… Then who, or what, fills the resulting vacuum in world leadership?
Europe — sclerotic, bureaucratized and social-democratized – has for decades enjoyed the protection, inventions and security afforded by its more laissez-fair, strapping, and exuberant cousin across the Pond, the United States. America, with its free markets, its market incentives, and its relatively large private sector, has been the engine of global growth. America’s system, based fundamentally on individual risk and responsibility, has been the great incubator of innovations that have become the staples of the modern age — from medical advances, to computers, to the internet and beyond. Around the world, people have benefited in ways beyond measure.
All that energy poured into progress is likely to fade, as America devolves into a nation of carbon-capped civil servants, tending to a much-shrunken private sector, and a growing line of people on the dole. However high-flying President Obama’s rhetoric, he can’t re-engineer human nature. If you tax and subsidize Americans more, they will — like anyone else – produce and create less. In many realms, there will be fewer gains from trade. In the middle of every transaction will be the taxman, or the government regulator. For the dramatic reshaping on which Obama has embarked, the cost will be paid not only in taxes, but in a pervasive souring of climate (and I am not talking about hocus-pocus with the weather).
In short, where there was America the superpower – with its almost bottomless pockets and limitless drive — there will be a shabbier America, quite likely more self-absorbed. There will be a growing vacuum on the world scene. If, a generation into the post-Soviet New World Order, that shift is already underway, we can now expect it to accelerate. Since World War II, America’s capitalist system has allowed it to stand as a bulwark of democracy, provider of security and font of commerce and creativity for the world. Europe has had America at its back. There is no candidate right now to replace America in that role.
There are candidates of a somewhat different character, who may see this as a opportunity. There are despotisms, such as China, and resurgently aggressive Russia. There are the totalitarian Islamists of Iran, with their visions, shared by both rivals and collaborators within the Muslim world, of a global caliphate. There are blocs which can be glimpsed in miniature in the doings of the UN General Assembly, where some of the world’s more swaggering dictatorships enjoy pride of place. We do not know how these forces might play out as America transforms itself into Europe – but there’s a chilling likelihood that we will all pay for this, in ways not mentioned in the multi-trillion dollar spending plans now emanating from Washington.
That which is done, can be undone — with difficulty.
1. MG:
“That which is done, can be undone — with difficulty.”
~
Sorry, hon but you can’t UN-behead someone.
we must all make shure obama is only a one term presedent an the GOP can turn it around i hope
Ah don’t be too glum, the democrats are just riding an electoral wave of irritation with the persistent Iraqi war and benefiting from the general voter amnesia about the Democrat’s utter incompetence at economic management(which is about be cured in spectacular fashion).
Look at the areas of the country controlled by the left, California for example, they are going under. The average Californian may be too stupid to figure out cause and effect but I doubt the rest of the country is.
He won’t be president long enough to do more than superficial damage, will he? 4 years. At worst, 8 years. I’m more worried about his foreign policy and what he’s going to try to do overseas to pander to the Left in the States.
I do wish the American Right would get its act together, though. They really need to find ways to communicate more with the American people.
The world can go back to imperialistic wars. China has already declared its intent to do so with the white paper released on Obama’s Inauguration Day. Without us to intervene, India and Pakistan can have another go at it. Look for another Arab-Israeli war. Maybe some good, petty, South American wars. Perhaps some solid religious wars. Russia can conquer a couple small neighbors, and no one will lift a finger. The fun and excitement will abound.
“That which is done, can be undone — with difficulty.”
With one exception
A supreme court pick
Obama’s rhetoric and present destructive certainly cannot dictate people’s thoughts and responses, even though they can’t presently stop what he’s doing. The nation will pay dearly. We should not assume that the nation will survive.
About 25 years ago, DH and I were members in a healthy and steadily growing Christian church when 3 church leaders and their wives went came home from a weekend seminar with all the answers and a goal to get rid of the well-loved senior pastor.
Because I had a role in both the music and women’s programs, they sent the associate pastor around to try to program me with regard to supporting their destructive leadership.
I let them say their say, and then told them, “Because you presently have the authority to do what you’ve done, no one can stop you. But do not mistake this for support from the people. You can control who is on staff, but you can’t control people’s hearts and feet.”
Within 18 months, that congregation of over 600 had dwindled down to less than 100, and never recovered. They closed up shop for good a couple of years ago, after struggling for over 2 decades.
There’s a question that is sometimes worth asking on a personal level: “How much are you willing to have it cost you to be right?”
In the present situation, Obama’s answer to that would be, “Everything that has ever been invested in the United States of America.”
This really is happening. I’m very afraid that neither CPAC nor a new Republican resurgence after 10 years of goofing around will not be nearly enough to turn it aside. Our willingness to trust the basic motives and political abilities of our Republican/”conservative” leadership has been too abused too often.
Maybe we’ll just have to take things in our own hands, and then we’ll be facing obama’s civil guard.
What If Obama Turns America Into Europe…
At the rate he’s going you might want to consider changing Europe to Africa . .
“That which is done, can be undone — with difficulty.”
Most likely only by armed revolution by a freedom loving minority. It certainly will not be undone by a majority of voters in a democracy who are getting paid out of the minorities pocket.
Europe? How about Cuba? The private sector is now officially the declared enemy of the state.
This article succinctly sums up the basic flaw in the “reasoning” of The one and his minions. Namely, that instead of creating a One Woprld Where We All Sing Kumbaya, they will only succeed in creating a power vacuum that someone else will be more than happy to step into…with hobnailed boots.
Also, they overlook the small but important detail that their preferred brand of socialistic political/economic order tends to be unable to stand on its own two feet. Without a powerful neighboring free-market economy with enough spare capital to prop it up, such a system inevitably goes bust. Read up on Italy under Mussolini’s “syndicalist socialism” for a case in point. Italy went from one of Europe’s economic powerhouses in 1921 to one of its poorest countries in 1938-39, solely due to Il Duce’s fascination with command-and-control economics. His throwing in Italy’s lot with Hitler in WW II was a desperation move to try to rebuild Italy’s shattered economy by one of the oldest methods extant; conquest. (As Tom Clancy once said, “War is simply a mugging writ large.”)
