Learning From Europe

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

In de USA-politiek is het geaccepteerde geloof dat de USA op alle
gebieden het beste is.
Iedereen die anders zegt is bijna een staatsvijand, en wordt in ieder
geval niet geloofd.

Tot de Amerikaan in het buitenland komt, dan ziet hij/zij het met eigen
ogen ;)

Groet / Cees

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/opinion/11krugman.html
January 11, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
Learning From Europe
By PAUL KRUGMAN

As health care reform nears the finish line, there is much wailing and
rending of garments among conservatives. And I’m not just talking about
the tea partiers. Even calmer conservatives have been issuing dire
warnings that Obamacare will turn America into a European-style social
democracy. And everyone knows that Europe has lost all its economic
dynamism.

Strange to say, however, what everyone knows isn’t true. Europe has its
economic troubles; who doesn’t? But the story you hear all the time — of
a stagnant economy in which high taxes and generous social benefits have
undermined incentives, stalling growth and innovation — bears little
resemblance to the surprisingly positive facts. The real lesson from
Europe is actually the opposite of what conservatives claim: Europe is
an economic success, and that success shows that social democracy works.

Actually, Europe’s economic success should be obvious even without
statistics. For those Americans who have visited Paris: did it look poor
and backward? What about Frankfurt or London? You should always bear in
mind that when the question is which to believe — official economic
statistics or your own lying eyes — the eyes have it.

In any case, the statistics confirm what the eyes see.

It’s true that the U.S. economy has grown faster than that of Europe for
the past generation. Since 1980 — when our politics took a sharp turn to
the right, while Europe’s didn’t — America’s real G.D.P. has grown, on
average, 3 percent per year. Meanwhile, the E.U. 15 — the bloc of 15
countries that were members of the European Union before it was enlarged
to include a number of former Communist nations — has grown only 2.2
percent a year. America rules!

Or maybe not. All this really says is that we’ve had faster population
growth. Since 1980, per capita real G.D.P. — which is what matters for
living standards — has risen at about the same rate in America and in
the E.U. 15: 1.95 percent a year here; 1.83 percent there.

What about technology? In the late 1990s you could argue that the
revolution in information technology was passing Europe by. But Europe
has since caught up in many ways. Broadband, in particular, is just
about as widespread in Europe as it is in the United States, and it’s
much faster and cheaper.

And what about jobs? Here America arguably does better: European
unemployment rates are usually substantially higher than the rate here,
and the employed fraction of the population lower. But if your vision is
of millions of prime-working-age adults sitting idle, living on the
dole, think again. In 2008, 80 percent of adults aged 25 to 54 in the
E.U. 15 were employed (and 83 percent in France). That’s about the same
as in the United States. Europeans are less likely than we are to work
when young or old, but is that entirely a bad thing?

And Europeans are quite productive, too: they work fewer hours, but
output per hour in France and Germany is close to U.S. levels.

The point isn’t that Europe is utopia. Like the United States, it’s
having trouble grappling with the current financial crisis. Like the
United States, Europe’s big nations face serious long-run fiscal issues
— and like some individual U.S. states, some European countries are
teetering on the edge of fiscal crisis. (Sacramento is now the Athens of
America — in a bad way.) But taking the longer view, the European
economy works; it grows; it’s as dynamic, all in all, as our own.

So why do we get such a different picture from many pundits? Because
according to the prevailing economic dogma in this country — and I’m
talking here about many Democrats as well as essentially all Republicans
— European-style social democracy should be an utter disaster. And
people tend to see what they want to see.

After all, while reports of Europe’s economic demise are greatly
exaggerated, reports of its high taxes and generous benefits aren’t.
Taxes in major European nations range from 36 to 44 percent of G.D.P.,
compared with 28 in the United States. Universal health care is, well,
universal. Social expenditure is vastly higher than it is here.

So if there were anything to the economic assumptions that dominate U.S.
public discussion — above all, the belief that even modestly higher
taxes on the rich and benefits for the less well off would drastically
undermine incentives to work, invest and innovate — Europe would be the
stagnant, decaying economy of legend. But it isn’t.

Europe is often held up as a cautionary tale, a demonstration that if
you try to make the economy less brutal, to take better care of your
fellow citizens when they’re down on their luck, you end up killing
economic progress. But what European experience actually demonstrates is
the opposite: social justice and progress can go hand in hand.


