But the two are merging and becoming more homogeneous than we think;
Even under George Bush, dictator, tyrant, puppy killer and one who talks in the theater, the trend in the US has been to increase spending. I know we all like to point to his tax cuts, but they're not real tax cuts as they haven't been accompanied by cuts in spending. This is merely postponing taxes into the future as all government spending must be paid for with taxes. Either today, or tomorrow, they must be paid. Ergo, spending is the real measure.
But Europe as well has been trending towards America, cutting their spending and abandoning their more socialist aims.
The result?
We (the west I mean) will all become boringly the same. The French will be less French. Americans will be less American, and therefore less warranted to pick on the French because we'll be more like them. And worse still there will be no more real "America." It will be socialism lite under Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. And, despite what lefter leaning types will claim, we will lose the one thing that has made America different and better than Europe and made us once the beacon for the massive emigration out of the old continent and the envy of the world; economic freedom.
You can come here, but you're going to face 40% tax rates.
You can build a company here, but we're going to tax your corporation first at 40% and then you at another 40%.
You can live here, but you're going to have to pay for all of our retired population who so poorly planned for their retirement, that they'll need another $10 trillion in subsidies to pay for their medical care.
Sadly, the US will become another European nation, not unique, not special and definitely not American. And the only countries that will be "American" will be the various smaller nations such as Bermuda, Switzerland, the Caymans and Hong Kong, and China which is trending rapidly to an old school style America.
3 comments:
It's not surprising to me that Europe and the US don't differ so much when you compare them macroeconomically. There was already a time when the US was more socialist than some European countries, namely between 1945 and 1970. Just look up the historic figures from Angus Maddison and you'll see that the US achieved practically the same level of government expenditure percentages as the big-government countries Germany and France until the 1960s. Compared to Germany or France, the US also employed a very high percentage of people in the public sector. And lets not forget the high marginal tax rates in the US (up to 90%) until Reagan cut them off. Germany never had a higher tax rate than 56% since WW2.
In my opinion, the most important economic difference between Europe and the US lies in the regulations (red tape). Europeans didn't go to the US because of tax savings, but they wanted to avoid the heavy burden of red tape that European big-brother states lay on them. And this is still true today.
That's why I think that the biggest danger to America now is the possible introduction of universal health care and tighter financial regulation, not higher tax rates or high spending.
Look at the upside of this...the decline in the EU part of the graph shows that the ideas of liberty and economic freedom are making at least some progress in Europe.
Socialisim always seems like a great idea if you grew up in a healthy capitalist economy...it is only after someone has experienced the "joys" of the "national malaise" that Socialisim brings that one understands the value of a free economy.
I hate when people spew stupidity to further their own agenda. Now I voted bush twice, and will be voting mccain most likely (I'm torn between tax and spend and borrow and spend).
That being said "And lets not forget the high marginal tax rates in the US (up to 90%) until Reagan cut them off."
This guy is dead wrong. The last time the marginal tax rate was 91% was under Kennedy, and it was cut to to 70-77% by an evil democrat named Johnson. When Reagan came into office, yes he cut it down to 50% but he also reduced the high end bracket down from 200K to 85K (the following years if quickly rose, likely due to political pressure).
Now I consider myself a fiscal conservative, but we fiscal conservatives need to stop being brainwashed and give credit where it is due. Look at Captain's graph. I wish it would extend back to Reagan because we'd see that it is the republicans who are spending more than the democrats. Look at the Clinton years and notice it trends down. Notice the Bush/Bush years and the trend is up. I'm willing to be the Reagan years would show a big trend up as well.
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