Of course, The One isn’t going to declare ar on anybody to salvage a failing economy- and his place in history. Which begs the question; how will he do it?
Or is it even going to be possible to do it at all?
clear ether
eon
The US are already like Europe, well, the last numbers I saw say that the US are already a SOCIAL capitalist democraty, whose state sponsoring and depenses are : ~ plus 37%, while in Europe the average numbers are ~ plus or less 40%, and since the money crisis, I bet that your numbers grew up.
Now the difference is still in the insurances for unemployment, bankrupted people that are left on the street in the US get more time and help to recover here, health care if you want to name it, but that isn’t really of a nanny state anymore for the working class, that needs a second private insurance to cover illnesses or surgeries, of course some persons benefit more of the system, generally they are in the administration, and some elders that cumulate medecines without needing or taking them, and confort chirurgical interventions. Though, the right as so the left wouldn’t think of removing health care, especially in these times of difficulty, though controls must be more accurate.
No system is perfect, it is more due to the human nature itself, cheaters happen to live everwhere.
We do not know how these forces might play out as America transforms itself into Europe
The difference is that Europe knows that it can’t change the world, if the people don’t wish it by making their own revolution, while America naively thought her system is the lonely valuable and tried to impose her views as a “democratiser” since she thought having successfully delivred Europe from its own demons in 1945. But in reality, behind the curtains, America was caring for her own interests too.
Q1. [C. Rossett 2009] “who, or what, fills the resulting vacuum in world leadership”
A1. [TPC] Notice that with Hooverville and Wingnut City, although it is always ‘leadership’ that one hears, the lips can be seen to move as if spellin’ out M-A-S-T-E-R-Y.
Q2. [CR] How about “its free markets, its market incentives, and its relatively large private sector, has been the engine of global growth. America’s system, based fundamentally on individual risk and responsibility, has been the great incubator of innovations that have become the staples of the modern age — from medical advances, to computers, to the internet and beyond. Around the world, people have benefited in ways beyond measure” ?
A2. [F. Trollope 1832] ” ‘How can any one in their senses doubt the excellence of a a government which we have tried for half a century, and loved the better the longer we have known it?’ Such is the natural enquiry of every American when the excellence of their government is doubted; and I am inclined to answer, that no one in their senses, who has visited the country, and known the people, can doubt its fitness for them, such as they now are, or its utter unfitness for any other people.
Q3. What was the matter with Fanny?
A3. [FT] “Both as a woman, and as a stranger, it might be unseemly for me to say that I do not like their government, and therefore I will not say so. That it is one which pleases themselves is most certain, and this is considerably more important than pleasing all the travelling old ladies in the world.”
Q4. Is that disclaimer not enough to satisfy Princess Cloddy of Pajamastan?
A4. It looks as if not. Ever since one of Her Highness’s uncles became a Sole Remainin’ Hyperpower, it has been ‘unseemly’ (to put it rather mildly) in Her Highness’s eyes for any human creature anywhere to talk in that distressin’ manner that Mrs. Trollope could somehow get away with under the (geographically) limited despotism of Andrew VII.
In the 1830’s one had to travel to Cincinnati or some such parochial Homelandic locale to commit _lèse majesté_ against “America’s system, based fundamentally on individual risk and responsibility,” or at least to be in any real danger of being tarred and feathered for discouraging words about it. Nowadays even central Asia and darkest Africa afford disgruntled individuals lots of opportunities for Trollopean risk-takin’. In effect, Princess Cloddy can now lose her beauty sleep even with an *infinity* of mattresses between Her Highness and that pesky nay-sayin’ pea.
Q4. Aren’t there more peas than one?
A4. [CR] “There are despotisms, such as China, and resurgently aggressive Russia. There are the totalitarian Islamists of Iran, with their visions, shared by both rivals and collaborators within the Muslim world, of a global caliphate. There are blocs which can be glimpsed in miniature in the doings of the UN General Assembly, where some of the world’s more swaggering dictatorships enjoy pride of place.”
Q5. Golly!
A5. Indeed. Well may you exclaim‘Golly!’, my pretty child!
What’s so wrong with better (much better) health care, higher test scores, longer vacations, and mass transit that works and is convenient?
This has been my fear since it was obvious that the Democrats were rising after the mid-term election.
And it’s not just economics. America was the last best refuge and hope in the world. There will truly be “no place to run to, no place to hide:.
Going on 40 years ago we christened my infant daughter and at the post christening party a bunch of the guys were out in the garage rambling about stuff. One of the guests said sometjing about the decline of social standards you could already begin to see. In a moment of clarity driven by a couple of beers I said: If I wanted to destroy a society the first thing I’d do is destroy the system of public education-check-Then I’d put the unemployables that resulted on welfare and build a government infrastructure to distribute the wealth-check- Then I’d make all kinds of drugs both legal and illegal, widely available to dampen the pain of living in such an unfair and hostile society-check. What Now? Oh, as for the Europeans and their upcoming problems, Who cares? Like all the rest of us they’re making their bed, they’ll have to sleep in it.
Well put, Comrade Rosett.
America is hardly transforming itself into Europe. Some modest reform of tax codes, energy policy and health care is not going to kill the economic engine of the USA. America will remain a superpower, but will need to acknowledge that there is more to that status than military might – we need to lead by example on many fronts to retain/regain the trust of Europe and the world.
Much damage has been done to America over the past few decades, but as noted above, it can be undone.
Peace.
DS
For MG: “As a matter of cosmic history it has always been easier to destroy than to create. ” — Mr. Spock
For the Brilliant Ms Rosett: The slippery slope argument in this instance is very pertinent because we can see the effects of a European model easily. I am reminded of PJ O’Rourke’s discussion of people in the 70s and 80s who wanted to embrace the Soviet model, but on their trips to Moscow packed their own toilet paper. Now they want to live in a new Europe but surf the internet with their IPhone. There is a discontinuity they don’t see. You have explained this. Perfectly.
