...to mention a piece by Dan Henninger in the Wall Street Journal this morning, The We're-Not-Europe Party, in which Mr. Henninger--Surprise!--criticizes Europe for growing slower than the U. S. in the period from 1996 to 2005. (Paul Krugman has pointed out, by the way, that it's more complicated than that, but whatever.)
If you've ever read the Journal--even once--you've probably noticed that the editors have a huge--and I mean huge!--problem with Europe. (Did they all have a bad semester abroad there, or something?) In fact, if you've ever read the Journal more than once, you really don't need to read the article at all; you probably could have written it yourself. You would already know what they are going to go on and on (and on) about: America Good, Europe Bad. (Never mind that Germany is the second largest exporter in the world. Oh, and the U. S. isn't first. How come they never print stuff like that?)
What makes Europe such a godforsaken place, according to the Journal? In short, their safety net. It seems that the editors of the Journal just can't stand the idea of anyone getting any assistance from the government at all. There motto should be, "Let Them Eat Cake." The article makes fun of Britain's outgoing prime minister Gordon Brown (or "failed" prime minister, as Henninger calls him), by quoting him as saying, "I tried to make the country fairer." Imagine that. He dedicated his life to public service "to make the country fairer." What a loser!
Henninger continues, "Maybe there's a more important goal." He doesn't say, but one could reasonably assume he means faster economic growth. Like, China, perhaps? Maybe we should adopt their political system; after all, it seems to be providing faster growth than ours. (They're number one in exports, by the way.)
So, should we emulate China, and have a more authoritarian system like theirs? It seems to be working for them. Well, to quote Mr. Henninger, "Maybe there's a more important goal."
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