Learning From Europe
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Despite what conservatives claim, Europe has a successful economy and a
social democracy that works.

(Cees: de door lezers meest gewaardeerde reakties gesorteerd op aantal
stemmen)
1. Cdr. John Newlin Vista, Calif. January 11th, 2010 7:16 am
I don't want to diminish in any way the importance of what Dr. Krugman
is saying in this column. I know it all to be true, from my own research
and from my own experience in travels to Europe, especially to my
favorite city, Copenhagen.

But does anyone recall Michael Moore's definitive film "Sicko" which
revealed the the tragic dichotomy in the comparisons of American and
Europen health care systems? There has been a ton of evidence that
support Dr. Krugman's positions and yet the American people have been
lied to time and time again by the plutocrats. If America were to adopt
a European style system of social compassion and equality, that would
topple the lords of plutocratic capitalism and put bandit companies like
Cigna and Aetna out of business. But that will never happen as long as
the American political system is married to money.
  Recommend  Recommended by 1222 Readers

6. bruce dundas, ont. January 11th, 2010 7:18 am
REALLY is amazing that there have to be columns like this. shows how
devalued reason and logic is in the u.s.a. the disinformation, slogans
and cliches and an inability to believe there are people content with
their own countries is quite remarkable. more holidays, more social
safety nets such as univeral health care, lower murder rates, higher
life expectancy, no capital punishment, more live and let live, lower
infant mortality rates--my god what sane person would want that stuff.....
  Recommend  Recommended by 1076 Readers

11. CJGC Cambridge, MA January 11th, 2010 7:19 am
Americans have a low opinion of human motivation. We seem to believe
that if most people aren't worried much of the time that disaster lurks
if they don't work 50 hours a week for 50 weeks of the year then they'll
fall into sloth. Further, we believe that if some people get filthy rich
- like Wall St. bankers - that's good for the national soul.

Europeans seem to believe in social responsibility, that if you provide
some security people will be willing to work to take care of themselves
and their fellow citizens.

American conservatives in particular have adopted a nasty,
irresponsible, and even hateful approach to public policy. What's mine
is mine and what's yours you don't even deserve. Lying is useful to
advance political agendas.

Our national ideology is that we're optimistic and energetic. But
where's the evidence?
  Recommend  Recommended by 999 Readers

  5. marie burns fort myers, fl January 11th, 2010 7:17 am
When I talk to my conservative friends about healthcare reform, they all
start decrying "socialized medicine." First, I tell them I have
socialized medicine myself since I just hit the big Medicare six-five,
which doesn't impress them much.

But if I'm lucky, one of the conservatives will be from a European
country that has "socialized medicine," & I'll ask him how he
likes/liked it. Every time the answer is, "Oh, I always go back to
France/England (or wherever) if I need medical attention or dental
work." That pretty much ends the conversation.

It's tough on conservatives when facts and real-life experiences keep
getting in the way of their "free market," anti-government mantra.

The Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com
  Recommend  Recommended by 822 Readers

10. David SF January 11th, 2010 7:19 am
The lesson from Europe is that if there were guaranteed universal health
care, high quality education available to all, rich or poor, and
sufficient retirement benefits for everyone, the Gross Domestic Stress
level would go down significantly. This is eminently doable in our uber
wealthy society. We are wasting our resources in a badly ordered, greed
driven system. It makes sense to pay for our essential needs in an
optimal way.
  Recommend  Recommended by 736 Readers

19. Marc Beaverton, OR January 11th, 2010 7:22 am
I'd love to pay 10% more taxes for all the social security I'd have in
Europe.
As an immigrant, what I miss mostly living here in the US is the ability
for everyone to get proper education. In the Netherlands I never worried
about my education (even though my parents had six children) and I got
my master's degree for less than $10,000. Here in the US I worry a lot
about my two toddlers. Preschool is over $1000 a month, and I am not
sure we can afford their college education.
  Recommend  Recommended by 735 Readers

85. MFF Frankfurt, Germany January 11th, 2010 10:50 am
When it comes to the European way of of life, Americans lie-to
themselves and to each other-because by such lies they can maintain the
fiction (and myth) that the American Way of Life, with all its perils,
is the only way to go.