Much damage has been done to America over the past few decades, in the name of ‘peace’, but as hoped by the current administration, it shall not be undone.
War.
Don’t forget The One’s suggestion that the USA needs a domestic national security force that is as well equipped and funded as the military that protects the country from alien enemies.
Is the danger presented by criminals is great enough to justify this new military, or will this purely domestic armed force protect the government from the citizenry?
Obama speaks here.
#7 Marc Malone – “The world can go back to imperialistic wars.”
What do you mean CAN? We’re in one. Admit the transgressions of the U.S. It’s the only path to righteousness . . . ask the lord. He will instruct you.
Wealth creation by US capitalism has been funding Euro socialism and without it Europe will collapse rapidly. I would argue that it is already in progress. American socialism will collapse even faster. Socialists think wealth is a pile that can be spread around. It isn’t,It’s the movement of goods and services that creates prosperity and true wealth . 2010 is going to make us long for the good old days of 2009.
Ukk. “Is the danger presented by criminals great enough…”
A preview feature would be nice.
Given enough time Obama will turn this country into something worst than the 1930′s Russia. Our job is to see that he doesn’t get that time.
BC;
“What’s wrong with better (much better) health care”?
If socialized or government controlled and rationed health care was much better why do those who can afford it come from Canada and Europe to get treatment by our much worse system. If it is much better why does our government ban doctors from treating people on medicare as private patients willing to pay for procedures that medicare won’t fund?
“What is wrong with higher test Scores”?
Test scores have been going down since the government increased its part in education in the ’60′s. In fact they had tanked so bad that the “SAT” was re-normed in the mid 90′s to raise the scores an average of 100 points.
“What wrong with mass transit that works and is convenient”?
Nothing, if those of you who desire to use will pay the full costs of it so it is convenient for you. Since the overwhelming majority of Americans have to pay the full cost on their own to get to and from everywhere why do you think we should have to provide part of your costs also. If you cannot afford the ownership costs of automobiles then ride a bike or walk. If that is inconvenient, then move closer to work or school so that walking or riding will be more convenient. I dare to say the previous because I used a bike as my main source of transportation for well over 30 years. During that time my commute was as much as 20 miles one way. So with all due respect I don’t feel sorry for your shortsighted lack of options and planning.
Finally if what you want is what Europe offers please emigrate too Europe. I for one don’t want a larger Nanny State and will resist it to my death.
If Obama turns America into Europe comfort yoursel;f with this thought. At least you will be able to drink decent beer. And get a proper cup of tea in certain parts of Europe:)
“Wealth creation by US capitalism has been funding Euro socialism and without it Europe will collapse rapidly. I would argue that it is already in progress”
yeah, the Marshall plan made that Europe could recover from the war, although America didn’t found it by mere charity, but to restart selling her goods towards Europe, and I agree it was a factual progress. Now, everywhere in the world, except in America for a fraction of the population, it is said that the actual crisis is the result of an uncontrolled capitalism, that has become mondialism and above human laws
As Margaret Thatcher put it so well, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
For all the socialists out there, ask yourself
Why did Silicon Valley happen where it did instead of Europe? China? Japan? Africa? It was because there was a reward for the risk. When you take the award away, the silicon valleys and the Detroits of the 1910′s don’t happen. China did not start to climb out of the 13th century until it allowed reward for risk. India tried socialism for 50 years, then finally alled risk and reward to happen and blossomed their economy. Japan has been in a 20 year funk because they threw good money after bad to save their banks after a real estate bubble burst.
I parts of southern England, it is common for farmers to find stashes of Roman coins buried in the ground. When the Roman order was crumbling, the local Romans hid their coins waiting ofr the calvary to come and rescue them. It never came, and the coins were never recovered. America has been the calvary for the free world since WWII. As a Dutch gay man recently said as he saw Muslims escape justice from beating fellow gay men “I was too busy enjoying my freedom to defend it.” Don’t think that it all cannot crumble. All it takes is good people to not notice the signs.
Americans are arming themselves as never before. Guns and ammunition are flying off the shelves. And it’s not because Americans fear external enemies….
And a note to you Obama-voting urban leftists: When the REAL crash hits, I’d advise you to have your hat in your hand (rather than a gun) and your work gloves in your back pocket when you come to a farmhouse looking for food.
Having moved to the US one year ago, I could not leave Europe fast enough. Shame to see that the US is now going to emulate all the worst aspects of Europe. For everything that President Obama proposes, one need only look to Europe to see how it has failed.
But what more do you expect from politicians such as these:
http://trackacrat.com/
JD, you should precise eastern europe, cuz elsewhere it’s about the same as the US (37% vs 40 %), actually the countries in EU that are the most in trouble are thes ones toos, capitalism hasn’t yet created solid richnesses
You write:
“Since World War II, America’s capitalist system has allowed it to stand as a bulwark of democracy, provider of security and font of commerce and creativity for the world. Europe has had America at its back. There is no candidate right now to replace America in that role.”
And that’s exactly why the internationalist subversives NEED to make America weak forever: to terminate the only force that has always stopped their demented plans.
Mr. Soros has worked well (from his point of view). Now HE his the most powerful man on earth.
I laugh at all the pseudo-conservatives who whine about Obama’s policies saying “Those policies will not work”. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUBVERSIVES WANT: those policies MUST NOT work, they want to destroy the force for FREEDOM that America has always been in the world.
Fasten your seat-belts, we are getting into the twilight zone that history has always been before America’s fight for Freedom.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
#20, David S said ” Some modest reform of tax codes” which reminded me…
You know that $13.00 per week less that will be deducted from your paychecks and which O crowed about? Well, don’t forget to SAVE that $13.00 ‘cuz the tax codes/rates aren’t changing to match it. You’ll owe it all right back to O on tax day 2010.
#16 BC said “What’s so wrong with better (much better) health care, higher test scores, longer vacations, and mass transit that works and is convenient?”
yeah, what’s wrong with entire families going on vacation for the entire month of August and leaving their elderly relatives alone in high rise apartment buildings with NO airconditioning to die? What was it, 15000 in a single month???
yeah, what a lovely society.
btw BC, all those things are government controlled and therefore can be taken away in an instant and you have NO recourse but to make a flimsy sign and protest.
