Financial Crisis Sparks Anti-American Fervor in Europe
The credit crunch has made bashing the United States de rigeur again on the continent.
The sentiments voiced by German elites have been echoed by their counterparts all over Europe, including Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, where Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had the chutzpah to declare: “The greatest failure of economic theory has a name, neoconservatism.” As it happens, Spain is currently facing the worst economic crises in its modern history, and all of it is of its own making. Denmark, France, and Ireland, meanwhile, are now in recession, due largely to higher oil prices and slowing global growth, and only indirectly to the credit crisis.
How is one to interpret the resurgence of anti-American sentiment in Europe? The fact that the credit crisis began in the United States has led many Europeans to believe, once again, that they (and their economic and social model) are morally superior to America. In any case, it has clearly been much easier for Europeans to blame America than for them to admit that many of their problems are home grown. Indeed, many of the problems facing European banks stem from bad loans in Europe, not America; European banks took on too much risk and many were hooked on easy profits from mortgage debt. Moreover, the truly grave financial problems in countries like Ireland and Spain stem from decades-long real estate bubbles that have recently burst. Greed is hardly unique to America, although few Europeans would be willing to admit as much.
Europeans have also complained that the United States needs to get its house in order and pass a financial rescue package, which the U.S. Congress has now done. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on October 4 called a meeting of the main European economies to craft a common European response to the crisis, in the grandiose hopes of creating a “new global financial system.”
Sarkozy has bragged: “After this crisis we will have built the pillars of a new financial world.” Of course, the European pillar of that new system presumably would be a few notches higher and more important than the American pillar. But just one day after Sarkozy’s summit, European plans to mount a collective response to the financial crisis were in tatters. Once again, European disunity held sway as individual countries rushed to implement national, rather than unified, policies, lest one European country get an upper hand at the expense of another.
In their obsession to turn Europe into a global superpower, European elites have time and again overestimated their ability to make a fragmented Europe act like a single unified actor, especially in times of crisis like now. And when failure boils into frustration, as was the case when Europeans were unable to unite to prevent the Iraq War, they resort to grandiose gimmicks, such as the European Constitution, to forcibly create a fake sense of unity, at least on paper.
In the end, anti-Americanism is the one of the few things on which most Europeans can actually agree. It has become a politically acceptable way to evade responsibility by blaming America for Europe’s own shortcomings. Anti-Americanism also forms the basis of a new pan-European identity. This artificial post-modern European “citizenship,” which demands allegiance to a faceless bureaucratic superstate based in Brussels, is being set up in opposition to the United States. In essence, to be “European” means to not be American. As such, anti-Americanism is the glue that holds a fractured Europe together.
If disunity is Europe’s Achilles’ heel, E Pluribus Unum is still America’s great advantage. Being relatively nimble, the United States is likely to come out of this current crisis on a financial footing that is far stronger than that of Europe. This implies that European resentment of America will increase, and even more so if millions of ordinary Europeans end up losing their life savings in insolvent European banks.
As a result, Americans should expect European anti-Americanism to grow worse in the years ahead, regardless of who becomes the next American president. Whether or not Americans should care, that is another issue.
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Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.
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103 Comments
1. vivo:What do you expect of people like Bush, Cheney, Rove, McCain, Palin?
Lies, lies and more lies. Greed for their cronies in Wall Street and Big Oil. “A catastrophic, unending invasion, Guantanamo, torture, Abu Gharaib, kangaroo courts, waterboarding, black sites, Halliburton, no-bid contracts, cronyism, recess appointments, warrantless wiretapping, fired U.S. attorneys, Plamegate, Katrina, doubling national debt, denying global warming . . .”
Now add Troopergate, Alaska secession, witch protection, teenage sex, inability to answer simple questions, ignorance of World politics, disregard for the Middle Class, unaffordable health care, elimination of Medicare, disregard for veterans, retirees and senior citizens, should I keep going?
Who in their sane minds would vote for these inept, lying, unpatriotic, backward, uncaring shadows of a human being??
Oct 7, 2008 - 3:36 am 2. Jarhead:vivo – Did you read the article? Or, are you doing a great job of mimicking an uninformed America blaming Euro-weenie?
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:13 am 3. syn:wow vivo not once did you mention the foundation of the financial mess, Freddie-Frannie-Johnson-Raines-Dodd-Frank.
Not once.
How nice it must be for you to have no idea what just happened, must allievate all that guilt you must have knowing you supported the numerous Democrat politicians and appointed administrators who for a couple of decades looted and pillage people’s homes for that big end-of-year bonus check.
Freddie-Frannie fraud is twice the size of Enron and Worldcom combined…no wonder you are silent.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:15 am 4. David H:What do expect of Pelosi, Reid, Obama Franks, Dodd, Kennedy, Carter etc.
Lies, lies and more lies. Greed for their cronies in ACORN and the two FM’s. “A catastrophic, unending cronyism, U.S. Judges who legislate from the bench, failed evacuation and Katrina, CRA, debt for pork and special interests for them and their cronies, supporting the global warming scam with carbon taxes for the poor, stopping the drilling for oil to cut dependency on foreign oil, adding pork to the bailout, telling lies about a big insurer going bust to continue the crisis. . .”
