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Europe's Secret Success
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times


New York Times, May 26, 2014
Posted: June 2nd, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/opinion/krugman-europes-se...

European economies, France in particular, get very bad press in America. Our political discourse is dominated by reverse Robin-Hoodism the belief that economic success depends on being nice to the rich, who wont create jobs if they are heavily taxed, and nasty to ordinary workers, who wont accept jobs unless they have no alternative. And according to this ideology, Europe with its high taxes and generous welfare states does everything wrong. So Europes economic system must be collapsing, and a lot of reporting simply states the postulated collapse as a fact. The reality, however, is very different. Yes, Southern Europe is experiencing an economic crisis thanks to [a money muddle caused by Europe's premature adoption of a single currency]. But Northern European nations, France included, have done far better [than America]. French adults in their prime working years (25 to 54) are substantially more likely to have jobs than their U.S. counterparts. Frances prime-age employment rate overtook Americas early in the Bush administration. Other European nations with big welfare states, like Sweden and the Netherlands, do even better. On the core issue of providing jobs for people who really should be working, at this point old Europe is beating us hands down despite social benefits and regulations that, according to free-market ideologues, should be hugely job-destroying.

Note: For more on the collusion of the US government with financial corporations to maintain their profitability, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.


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