I understand this is a blog post and not a dissertation on Obama’s and Europe’s policies. But I can’t help but comment on the ambiguity in the argument that leads to a fairly precise conclusion.
It’s a cliche for a reason; these are desperate times calling for desperate measures. If Obama were advocating these polices in the middle of an economic boom, that would be a different thing entirely. But we’re not in the middle of an economic boom. Quite the opposite. Therefore, we can’t continue to follow the same policies that led us into the ditch. Not all government spending leads to socialism. Not all free market theory is good for the economy. It’s not either/or. If we learned anything from the foreclosure crisis, it’s that an unfettered market can sometimes be a dangerous thing.
As much as I despised Bush, I never once thought we were about to see the resurgence of the Third Reich. I think it unfair — and unfounded hand wringing — to assume we’re on the brink of being a socialistic state.
As an aside, I lived in Europe for a while. It’s not a bad place.
Marie-Claude,
I’ve noticed that French writers use this word “mondialism.” What does that mean?
“What’s wrong with better health care?” Well, sometimes it comes bundled in a Police State like Cuba.
Another reason to dread the Eurification of the USA — collapsing birth rates amongst the participatory workforce. Where are all those future taxpayers going to come from? At least our own Latin American migrants, legal and otherwise, come from a familiar, non-hostile and potentially assimilable culture. Europe has to contend with a growing, radicalized, unemployable and unassimilable Muslim underclass (the “disaffected urban youths” torching cars in Paris and attending Wahhabi mosques in London) that, assuming current birthrates continue, will outnumber the white/Christian population in places like Denmark and the Netherlands.
fred, mondialism = “global world” the favorite expression of the new economists
kirly
yeah, what’s wrong with entire families going on vacation for the entire month of August and leaving their elderly relatives alone in high rise apartment buildings with NO airconditioning to die? What was it, 15000 in a single month???
yeah, what a lovely society.
funny, before this year of 2003, there wasn’t such a non-forecasted heat since more than a century, that many people forgot to buy an air conditionner, that they did for the next summer, but since 2003 it’s cooler, even colder, sorry if the people didn’t forecast the casualties, that didn’t only concern the August vacanciers, cuz Italy who is in use with more Celcius grades than France, there were ~ 20 000 deads, while in France ~ 15 000. So you may be a Christian, but with a “mauvaise foi”, and before throwing inepties you should check the facts
The heat wave that struck France in 2003 has been accompanied with an estimated 15 000 excess deaths. This paper stresses the difficulties of the epidemiology of such an event. The relevant clinical and biological information is incomplete or even inaccessible and many of the deaths are due to multiple factors. The data presently available indicate that the deaths occurred in persons already vulnerable, and that the heat wave caused a five- to eight-month loss of lifetime for the affected individuals. There is a noteworthy similarity between the profiles of this exceptional summer mortality surge, and those of many past winters when similar or larger excess mortalities have occurred without as yet eliciting much public attention. To cite this article: A.-J. Valleron, A. Boumendil, C. R. Biologies 327 (2004).
What’s so wrong with better (much better) health care, higher test scores, longer vacations, and mass transit that works and is convenient?
Those things are poor value in trade for freedom.
If I wanted to destroy a society the first thing I’d do is destroy the system of public education
If I wanted to destroy a society, I would institute a system of public education.
Check. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
As an aside, I lived in Europe for a while. It’s not a bad place.
Weimar was “nice” too.
No system is perfect, it is more due to the human nature itself, cheaters happen to live everwhere.
If I were to build a big living environment for guinea pigs, and after a while they all died because that environment was not suited for guinea pigs, I would conclude that I need to adapt the environment to the guinea pigs’ requirements. I would build a new environment based on the nature of guinea pigs — not sit there and blame “guinea pig nature” for the failure of my system. To do otherwise would be obviously insane, yes?
So why do so many people insist on approaching the question of what kind of society is best, from the standpoint of “human nature be damned”?
The Left and conservatives both love to blame “human nature” for the failures of their (religious, socialist) systems. They only differ in their purported remedy: conservatives rely on a system of divine intervention to constrain manind’s “base” nature, while Leftists just scream “Behave as you ought!” and try to shoehorn human nature into their systems.
And then, when some Russian immigrant suggests that perhaps society and morality should be constructed in accordance with the given facts and requirements of human nature, including the freedom to think, to communicate, to act, and to avail themselves of the fruit of their own effort, she’s the one derided as a wacko
Go figure.
I’m telling ya’, this will end the same way FDR’s failed New Deal ended and LBJ’s black family-destroying Great Society ended: war.
War is a great diversion from failure.
It cost us 400,000 dead Americans in WWII. That many could die in a single city today.
Where is John Galt when we need him?
Does Atlas Plan to Shrug?
It must be almost 45 years since I last read Ayn Rand’s classic, libertarian, “objectivist” novel, Atlas Shrugged, the central theme of which is reflected in the title.
Atlas in Greek mythology was condemned by Zeus to bear the weight of the heavens, or universe, on his shoulders for his insolence to the gods. (A very brief, lighthearted, account of Atlas’ infraction and punishment can be found here: http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/greek-mythology.php?deity=ATLAS.)
While I have never fully subscribed to libertarianism and less so to Rand’s philosophy of “Objectivism,” I’ve always admired her thesis in Atlas that the world is dependent on the intelligent, capable do-ers, the makers and shakers who built and sustain the world in contradistinction to the takers and moochers of the world who are oblivious to the truth that should the makers disappear the takers’ world would collapse.
That is precisely what happens in the novel. In effect, Atlas shrugs, says he’s had enough of the crippling effects of punishing the do-ers and takes off, leaving the moochers to take care of things. With the world devoid of the makers and shakers, they don’t do very well.