I can tell you this: we've been living in Frankfurt now for over a year,
and our life here has debunked such myths. My husband, who has dual
citizenship, works in finance--here in Frankfurt, he has a job as a
European, and previously to that, he had similar jobs in Houston and NYC
as an American. We came to Europe with virtually the exact same
salary--and everyone told us (including Europeans who'd moved to the US)
that we'd lose with the tax breaks. However, that turned out not to be
true at all. We pay almost the exact same salary. Actually, contrary to
popular belief, here we pay about 4% less.

Furthermore, here we receive money for each of our kids, better tax
deductions for them, tax deductions for myself as a stay at home mother
(and therefore, dependent), and incredible tax deductions when we looked
into buying a place of our own. We're not on the public health care
option--we go private--and yet it costs us far less than our US health
insurance did, and here our insurance covers everything 100%. Each time
one of our kids had to be rushed to the ER after some fall (they're
boys!), none which was dangerous, we paid nothing, zero, and were
attended immediately, and always by the doctor, never nurses or aids, as
had happened before in the US. Our taxes also pay for the most
incredible public transportation system--which, besides, is free when
you work fulltime. As if that were not enough, my husband receives a car
and, more importantly, free gas. Food is cheaper, too. Here, you can eat
daily what in the US would be considered 'organic' or 'healthy' or,
even, 'gourmet' and not even blink. Lastly, in Houston our son's private
childcare cost us anything between $800-$1500 per month for each (even
more in NYC) and we were looking at similar costs forever if we
contemplated private schooling throughout, plus college. Here, they
receive an international, bilingual education at a renowned institution
which, like nearly all in Germany, is subsided by the state and slanted
progressively so that parents pay according to what they earn. Our
school fees, therefore, have shrunk to less than half what we paid for
each child and university, if we chose to stay, in Germany is virtually
free.

And did I mention the 2 months vacation? Which everyone is expected to
take? Which everyone DOES take? And that hotels are cheaper? In the US,
my husband received quite a generous vacation package (for the US) and
yet the understand was that he take as little as possible.

However, without a doubt, the biggest difference in this way of living
is the sense of security. The knowledge that greed is kept at bay and
social life will continue, protected.

So in what way exactly is Europe's social democracy not working?

Oh, I know: it will do its best not to allow for excess.
  Recommend  Recommended by 687 Readers

7. Duncan Los Angeles January 11th, 2010 7:18 am
Hey, but they can't bring assault rifles to political rallies!
  Recommend  Recommended by 676 Readers

21. Simon Victoria, BC January 11th, 2010 7:39 am
Oh boy...good luck Paul. you really are testing the limits of reasonable
discourse here. There is nothing like the plain. bland, unvarnished
truth to stoke the fires of unhinged rage that amounts to most of what
goes into social and economic commentary in your country. Next you will
be suggesting that the rate of gun ownership in America has something to
do with the rate of homicide by firearms, or that poverty causes ill
health, or some other outrage: then there will really be hell to pay!
  Recommend  Recommended by 630 Readers

49. Mark Portland, OR January 11th, 2010 10:10 am
Dr. Krugman,
Expect an onslaught. You have now gone too far, declaring Europe a
success. Imagine, a place where leisure is as valued as work, where all
enjoy a real safety net for health and living and a productive economy.
Why should we ever want that!
  Recommend  Recommended by 616 Readers

20. Kanga Australia January 11th, 2010 7:23 am
There's a bit of apples and oranges, too.
High taxes are only brutal if you don't get your money's worth. I found
the US taxes brutal - things that taxes cover elsewhere were out of
pocket in the US. And health insurance in particular in the US depends
on your employment, setting up a dynamic between worker and employer
that is really unhealthy for innovation.
  Recommend  Recommended by 547 Readers

14. ayankey Overland Park, KS January 11th, 2010 7:20 am
I'm conservative. But that is the kind of writing I am willing to listen
to. You made your case well. And I, ultimately, want to know the truth
about what works.
Thank you.
  Recommend  Recommended by 504 Readers

46. Michael Thomas Washington January 11th, 2010 10:09 am
"Taxes in major European nations range from 36 to 44 percent of G.D.P.,
compared with 28 in the United States."
If we factor in the 16% of G.D.P. spent in the U.S. on healthcare
insurance, wouldn't these numbers be about par? Stated another way,
isn't healthcare insurance simply a tax in disguise?
  Recommend  Recommended by 489 Readers

22. lark san francisco, ca January 11th, 2010 7:39 am
Why is our social spending so low?
The secret of American culture is the climate of hate.

