An article-by-numbers in the Washington Post celebrating (surely mourning?, Ed) the Decline & Fall of Europe.
These must have been appearing every other year for the past 50 and seem to provide much the same purpose that articles on gormless yanks serve in "Eurabia" (The cartoon controversy has powerfully highlighted the difficulties Europe is having with its immigrants).
But while I may not have been to the States for a decade, I certainly see few signs that continental Europe (the author has the grace to exclude increasingly neo-con UK from his polemic) is on its way to becoming the impoverished shadow of its former self depicted. Indeed, from the cars on the street to the consumer durables in the homes, I can see little difference. And that's before we get on to the supposedly "unsustainable" leisure lifestyle.
Truth is figures will say whatever you want them to and here's some more - 300,000 of the richest Brits now live in France, 500,000 in Spain, and this one, at least part-time, in Belgium. If Europe's doing so bad, then why the hell is it so damn good? Trying adding that one up matey.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
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2 comments:
Pot/kettle I'd suggest where that article is concerned.
Its that Atlanticist confusion between the supremacy of the market and the victory of democracy - markets, no matter how transparent, are not democratic because they can be controlled (like nations) by a rich minority the market value of which exceeds that of a poor majority. And to think that in the 80's the market model was primarilty contested on the grounds of its inability to self-clear (economic man and his non-existence etc).
Unfortunately our ex-ideological atlanticist leaders choose not to understand this. Their initial stab was 'regulation in the public interest' but they then bowed to business lobbyists who complained that this was anti-competitive. As is ALL GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION in the 'free market' (digest that a moment).
The result is now toothless regulation at great public expense, which was meant to deliver legitimacy on behalf of a free market which was relatively mildly circumscribed in the public interest - but in fact delivers neither legitimacy nor sufficient circumscription (ie intervention) in the public interest.
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