Ayn Rand outlined her beliefs in the 35th anniversary edition of Atlas Shrugged: ”My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
Her novel is more relevant than ever today for America and the rest of the Western World as creeping socialism is becoming a galloping socialism. The only question is not the repetitive catchphrase of the novel, “Who is [the protagonist] John Galt?” but rather, “Can and will Atlas shrug once again dump the takers from his back?”
Socialism can only survive if Atlas stands strong and upright. Let’s all go on welfare, food stamps, unemployment, and suck at the various other public teats and see how long society survives and thrives.
(Read similar articles at http://genelalor.com/.)
What are the Obamamites going to do, play with the tectonic plates and move us 5K kilometers east?
Self absorbed, that sounds like the average con, spewing the ignorant slogans and party line of the moment while utterly absorbed in their own paranoia and greed fantasies.
Marie Claude
Tell the truth. The heat wave in France that killed 15000 was really caused by overheated French men.
Can we have some ice here please?
An elderly uncle once told me I would live to see a dictator, someone who would calm irrational, desperate people. I believe we are seeing the beginning of that … an Obama who makes desperate people think things will be better again.
He’s gaining too much power, claiming he knows the way and dictating it’s his way or the highway, if we don’t want to fall apart. That kind of rhetoris makes unintelligent, uninformed people follow willingly.
How ironic it would be, if after a Democracy is established in Iraq, Socialism would be established in American!!!
With Eastern European loans in default and Western Euro banks tied to them, I dont think Europe is going to look very attractive to use as a liberal nanny state poster child anymore. Expect civil war in Europe with muslim immigrants and EU supporters against nationalists all in a big clusterf***/tangled, confused mess, and possible Russian aggression on the Eastern side of Europe as well as in former Soviet territory. Expect Israel to stop Iranian nuclear enrichment. Russia will have some response.
China holds the best hand by far and whoever they assist will pay dearly for it, or everyone will be each paying China not to get involved on the other guys side. Its their auction to call and bid. Obama wanted to turn US into Europe but its too late, any attempts to that end , as they are doing, weil result in far greater financial calamity than would otherwise be the case. He would have boosted the defence budget if he had an iota of foresight, he obviously does not. One more shot of dope in the veins of the junkies of welfare, govt hand-holding and immediacy is all this multi trillion dollar appropriating will fascilitate. Jim Rogers is right, the best American job in the near future will be that of a farmer. China has a lot of mouths to feed.
Liberals AND Neocons with their anti-American foreign policy, military, immigration and trade policies have de-industrialized and bankrupted our country, and allowed millions of socialists to come into our nation from the south. And most people reading this are STILL drinking this same neocon Kool-Aid.
Claudia: Despite the leftist domination of our education system, we have in this country plenty of men and women who own and know how to use firearms to protect themselves and their loved ones if the need arises. Unlike Europeans who have a recent history of appeasement and cowardice in the face of aggression, which is reflected in the smug elitism of many but not all of their citizens, a significant number of Americans are ready, willing, and able to fight and even die for our God-given freedoms. Europeans pontificate about the United States, but they know in the backs of their self-righteous minds, that we will be there to protect their gutless, pacifist rear-ends if the need arises.
Marie Claude
“many people forgot to buy an air conditionner”
so, they planned on it but it just slipped their minds prior to their departure for vacation? the vacations which their elderly relatives were not welcome to join them on? yeah, riiiiiiiiiiight.
” estimated 15 000 excess deaths”
that’s just sick.
i’ve been to france many times (so many i lost count). i’ve spent weeks in paris and toulouse in the summer. it’s hot EVERY summer. oh, and btw, paris smells like urine.
#16
you mean ~
high national debt in global rankings
doctors exodus from germany (Spiegel)
skilled workers exodus from Germany (Dow Jones)
French exodus over economy (USA Today)
France’s young flock to Britain looking for jobs (Timesonline)
Jobless youth in UK (Financial Times)
France – assault by the state on employment rights (libcom.org)
Young workers flee Denmark over high taxes ( New York Times)
Economics of sky-high youth unemployment behind French riots (business week)
failed economic growth policies (OECD Standardized unemployoment rates since 1988)
Public spending % of GDP, US is second lowest as compared with EU countries (and only because Ireland has *slashed* their spending from second highest to lowest) (European Union Tax Cartel)
US has the highest prosperity ranking as compared with EU countires (OECD prosperity ranking 1970-2004) After cutting taxes and spending, Ireland jumped from the absolute bottom, to the second spot.
same population for the US vs. the EU big 4
~EU has 33 MILLION *fewer* jobs created than the US since 1980 – (OECD)
EU had 7.2% unemployment in 2007 vs. the US 4.8% (and every year going back to 1988 EU has been several points HIGHER than the US)
Of course, NOW, EU countries (Sweden and Ireland leading the way) are slashing tax rates to boost job growth.
Then again,
Geert Wilders, and others have been prosecuted for speaking valid concerns. Their *FREEDOM of SPEECH* is REVOKED and suppresed. While HATE mongers who INCITE murderous violence are given a free pass. (and what was this about both French and British polics avoiding confronting these violent thugs in the street?)
No thanks, I think I’ll pass.
marie claude sets herself up as judge and jury of my faith when she says “So you may be a Christian, but with a “mauvaise foi”, and before throwing inepties you should check the facts”
“mauvaise foi”. that means bad faith for those that don’t read french.
as i said, i’ve been to france many times. and each sunday i saw the empty churches. in fact, i couldn’t even find one that was open and having services! not once! so don’t tell ME i have a “bad faith” when your entire urine-stinking country has none. but you will.
Kirly you may have come to France and learn nothing !!!
mauvais foi hasn’t the literal translated sense, but that that you hold for true is a biased knowledge of bad will, and also the way you are quoting me meens I am right about you LMAO
I know how it is here, I live here, so if you assert that each summers are hot, check the metereology stats for summers in France, and tell me after them !
Also, fast no common sensed family need an air conditionner before 2003 and after 2003, only people that want to show they are wealthier and new rich did or do
Still Bill, hehe, you love that part of protector :b
May-be, this time, history will reverse and that we may re-act Yorktown
Ked5, update your news
Oscar, what a shame !