Pull the covers of the ‘opportunity society’ and you see a swarming ugly
mess of resentment, greed, and blame.

That is the real reason that hundreds thousands of people are dead
because they lacked health insurance, since the nails were put in the
coffin of Hillary Care. Surely Hillary Care was better than streets
running red with American blood. But no, because of our climate of hate.

We love to kill Americans, imprison Americans, and send American jobs
overseas. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and the
highest rate of outsourcing our jobs in the developed world.

Whadaya know. After decades of this, ‘them’ now includes us, and the
whole middle class is sliding down into the rubbish heap.

It is one of the big regrets of my life that I was born American and
remained American. Our values disgust me.
  Recommend  Recommended by 488 Readers

16. Dave Kliman Glen Cove, NY January 11th, 2010 7:22 am
You're absolutely right, Dr. Krugman. Thomas Friedman noted on Rachel
Maddow's show after coming home from Copenhagen to Newark, that it was
"like going from the Jetsons to the Flinstones."

My experience in England and France is that they are in some ways
decades ahead of the old backward USA. Of course, making travel more and
more expensive, while taking from the general population to line the
pockets of the richest here, makes it so there are far fewer Americans
who have a chance to see this reality in person, which is really
unfortunate.

2010 is coming, and if we want to progress technologically into the
future, we will have to elect more liberal democrats into congress. I
hope we do.
  Recommend  Recommended by 468 Readers

116. Mia Morgan Berlin, Germany January 11th, 2010 11:51 am
Spot on, Mr. Krugman. As an American who is fortunate enough to live in
Germany (and spend a lot of time in the UK)I marvel on almost a daily
basis how much higher the quality of life is in Europe than in the
United States.

What many Americans don't realize is that the amount of money you have
in your pocket does not alone determine your sense of well-being.
European cities have affordable and efficient public transit, phone and
power lines laid underground, large and well-maintained parks,
subsidized museums and theaters, stunningly beautiful architecture,
sweeping public plazas...

But, perhaps best of all, the people I see around me appear healthy and
comfortable, not impoverished physically and mentally by the struggle
just to get by. Do Europeans worry incessantly about the state of their
retirement funds or whether they can afford that expensive operation
while on their four-week holiday to Australia, or while sipping espresso
at an outdoor cafe next to the soaring spire of a cathedral? Hardly.
People here seem to care more about achieving a healthy balance between
work and leisure than about getting rich or climbing the social ladder.

The Germans may have invented the concept of Angst, but today it is the
Americans who live it.
  Recommend  Recommended by 421 Readers

25. litohoro olymbos January 11th, 2010 7:41 am
The brutal devil-take-the-hindmost economic ethic that shapes US policy
is not a popular choice, but rather a function of the near-total
ownership of our government by corporate greed-heads. In health-care,
for instance, polls consistently show majority or near-majority support
for single-payer, yet that idea remains an absolute non-starter in our
degraded, corrupt, and sclerotic polity. People often say that all the
industrialized democracies except ours have universal health care, but
that is false; the truth is that they all do, we just aren't in that
category. Sad to say, it would appear that our Constitution from the
first was deliberately calculated to tend more to plutocracy than
democracy. So if you want health care as a human right not a profitable
commodity--if you want a remotely reasonable proportion of the fruits of
honest labor going to provide for the legitimate needs of the laborers
and their families--if you want an economy that allows you to live a
decently human life, with reasonable time for your family--then there's
only one solution: emigrate to a democracy.
  Recommend  Recommended by 421 Readers

70. Bill Graham Reuilly, France January 11th, 2010 10:38 am
Totally agree with Krugman. After coming here nearly 30 years ago, I
started and ran a computer software business for 12 years, then moved to
the country with my wife and run a Bed and Breakfast for the last 10
years. And neither of us are French. Now I've started a photography
business with the B&B. Has France stifled my initiative? I think not. Do
taxes take a big chunk of our income? Sure, especially for health. Is it
worth it? In peace of mind, absolutely, and the health care overall here
is the best in the world. Would we return to the States? No
problem...it's a great place to visit.
  Recommend  Recommended by 416 Readers

30. MNW Connecticut January 11th, 2010 8:14 am
As the Professor so aptly points out: "........ social justice and
progress can go hand in hand."

