Poor "Old Europe"! Things are looking bad...

[Rose Siding]

Who is this guy, Pearlstein in the WaPo? This shocks me. Is this shocking?

Europe's Capitalism Curtain

A curtain has descended across Europe. On one side are hope, optimism, freedom and prospects for a better life. On the other side, fear, pessimism, suffocating government regulations and a sense that the best times are in the past.
This is not the same "iron curtain" famously described by Winston Churchill at the outset of the struggle against communism. But it is a psychological barrier demarking the part of Europe that is embracing global capitalism, and the one that wishes desperately that it would go away. This time, however, it is the East that is likely to prevail............

The secret isn't just lower wages. It's also the attitude of workers who take pride and are willing to do what is necessary to succeed, even if it means outsourcing parts production or working on weekends or altering vacation schedules -- things that would almost certainly trigger months of acrimony and negotiation in Western Europe.

"The people back home, they haven't got any idea of how much they need to change if they want to preserve what they have," Ugarte said. "The danger to them is enormous. They don't realize how fast this is happening."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7617-2004Jul22.html

He writes of American companies (Are 3M and American Standard still US companies?) re-outsourcing European jobs, because in Poland, the workers, whose chief attribute isn't working cheap so stop saying that, don't mind if parts production is outsourced!

I remember a piece recently about how the 35 hour work weeks were at risk- and here I thought that was on the front side of evolution- but it seemed more like a trial balloon. This is a heavy handed piece evoking the Iron Curtain, for God's sake.

What say you?

[brainshrub]

1. This guy sounds like a Churchill wannabe.

[DaveSZ]

2. I only wish we had a 35 hr work week

.

[Kanary]

6. We *COULD* have it

If we all decided we'd had enough of this nonsense in this country, came together and started making this happen.

It's up to us.

We're not helpless: We're complicit.

Kanary

[MisterP]

3. more Milt Friedman/Bill Kristol crackheadedness

[Kellanved]

4. there are many phrases for authors like this

"uninformed" is a good start.

Which nation is currently "World Champion" in exporting? Old European Germany. The unemployment rate in Eastern Europe is far worse that in central Europe, many Eastern European economies are running a "break-neck-pace", i.e. high debt and no social security.
Also, he should consider that the Old European unemployment rate is about equal the US rate - if you count people in prison.


Finally, at least in Germany, the 35-hour week is nonexistent. Average is about 42 hours, 60 hours not impossible. And no limits for watercoller jobs.

[BonjourUSA]

5. My greatest fear is the politically correct contagion

and as long as I could smoke my little cigarette in the streets of the French towns without being mugged by a whale refilled upto its eyes with cholesterol, everything will be alright.

[IrateCitizen]

7. Drivel.

The author of this column is operating from the worst of perspectives -- Americentric arrogance coupled with a blind adherence to "conventional wisdom".

The fact of the matter is that "old Europe" countries like Germany are kicking our ass, economically-speaking. Our economy is one built on the house of cards consisting of unsustainable consumption, massive consumer debt, and hogging global investment capital in order to keep it running.

The emerging Franco-German alliance that drives the EU (not to mention Japan with the Pacific Rip) is acutally based on sustainable consumer spending and industrial production. Sure, they have their short-term problems -- but in the big picture, they're in MUCH better shape right now than the US.

This author is simply speaking from the premise of conventional wisdom, which is often wrong -- he seems to think that the US sits in a position of economic dominance, when in fact our position is quite precarious. He also fails to understand that one of the main factors driving the EU is not the pushing down of worker rights, but ensuring that new members (i.e. Eastern Europe) are brought in at a sufficient level of compliance to avoid that from happening.

This author is a fool.

[robcon]

9. Your post is the drivel, IrateCitizen

The growth of the EU-incorporated Central European countries will out strip anything that Western Europe can attain. This is real. This is great for the world economy.

[sandnsea]

11. How?

How is poverty great for the world economy? Or do you mean great for the economy of the top 1%?

[BillZBubb]

12. If his post is drivel, yours is BULLSHIT!!!!!

Because the central European countries have very small economies, saying they'll have great growth is like claiming a baby will outgrow and adult. Gosh, ya think?

What they are willing to do to get marginal growth is TERRIBLE for the world economy. They will drive down average wages, drive up managerial wages, and worsen working conditions. But, that's probably OK with you right, robcon? (Hmmm, con -- I wonder what that means????)

[IrateCitizen]

13. Thanks for the baseless input, robcon

If you care to offer up some sources to buttress your claim, I'm all ears.

I'll give you some of the sources that lead me to the conclusions at which I've arrived:
Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson
After the Empire by Emmanuel Todd
Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips
The Affluent Society by James Kenneth Galbraith

Until you can offer some convincing facts and/or sources to bolster your claims, then I'm inclined to believe that you offer little more than the blind acceptance of "conventional wisdom" just because it is such, as exhibited by the author of the initial article.

[Cat Atomic]

8. Sounds like the same old argument for cheap labor that cons

always make.

[SOS]

10. Gore Vidal writing in 1996:

"Roger Mudd reminds us that we have been hearing alot of bad economic news about other countries, but then we always do, lest Americans ever feel they are being shortchanged by a government that gives it's citizens nothing for their tax money and companies like General Electric billions for often-useless weapons and cost overruns."

[bacchant]

14. American corporate propaganda

Typical effort to get the world to enable us by adopting our paradigms (economic models, foreign policy, morality...). God I'm sick of us.