Force Obama to prove his (non) citizenship and expell him. He’s not eligible to be POTUS to begin with.
Every action he’s taken would be reversed, and we could get on with being the USA instead of the USSA.
It would take some work, but not nearly the work necessary to straighten out the mess he’s creating — and this is only the beginning — it will get much, much worse before he’s done.
Get him out now.
Always the same anti-European rant with no long-term vision.
Now let me give you facts:
1) This kind of anti-European attitude is just dividing the West, like anti-Americanism in Europe.
2) America does not need Europe to have an auto industry going down the drain, a lost war in Iraq, massive unemployment, poverty, real estate market crash, racism etc
So please, grow up and make constructive contributions to Pajamasmedia.
In terms of health care, the US has been ranked near the bottom of the industrialized nations for quite some time despite our per capita costs being generally much higher (France has been consistently top ranked). And while some of our hospitals, especially the ones with pedigree university affiliations, might be world class in certain specialties, chances are very good that your local hospital is anything but:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN07651650
In terms of public transportation, France again take our lunch if you compare their 200 mi/hr TGV trains to our sorry attempts to even link up the very busy Boston-NY-Washington corridor. I live by Boston and if I want to go to NY, about a 200 mile journey, I can either get on an Acela train for about $99, which will whisk me to NY in about 3.5 hrs if nothing goes wrong, or I can take a “Chinatown bus” (Google it) for $15 and get there in about 4 hrs if nothing goes wrong (and that includes a snack/restroom break — the evening return buses don’t stop and can get you back in about 3.5 hrs).
In comparison, taking the train from Paris to Strasbourg, which is about 300 miles away, will take under 2.5 hrs and cost about the same as or just a shade more than the Acela ride. And besides the traditional scenery, you can also take in some nice views of clusters of wind farms and maybe the occasional nuclear power plant.
And why is it that they can build things like this:
http://www.crab.wa.gov/designsystems/ezine/April2005/ezine4-2005_files/image007.jpg
And we can’t even build a tunnel correctly:
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/Inspectors%20have%20been%20studying%20the%20Big%20Dig%20tunnel%20since%20a%20woman%20was%20crushed%20to%20death%20in%20July,%20PIC%20via%20Associated%20Press.jpg
(Boston “Big Dig” ceiling collapse courtesy of shoddy construction and oversight.)
I can imagine the US turned into Europe. The first thing that would happen is that you couldn’t drink the water. You wouldn’t know which side of the street to drive on. All guns except old muzzle loaders would be confiscated. All women would be required to have hairy armpits. We would be required to eat snails. Each region of the USA would have its own language. In California, for instance, only the valley girl dialect would be spoken. The northeast coast would have two major dialects, Bostonisan and New Yorkese. The south would have the most interesting language of all with You All required in every sentence. We already have Ebonics and Spanglish.
For anyone who believes that old American ways are not working anymore, and we should try what Newsweek triumphantly called “socialism”? Well, let me remind you that Western Europe, with all its socialist regulations, government run medical care and generous handouts is in deeper economic troubles than US. So it’s fair to ask – why would anyone be stupid (or evil) enough to try to implement the policies which proved to be a failure?
Moreover, if one desires to try something new – I suggest as an experiment, ask Obama to fix Social Security (lets not forget what exactly was promised by the FDR when he enacted it), save Medicare from bankrupcy (no extra money is allowed – do it all with promised efficiency), and make US education (which is most expensive in the world) on par with European – andat the same cost. Once he finishes with all those tasks – we can listen to the rest of his proposals. Right now, it seems the government comes up with new expensive programs, those programs fail to fullfill the promised results, and the government comes back with even bigger programs. Ain’t this stupid?
Anyway, don’t forget to visit my blog:
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/
I liked this…
“America does not need Europe to have an auto industry going down the drain..”
Actually, US auto-industry is run pretty much according to the European model – big unyieldy unions, guaranteed jobs, excellent salaries and pensions. Too bad it cannot last in real world.
66. Oscar the Grump:
But wait, we could have fantastic cheese and wine like France, beer like Germany and Britain (and don’t forget Scotch whiskey!), pot and hookers like Amsterdam, bullfighting like Spain, food like Italy, etc. I think it would be great!
As to the South, it’s, “y’all,” or as in the case where I’m from, “you-uns” or “y’uns.”
/sarc off/
regards
OScar, you should submit your ideas to Hollywood LMAO
I was more afraid of Bush turing America into China.
. Hyphenated American:
“big unyieldy unions, guaranteed jobs, excellent salaries and pensions. Too bad it cannot last in real world.”
eh, update your courses since highschool !!!
the eastern republics are complaining that our industrials are cutting jobs as they did in France, Germany…
this is no more nationalised enterprises
marie claude
“mauvais foi hasn’t the literal translated sense, but that that you hold for true is a biased knowledge of bad will, and also the way you are quoting me meens I am right about you LMAO”
you’re a legend in your own deluded mind. you somehow have some amazing ability to judge a person’s knowledge, will, and faith. wow. impressive. not.
thanks for playing mc. i’m done with you and your elitist statements. go back to neglecting and killing your elderly. they’ve outlived their usefulness and are just a drain on your “social safety net” anyway.
enjoy your new moslem overlords. this country, and my relatives in the military, won’t be saving your cheese loving surrender monkey ass again.
I’m deeply concerned with a United States turning socialist, a la Europe — and that’s precisely what is happening under the Obama-administration right now. They are clearly (mis)using the current crisis to transform society.
Some people might argue that Europe is not such a bad place after all – for what is wrong with having, at the least, 30 days off a year? But that is plainly short-term thinking. How can – both Europe and the United States – be competitive if they create a workforce that is, at bottum, lazy? I work, as an assistent-professor, at a university, and most of our students – with some exceptions – are simply undiciplined and do not strive to get the best out of themselves. And we see that phenomenon everywhere in our society. Do you really want the United States to be thus? People would stop being inventive, selfreliant, and so on. Leisure time is much more important to them than work.
