Clive Crook’s cynical view of America’s liberal-conservative divide mirrors my own. Quoth Crook:
Progressives and conservatives alike call the United States a
“free-market economy”: both sides have an interest in perpetuating this
delusion. The idea is ridiculous – as ridiculous as calling Europe’s
economies “socialist”. True, the blend of government and private
enterprise is a bit different between the US and the European average,
but the models (insofar as it makes sense to talk of a European model)
are neighbors not polar opposites.All this was true, obviously, long before 2009. Obama, I agree, does
want to narrow the gap a bit more – but it just was not that wide to
begin with. Public spending is lower in the US, but not vastly lower
once you remember to add state and local spending to federal outlays;
the US healthcare anomaly accounts for a lot of the remaining
difference.In most respects (labor protections are the main exception) the US
regulatory state is at least as comprehensive and intrusive as those in
Europe. As for the constant tyranny of petty bureaucracy, let me say as
somebody who has lived in Britain and now in the US that it seems even
worse here. One’s interaction with officials of one sort or another is
endless. Admittedly, I am an immigrant living in DC, which demands
additional oversight. Who knows what I might get up to? Still, these
days, I wince every time I hear, “It’s a free country.” No, it isn’t.
Sad but true. I would say, though, that the lower level of U.S. labor regulation is a massive advantage that has kept the average U.S. unemployment rate far below Europe’s for decades.
READER COMMENTS
Steve Roth
May 27 2010 at 11:34am
Yet another argument for greatly expanding the EITC in lieu of other support programs and labor regulations, and also making it more salient by delivering it via weekly paychecks.
chipotle
May 27 2010 at 11:43am
If I were explaining the difference between the US and EU economies, in broad strokes, to a Martian visitor, I would say these things
Mark Brady
May 27 2010 at 5:24pm
“The US a giant military; Europe free-rides off of that but spends even more on the welfare state.”
The U.S. certainly has a giant military. But like most “public goods” Europeans, like everyone else, would be better off without it!
Steve Sailer
May 27 2010 at 5:44pm
Welfare payments are lower in the U.S., and, since the 1996 reforms, immigrants have had a harder time getting welfare. So, the U.S. has much harder working immigrants than Europe, where many immigrants are on the dole.
dieter
May 29 2010 at 1:49am
The Germans and the Japanese are too afraid to ask the US to leave. The same Neocons who scold European Nations for being insufficiently self-reliant and ungrateful for the protection the US offers would go absolutely ballistic if these Nations would politely decline said protection.
Comments are closed.