which her leaders turned away from America and followed the French "social market" model.

The only hope for Germany - and for Europe - is to bust up the unions, dismantle its universal healthcare system, channel its resources into military spending, and eliminate state-sponsored pensions - in other words: embrace the American model.  Otherwise Europe faces certain death:

In short, the EU is not a living body, with a mind and spirit and animating soul. And unless it finds such nonmaterial but essential dimensions, it will soon be a dead body, the symbolic corpse of a dying continent.

I do hope that - with the US dollar recovered somewhat against the Euro - more Americans will visit Europe this summer and see with their own eyes the stupidy the anti-European rhetoric of the neo-conservative press in the US.

 

Comments

[Kuch]

Many of us have vacationed in Europe. I, myself, have been to Munich, Frankfurt, Nurnberg, Cologne, and many small villages in these areas. Americans cannot possibly assess the problems with the system in Germany based upon this sort of visit. Without exception, the Germans that I correspond with, acknowledge that the economy there is at a tipping point, and the golden blend of our system and theirs must be found in Germany. There is currently talk in Germany about instituting tuition-based university programs. Many German students realize that their educational system could be improved if it were a sort of a value-based commodity, but are unable to see the forest through the trees. One student actually indicated that she understands the value of such a system, but is not willing to take out a loan for college tuition, because everybody knows that jobs are so hard to find in Germany, and how would she repay the loan?

[Arthur]

The problem is the combination of problems:
- burned-out education system
- high wage low performance lower
class
- immigrants on social welfare
- blocking institutions (unions,
federal states..)
- rising competition of new entrant
EU states

Funny, now the left starts a debate on “Fremdarbeiter” – foreign workers – up to now a far right wing topic.

[Jürgen Hubert]

There are a couple of problems with introducing tuiton fees:

- The money would likely just be used to patch holes in other parts of the state budgets instead of benefitting the universities.

- There is no real good stipend system out there that might help poor students.

- Their lack is one of the few advantages German universities have when attracting international students. I strongly suspect that most international students would jump ship to English-speaking countries if tuiton fees were introduced...

- Finally, it would constrain upwards social mobility in Germany - and while upwards social mobility in Germany is bad, at least it is not as bad as in the USA yet.

I'm from a working-class family, and I am sure I would have thought twice before studying if it had cost me €500 per semester...