And that is just one of our problems. Let’s mention some other problems of my country and many other European countries:
- Almost half of the population of our major cities is Muslim, and they are mostly uneducated, don’t finish highschool, etc. (especially the boys). This is simply a timebomb. This is, moreover, accompanied by the influence of more radical, antidemocratic/anti-west Wahhabist versions of Islam (which their parents do not adhere to).
- The workforce will become too small, because there are not enough children.
- As a result, it will be impossible in the near future to pay for the wellfare-state.
- On top of that, the situation in the Netherlands, the country where I live, is far better than that of many other European nations, such as Germany and France. We have had a rightwing government that has made important changes to the wellfare state, and has almost balanced budged. Moreover, we have privatized parts of the health care system, as well as other former government services.
But I’m afraid that if the USA turns left, the same will happen here, and we will get a system in which the government gets bigger, government spending will increase, regulations will impede economic progress, people will become even more dependent on the government, and so on.
I urge all conservatives in the USA to find ways to counter the current developments, although I’m afraid that Obama will strongly weaken the United States anyway, so that other – non-democratic – nations will fill the vacuum of power. But I have got more faith in the USA to overcome the current situation than in Europe.
Kirly Im doubly proud of being french considering your hypocrite christian conviction
Tukker, I recommand you to refer to Geert Wilder as far saying you live better in Holland, than in Germany or France
That is why we see many of your compatriots on a 30 days vacations over here
Hyphenated American, you said:
“I liked this…
“America does not need Europe to have an auto industry going down the drain..”
Actually, US auto-industry is run pretty much according to the European model – big unyieldy unions, guaranteed jobs, excellent salaries and pensions. Too bad it cannot last in real world.”
Ok… How can I explain this… In substance you’re saying that US auto companies are epic fails because they’re run like European auto companies… Now that’s funny because last time I checked, European auto makers were doing much better than US companies. This is maybe because you’re wrong. US auto companies are tun according to a very American model of pensions supported by the company itself not the state, and unions that are confrontational, not engaged in a partnership with the state.
Now let me ask you something: are the US banks also run “pretty much according to the European model”?
Now, let me give a piece of advice, to you and your little friends on this blog: instead of childishly finger-pointing Europeans for whatever goes wrong in your country, grow up and try to solve your own national issues, whatever they are.
Another comment: when a country starts blaming another for its wrong-doings and failures, it means that this country is not doing very well.
well, I have enough to be pointed as the “looser”, and representant of “socialism”, OK, there are many things that upset me in my government, but there are not more than these you can reproach to yours.
as a coutry of 550 000 km2 and being the 5th richest country in GDP rank, I can just be proud of the achievments of my compatriots, that are not all socialists BTW.
Plus, I am proud of my culture, including food and mode, architecture, landscapes… intellectuals blah blah, at least they exist ! even in a compassionate lefty eye, though they don’t agree all together, so the polemics make that the things move on.
while you’re looking backwards, when America could supply coca-colas and chewing gums to the “poor uneducated” world, it’s time to wake up, because the world doesn’t wait for you anymore, the Yuans are going to be the etalon money
Stop saying that America will turn into Europe and intend it as a slur. Last time I checked Obama made is clear, that FDR was his inspiration. FDR was riding in is time on a wave of Corporatism, a concept where the state assumes massive control of society by binding the economy and civil organizations to itself.In Brazil Getulio Vargas took the same route, and was praised by FDR for it. It was pioneered in Italy under Mussolini and it has nothing to do with today’s Europe. Google it up.
And have a look at your constitution and at the federalist papers when we are already at it. You will find that the founding fathers were overwhelmingly influenced by European thinkers. From Smith to Locke to Montesquieu to Livy.
Today Europe is not that socialist place what some think it is. Although coming ever closer through the Union, it is still a competitive state system, where member states are largely responsible for their own policies. Therefor you will find some states where you have less bureaucracy and taxes then in the US, but of course there are states like France, where the state has a bigger role.
When it comes to promote the big economic players, Europe and the US are on the same level. When Airbus won together with its US partner Northrop Grumman, some influential people in DC stopped the contract for political reasons. Cant blame them, the Euro big shots are in the same game. But to say, that America is still the economic paradise, where government has played little to no role is just fantasy. They are putting their fingers into every sector where they get at. Europe and the US have unfortunately both been wrong with their past policies.
But so far Obama is leading the way with big spending, all the Europeans together didn’t commit by far such huge amounts of dollars.
Now, with the crises, the two cousins could fall flat on their faces. When one falls, the other one probably follows as their fate is pretty much tied together.
Socialism in Europe has lasted as well as it has, as long as it has because of the US. Because we have had a strong military, they could let theirs shrink and weaken. Because we have had innovation in the marketplace and in health care, they could just copy our products and breakthroughs. Why are pharmaceuticals so cheap in Canada? Because they don’t pay a dime of the hundreds of millions of research dollars that we pay for, they just copy our formulas.
But take away the upside to innovation–potential wealth–and it’s no longer worth the risk. You’ll see fewer investments in new businesses, fewer businesses putting dollars into new products. Everything stagnates. In Europe they’ve managed to get by anyway because they can just copy our stuff.
Rosett’s asking exactly the same question I’ve been asking myself.
jhm, not the french that expelled the Nato occupation in 1967, and we always made our own inventions, cuz a french doesn’t like to copy but to innove and sell his products, that is why we are in concurrence
jhm, you talk of Europe as a copycat and then you use canada as an example?
When a company comes up with a new invention, it usualy applies for a patent, with which its invention can enjoy some protection from being copied for a limited amount of time.
So, pharmaceuticals that are sold cheaper across the border are either older inventions, for which there is no patent protection anymore, or the company that sells its, lets say Pfizer, decides to sell for a lower price. Government intervention could also be the reason for a price difference, but for sure not for the reasons you have in mind.
China is often accused of ignoring patents. European and US companies suffer more or less the same and try to acto together through the WTO against China. So far with little success.
We plant the seeds of our greatness for America now. We make major gains in the House and Senator and with governors in 2010. Then we continue the fight for 2012. We must save America! The time is now to plant the seeds for our recovery and eventually victories in the years ahead. I have to have this hope to survive.