Now add attacks on the first and second amendment, a MSM that is in the tank, massive investigation of Palin while no research into Obamas extremely worrying and dubious background, inability to answer simple questions and lying 14 times, ignorance of World politics, disregard for the Middle Class, creation of a socialist mecca, making health care as dysfunctional as the UK NHS, elimination of advanced weapons projects when the world is getting more dangerous, disregard for veterans, retirees and senior citizens, should I keep going?
Who in their sane minds would vote for this inept, lying, unpatriotic, backward, uncaring shadows of a human being called Obama…
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:17 am 5. David H:PS I am a European, Obama looks just like a European politician, sorry he is one….
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:19 am 6. RE:Perhaps there’s a silver lining in the economic mess.
Perhaps a little financial stress Americans will finally re-evaluate where it is spending it’s money and decide to put an end to European parasitism in the defense arena (NATO), as well as the wasteful and destructive folly that is the United Nations.
One can hope.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:21 am 7. syn:“Americans should expect European anti-Americanism to grow worse in the years ahead, regardless of who becomes the next American president.”
When I lived in Europe 18 years ago anti-Americanism was about the same today, so I don’t expect anything different in the coming years except for when Europe’s internal civil strife reaches its apex.
The European Union is doing a fine job ignoring the plight of Europeans all for the pretense of promoting its political-correctness; given this environment it’s only a matter of a couple of year before all hell breaks lose.
When that day comes there will be only a few places for Europeans to escape to and it’s a pretty good guess the top destination will be America. Despite the history of long history of Europe’s anti-Americanism, Americas will still welcome all those fleeing tyranny.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:26 am 8. syn:Gee maybe Europeans should contact http://www.one.org if they’re so inclined to dwell in anti-Americanism.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:31 am 9. Dodgeblogium » Financial Crisis Sparks Anti-American Fervor in Europe:[...] with a smug chorus of ridicule emanating from nearly every European country, whether big or s read more | digg [...]
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:48 am 10. Andrew Ian Dodge:That gloating was a way of distracting people from the state of the European financial system. They actually expected the American taxpayer to bail them out, however the delay by the House of it getting past forced European governments to act.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:52 am 11. RE:syn,
I agree that the USA should continue to be a welcoming refuge for the good people seeking refuge from the darkness that is settling over Europe.
Americans need to see European nations for what they are, from the increasingly Orwellian UK to Sweden’s implementation of Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, the state is methodically diminishing individual liberty and freedom, while throwing open its gates to third world immigration. Nothing good is coming from any of it. I feel a bit sorry for those who allow themselves to be distracted by purposeful anti-Americanism and fail to take notice storm clouds that are gathering. Europe’s future does not look nice.
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:54 am 12. David H:syn, I have a lot of fun with my French brother in law, who has been taught from an early age that America was a nasty place, anyway, about a year ago I got him to admit that Islam was a problem, and recently I openned his eyes to the undemocratic nature of the EU, he is not lost, but many are.
Oct 7, 2008 - 5:08 am 13. Snoop Diggity-DANG-Dawg:This will make Europe’s cultural implosion all the more fun to watch.
One day they’re going to wake up to find that they’re foreigners in their own country. If they’re lucky, they’ll only be deported.
Oct 7, 2008 - 5:38 am 14. Amphipolis:Those crazy Europeans always need a scapegoat.
Oct 7, 2008 - 5:50 am 15. JFP:vivo, you may be right that this is the end of the neo-cons. BUT if so, if this is really the Great Depression II, then it is also the end of the New Left. The Old Left will return.
The New Left was born in the Sixties, when the white working class was doing well enough that leftists felt they could turn their attention to other things. They have paid attention to race, gender, the environment, and other things. They have ignored poor whites.
But there are going to be a lot more poor whites around, and it will be impossible to ignore them. With that in mind, get ready for these changes.
1. Class will be more important than race and gender. Diversity in terms of class will be more important than diversity in terms of race and gender.
2. The phrase “privileged white male” won’t be used anymore. There will be too many white males in poverty.
3. Democrats who want gas to go to $9/gallon will fade away.
4. We will drill for oil in places where Democrats currently don’t want us to drill.
5. Hunting will no longer be seen as barbaric. Hey, when people are hungry, and a hunter can give them some food, they will set aside their qualms.
Get used to it, vivo.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:04 am 16. Spindok:“europe should take over” – Well who is stopping them? Truth is that like a sullen adolescent they cant, and wouldnt have the will if they could, but that wont stop them from complaining.
Like children they swallowed the fantasy that the neocon-boogyman is the source of all evil. In reality the Neocons were never all that powerful and have been in decline for at least the past 4 years. They have nothing to do with economics anyway, theirs is a foreign policy agenda. But europe needs a psychological monster. The internal logic goes ‘There must be one, otherwise why am I afraid of the closet door?’
Vivo’s post reminds me how easy it is to fool the sheeple. This is an old con game. Two con men working together create a distraction, each one blaming the other, while the bank account gets sucked dry.
