Op-Ed
Imitating Old-World Mistakes?
Email: 
Share: 
Between the Lines
October 26, 2006 - 12:00amCritics of America, particularly on the Left, often say that Europe has a healthier society than the United States and that our country ought to emulate Europe and European social democracy. This view is misguided. Much of Europe has very deep economic and social problems, and they are largely caused by precisely the features of European society that some would have us emulate in this country. We have problems in America, true, and we should try to learn from the rest of the world. However, European examples are more negative than positive. Many of the policies that Americans view as characteristically European— generous social welfare, high taxes, lax immigration policies and restrained punishment for crime— are now being discredited in Europe.
For the last decade, many Western European economies have suffered from high levels of unemployment and low rates of growth. France and Germany, the dominant economies of Europe, have had unemployment rates around 10 percent for several years; this is roughly double the American rate. The situation is unlikely to improve soon. Germany, France and most other European nations have had dismal economic growth for the last few years, while the United States roars ahead. As even the French government admits, the chief causes of this stagnation are an excessive regulatory burden on companies and confiscatory tax rates: precisely the policies some would have us emulate. Italy and Belgium have similar economic problems, suggesting that the problem is not with peculiar national circumstances, but with the “European model” as such.
Defenders of Europe claim that unemployment is much less unpleasant in Europe than here, thanks to generous European social welfare programs. However, the expense from these programs isn’t sustainable: European governments will soon be forced to either abandon their social programs or default on their debt. To pick one example: Italy’s public debt is approaching 110 percent of GDP and rising. In contrast, America’s public debt is a much lower 64.7 percent of our GDP. Moreover, our economy is growing, whereas Italy’s is stagnant. Italy’s situation is perilous enough that Fitch and S&P both downgraded Italy’s credit rating last week. Those in the know think Italy might default on its obligations to creditors, with dire consequences for Italy and Europe. Germany and France are both following the same path as Italy; both have budget deficits proportionately much higher than ours and little prospect of closing them.
Even Sweden, for many years the darling of the American left, has recently discovered the hidden costs of social welfare. As the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises put it, “the Swedish model is capsizing.” Apparently, the public agrees. Swedish elections this past September were won by parties of the right, who pledged to reform Sweden’s social model.
Prolonged unemployment leads to frustration and discontent, and, in Europe, this has led to crime and public disorder. The unemployment rate in some suburbs of Paris is a frightening 40 percent, the product of a stagnant economy and entrenched racism directed against the mostly Asian and Middle Eastern inhabitants. Many members of this underclass are deeply alienated from French society, as was seen graphically in the rioting a year ago. The rioting is over, but the tensions remain. Violent crime has increased substantially since last year. Many neighborhoods are distinctly hostile to the authorities; ambulances and fire trucks need police escorts to go in, and the police are routinely assailed with rocks and even molotov cocktails. The deputy head of one of the leading French police unions recently noted that “there is the will to kill.” Put bluntly, the Paris suburbs are not reliably under the control of the government. French authorities fear that the next month may bring a repeat of last year’s violence, perhaps on a significantly larger scale: violent incidents against the police in September were up 30 percent from August. With the precedent now set that only a very few rioters will be prosecuted, and those only lightly punished, hooligans might be much less inhibited than they were last year.
While France may be the worst off, there have been serious problems with public order in the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain. There have been a number of high-profile political assassinations in the Netherlands in recent years, and as a result, one populist Dutch member of parliament has armed bodyguards assigned to him and is compelled to sleep in a different place every night to dodge assassins. Belgium has had several rounds of urban rioting in the last year or so. Britain’s prisons are bursting at the seams, with only 100 unfilled cells in the entire country. Lesser criminals are being released prematurely in order to free up cells for more serious offenders. Meanwhile, the British public has grown increasingly concerned about crime, leading to ever-more dramatic gestures by the government, including the use of military police to maintain order in some cities. The European social model, in addition to being unaffordable, does not even deliver a civil society, and there are increasing calls to move to American-style “tough on crime” policies.
Europe’s problems are serious, and some Europeans are voting with their feet. The Netherlands has had net emigration for the last several years: people are leaving, and in significant numbers. To have substantial numbers of people packing up and leaving is surely a vote of no confidence in European society. In an era when Europeans view their society as deeply troubled — when they seek to Americanize Europe — it would be silly of us to imitate policies that Europe is now rejecting. Our country’s founding goal was independence from Europe. It would be unfortunate if we were at this late date to adopt the discredited policies of a continent in turmoil.
Ari Rabkin is a graduate student in Computer Science. He can be contacted at asr32@cornell.edu. Between the Lines appears Thursdays.