Mazarin, a wise and aware politician adviser for the regent queen, and Louis XIV’s educator, while from italian origin, cared for the french interests at their bests, peace in Europe, submission of the nobles ; he is at the origin of the central state power, that the Vth constitution, has given back to the republic presidency, so far it’s what had worked out the most in our country, that is, for paraphrasing Churchill ” so difficult to govern when there are so many different wines in cheezes”
America is a young country. Our identity is to be a rebel. Rebels are reformed over and over again until we are who we came from.
Re #8. Fortunately the most likely Supreme Court members [I just can't call the 'justices'] to be replaced are already liberals. It might be a zero-sum game if Obambi is a one term president.
Well if Obama succeeds in turning the United States into Europe, out of work construction workers can perhaps count on those lucrative contracts to build concentration camps. Did I dare say anything critical, even if done sardonically, of precious europe? Gosh, I’m sorry….
Mario = idiot, that seem to come easily in a simple clear concept
Kirly,
“Paris smells of urine”
“your entire urine stinking country”
“cheese-eating surrender monkeys”
lol, can we get any more childish? “Kentucky smells of poo poo” and “all Americans are lardasses” maybe.
How old are you, 6?
“For anyone who believes that old American ways are not working anymore, and we should try what Newsweek triumphantly called “socialism”? Well, let me remind you that Western Europe, with all its socialist regulations, government run medical care and generous handouts is in deeper economic troubles than US.”
It is? I’d say that both sides of the Atlantic plus most of the developed economies of East Asia are all pretty deep into this recession/depression at the moment, it’s too early to say who’ll come out least worst.
Eveyone things we are moving to current European social model. I don’t see it. From the “Brown Shirt” civil police to the controls placed on buisness we are leaning much more to the model of Germany 1933.
Central Europe revels in their past and has not lost sight of historical events and the out-comes.
Their reading;
The US protective umbrella dimished.
Their respnse;
Gemany…2008, Moving right. 2009, Arming Up.
uh ho, got a new scenario over the pond ? I know that you like the war moovies, especially with Popeye ; sorry guis, there isn’t anymore Patton to make it
At the rate Barak Hussein Obama and the Democratic congress is destroying our great country,it won’t take a full term to make us a socialist and helpless nation.
Europeans are brainwashed boneheads who project all their sins onto the United States and Israel. Please, let us not fall to the level of their lunacy and mental illness! I’d rather model myself after Thailand, one of the few nations on earth not soiled by European hands.
@98 marie-claude
I realize you like to play Joan of Arc on these forums, but may I ask how many American graves are in your country? A round number in tens of thousands will do. May we have those people back?
NO FEAR MS. ROSSET: Obama doesn’t want to turn the US into Europe;he wants to turn it into Mexico. He will try to make the Democratic party only party(through gerrymandering,and ACORN intimidation;destroying the first and second amendments; and installing a clique of left-wing plutocrats,such as Geithner and Soros,as the funtional equivalent of the mexican oligarchy.
I’ve read the comments about how other nations “copy” those great American inventions, but talking in such terms is nothing but superficial rubbish.
America has had its inventions, but so have others. Some of the greatest mathematicians, inventors, creations and cultures have emanated from the modern-day Europe and elsewhere, whereas America is rather “young” in Western cultural development terms.
Consider for a moment the greatest of ancient monuments such as the Egyptian Pyramids, the solar system and ancient models of the movement of planets, or even those huge stone circles that have baffled scientists for centuries. There is a wealth of evidence that man has not progressively developed knowledge over the centuries for America to come out leading the way, but rather the other way around in so many respects.
As for the comment that “Europeans are “Brainwashed Boneheads”? Look at yourself for a moment. The rest of the world (not just Europe) is looking at you, and those Americans demonstrating such ignorance and stupidity are seen as precisely that. As Europe and other countries are not united states ruled by one government (AKA propaganda merchants), there is rather more colourful debate, travel, and understanding about the world at large, whereas many Americans don’t even know where in the world those countries are on the map – let alone talk about their cultures. The rest of the world is not “Europe”, and not everyone in Europe is a Brainwashed Bonehead – we have our fair share though, as does America.
Sure, our governments are crap and we all suffer the stupid loony legislation and corruption emanating from Europe, though one look at George Bush and cohorts tips the scales wouldn’t you say?
Now lets consider discoveries and patents…
For the rest of the world there is a system in place founded on something called “prior art”. If an article in a journal is published citing some new discovery, or other countries patent ideas that get rejected (and fail an 18-month timeframe where patents have to be granted), then we have no patent claim for the American market. So does “Prior Art” apply to Americans?… Oh no…
If an American realises such ideas, discoveries and inventions that would not be patentable in any other country due to “prior art” getting into the public domain, it’s only Americans that enjoy a further year’s grace to apply for a patent for the American market under the US patenting rules. Experienced in this myself (two PCT’s and three ECT’s in my name) there are stark contrasts between a non-Amertican and and American applying for a US patent.
The purpose of this can only be to stop ideas and inventions developed outside the USA being marketed in America. I’ve seen professional evidence that inward investment develops those ideas, and from vested interests those American companies aggressively persuing anti-competitive practices and lawsuits towards non-American companies.
Regarding inward investments, that money has to come from somewhere doesn’t it? Consider why the American national debt is many hundreds of Trillions of dollars, and who are your creditors.
Many of my friends and colleagues are Americans for whom I have nothing but the greatest respect, but these are people that have lived and worked outside of the USA and have developed a balanced understanding of world countries and foreign cultures and. For the ignorant, uneducated, zenophobic, self-congratulatory people in the USA, I would suggest that you stop shouting off your big mouths and start educating yourselves about the world at-large – though your comments would suggest that you probably don’t have the will or capacity.
#103 I know my European heritage. I’m proud of it. But we left the nest. we grew up. Formed our own culture with the hybrid that now includes the rest of the world. America became great because individuals chose to leave behind the Sophistry you engage in because you have nothing better to do.
Invention is not a high priority in most nations because they do not have a favourable climate for it to flourish