Will wonders never cease. I’m surprised this got past the NYT censors.
Via Michael Walsh at Big Government.
Credit where credit is due: in this case, this story by Steven Erlanger of the New York Times:
“Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.
Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.
Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.
But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.
With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing work hours and reducing health benefits and pensions.”
……I don’t want to spoil the fun by listing the bad news; that’s Erlanger’s job. But having lived in Europe for a good deal of my life, let me just say this news doesn’t exactly comes as a shock to those of us who spent many hours being lectured in Parisian cafes, German beer gardens, English and Irish pubs, Hungarian nightclubs and Russian gangster hangouts about the superiority of the European way of life over the savagery of the States.
http://bigjournalism.com/mwalsh/2010/05/24/must-read-of-the-day-the-times-discovers-that-european-socialism-sucks/
Nothing cures the illusions of a socialist nanny state like a swift kick in the ass from economic reality. Right now, Europe is getting its collective ass kicked.
Still think Obama’s “spread the wealth” crap is such a good idea?
Posted by sfcmac on 26/05/2010 at 14:39
Ben,
Who really benefitted from that “stimulus”? Did you read the list of beneficiaries? Organizations like the SEIU were at the top of the list. The American taxpayer got shafted. My taxes didn’t get cut. No one I know, retired (or if they’re lucky) employed, got a tax cut.
There are no tax cuts planned in Obama’s government-run economy. Liar. You really don’t know what you’re taking about.
You haven’t even bothered to read the ObamaCare bill have you? I’m not surprised. The Dems didn’t either. They just passed it so as Pelosi said, “they could see what was in it”. Obama shifted in reverse so fast on his “no tax increase for those making below $250,000″, that the objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear. He’s not just a liar, he’s an abject liar.
You want to see how nothing has changed? Try driving through the former rust belt where I live in NE Ohio. Business boarded up. Jobs gone. Homes foreclosed, thanks to the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac trainwreck. All that needs to be done is to give businesses the tax breaks they need to flourish, cut back on spending, and stop trying to stifle free market enterprise with draconian socialist agendas.
It’s all bullshit, and you’re just too in love with The Annointed One’s spiel to believe anything else. Oh, by the way, the national debt just hit $13 trillion and counting. The individual government-imposed debt is now $6,165 per citizen. But remember, sweetpea, Obama gave you a “tax cut.”
We need to get these Dem asslowns out of office so we can get back to being a productive country again.
SFC MAC
Posted by Ben Hoffman on 26/05/2010 at 14:04
[Are saying the “stimulus” wasn’t a sham, and that Obama won’t raise taxes through ObamaCare and other measures?]
All one needs to do is take a drive around Colorado to see all the road projects financed through the stimulus. Those projects have created jobs and improve our infrastructure.
As far as taxes, you admit that you lied when you claimed Obama didn’t cut taxes. But what’s needed is for the Bush tax cuts to be rolled back so we can get back on our way to a balanced budget, like we had when Bush first took office.