Having had the fortunate experience of living in Europe (Denmark) for 2
years in a close community of Danes, Germans, Norwegians. British, and
Americans, I can certainly vouch for the above conclusion. Certainly
taxes in Europe are higher, but they experience a quality of lifestyle
that can be superior to ours in more ways than one.

I think the main difference lies in the fact that they have a greater
grasp of the concept of the Common Good. The self-centered pursuit of
wealth and material goods is much less of a relentless, competitive
endeavor and I do believe they are more relaxed and content a a result.
The gap between upper and lower income classes is much less than here -
as a result of their taxation systems.

I think it can be summed up by saying they are simply further along on
the evolutionary scale of common decency and the
consideration/recognition of the value of their fellow human beings.
Addressing the overall needs of the entire society means much more to them.

In addition, I find Europeans to be more interesting, far better
informed, and capable of a superior ability to converse and discuss any
and all issues. In other words, they are less self-centered and more
interested in other people and in exchanging thoughts, ideas, and
experiences.

I often wonder if we will ever catch up with them as regards the
important things in life. It doesn't appear to be at all promising and
it is such a waste of our potential in the last analysis.
  Recommend  Recommended by 398 Readers

86. John C Portugal January 11th, 2010 10:51 am
Since university tuition is low or even non existent European countries
also do not burden their young people with a mountain of debt in order
to obtain a higher education.

Young people here in Europe have educational opportunities that I could
not even dream of having when I grew up in the U.S.
  Recommend  Recommended by 371 Readers

27. Michelle Nevada January 11th, 2010 8:13 am
I would swap my US citizenship for citizenship in any EU country in a
heart beat. Economy, education, food, transport, and general civility --
Europeans have this country beat hands down. I would LOVE to live in a
socialist democracy instead of this sinking ship of fools.
  Recommend  Recommended by 350 Readers

13. R. Law Texas January 11th, 2010 7:20 am
Just so Professor on all points, with the additional factum that in the
'80s and the 'big zero' the U.S. ran staggering deficits funneling cash
to military contractors, unlike E.U. countries, and in the '90s we sent
troops to Serbia, instead of developing solar energy, bullet trains,
building bridges and high speed rail - it was a trade off.

The sturm and drang now about cutting future Social Security payments
because war contractors benefited for 30 years from deficit financing at
the federal trough and untraced trunks of cash to war zones is preposterous.

In fact, the voters can remember further back than just 1 news cycle,
and are able to determine cause and effect if budgetary crises develop
following the give-away of epic budget surpluses to the very wealthiest
in the form of tax cuts.

By the way - how is it that for the first time since the 1700's there is
no estate tax in this country now ? Even the Royal Houses of Europe pay
estate taxes !
  Recommend  Recommended by 331 Readers

17. donnolo Monterey, CA January 11th, 2010 7:22 am
First time I can recall an economist distinguishing between GDP and per
capita GDP. Maybe someday they'll even begin distinguishing between
gross domestic product and beneficial domestic product. Considering what
a huge portion of our GDP comes from frivolous, wasteful, and harmful
endeavors, the distinction would be useful.
  Recommend  Recommended by 311 Readers

35. gitrjoda california January 11th, 2010 8:15 am
To the so-called Tea Party, the suggestion that America could learn
anything from any other country is treasonous. Are you implying that we
are not the best dang country in the universe, as ordained by God?!?!
The real issue is the insecure anger (by a large portion of our society)
at any implication of waning American hegemony. Mr. Krugman, please keep
sounding the alarm. We cannot afford to keep our heads in the sand, and
we must overcome attempts by the Tea Party to silence those who address
our weaknesses.
  Recommend  Recommended by 296 Readers

18. Jeff Sydney January 11th, 2010 7:22 am
Add Australia and New Zealand to the list of social democracies that
work (wonderfully). Can't speak for Canada - to far away from me and I
have never been there.

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