The corporations and Wall Street know this, that is why they play up to Dems and Republicans alike. This only helps the smokescreen as the politicos can add up who got more from which lobby while they are both sucking at the same teat.
Money and power. Our money and our power- and we hand them over thinking that the show we are given every four years actually means something. In the words of PJ ORourke “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys”
Spindok
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:31 am 17. S. Weasel:Was there some period of time when it WASN’T in fashion to bash America in Europe? Because I blinked and missed it.
Okay, maybe for, like, three days after September 11.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:34 am 18. MATT SPURGIN:Let’s face it one can gloss over all the indiscretions of one party and then fully disclose the folly of the other. However, both parties will never accomplish much because of human nature. Greed and self preservation will always trump serving the people and the Constitution in the minds of these politicians. I hate to say it, but the highest hope I have for the government is that they will not make the country any worse. I have abandoned all hope that an ungodly government will ever actually improve anything. I may be idealistic, but I feel that the every day American has more potential of making America a better place. I know that we have to be involved in politics and we can not run from that responsibility, yet it is so sad that it is such a fruitless endeavor.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:43 am 19. RKV:“When that day comes there will be only a few places for Europeans to escape to and it’s a pretty good guess the top destination will be America. Despite the history of long history of Europe’s anti-Americanism, Americas will still welcome all those fleeing tyranny.”
It will not be in our best long term interests to accept them into the US. Why? Because they are infected with the virus of socialism and it is contagious. This class of European did not fight while they could, only ran away when they lost. We don’t want or need them. Even at this late date there is much Europe (even “old” Europe) could do for itself. But the feckless Euros can’t find it in themselves. Our offering exile to them just enables them to delay doing the (hard) right thing.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:49 am 20. Jarhead:S. Weasel: I think they kept the USA bashing to a minimum during the autumns of 1918 and 1945.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:49 am 21. Freddie Funky:These same European countries had their own real estate bubbles, so it is no surprise that they have some headaches as global credit dries up. I know from some friends that ( wont say the EU country) their real estate is going through its own devaluation. I also know, they have been issuing risky loans for years. I heard about loans where you only pay the interest ( never paying the principal) that were routinely used in many of their latest residential developments. Of course when there is any price downturn, those loans are easier to walk away from than pay. I also know that the banks dont have any incentive to write down these losses and move on. I am aware of more than one European who walked from residential real estate investments that turned staggeringly sour.
When I saw the math on one was awful. the poor person was paying on an interest only paydown scheme. So the pricipal never reduced. The property was worth 15% of what they had paid. The bank nixed every attempt to sell the property. No one could show up to the closing with the balance of the loss, the bank wouldn’t approve of any sale without it.
These folks ended fleeing Europe to get away from the banks. The banks wouldn’t or couldn’t write it down for a loss, and were aggressively chasing after those who were stopping payments. There was no effective way then for the individual to declare bankruptcy without still being chained to the debt.
These otherwise intelligent people, who were great workers( but bad investors) for well known companies now live the expat life in Asia or North America, effectively forced overseas in their prime earning years.
As screwed up as what happened in the US is, and as awful as the bailout is, At least the US market reacted and these loans will either be worthless or sold for pennies on the dollar. ( there will be more bailouts, as they havent fixed the problem of needing appropriate principal in mortgage loans).
These loans need to be devalued and losses taken, and everyone takes a breath and moves forward. In Europe, the dont look like they are ready to let the loans devalue. If they don’t take action, they will end up in stagnation like Japan.
The politicians are doing what politicians do, blame someone else and promise they can fix it. Anti-Americanism is easy for European politicians, it’s blaming someone else for their own failures.
This isn’t really news.. Name the problem and America will be blamed. It’s really only newsworthy if America isn’t blamed.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:54 am 22. Kirk:Europeans should be treading carefully, along with other weak yapping dogs. If America does indeed turn socialist (ie. Obama), and not too many more degrees before it’s fascist. Then see a truly pissed off people take real actions for percieved slights like Russia does. Imagine American power without American restraint. They are all so happy to badger us to death, but if we behaved as they truly accuse of of acting, their navies would already be under water the first time they opened their mouths.
Oct 7, 2008 - 6:59 am 23. FreedomLover:“Some of the most virulent anti-Americanism stems, as usual, from Germany…” Gee, shocker, huh? Any little Austrian housepainters waiting in the wings??
I so want America to pattern itself after Europe, and I’ll do just about anything to get them to like us again. NOT!!!
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:03 am 24. uburoi:Vivo expresses himself the way most teenage, Hollywood hipsters around LA do: with a litany of words and phrases strung together that are supposed to have a jolting effect but instead come across as largely illiterate. It sounds like they were cut out from headlines in the Nation magazine and glued together. They get drunk in silly bars and then practice saying these things out loud in the hope that it might attract a sexual partner.
If you let your children attend public school, they may end up writing like Vivo.
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:16 am 25. Rosemarie Young:Are we going back to Freedom Fries? Please, I live in Europe and I am well informed about the politics and policies of many of the countries you mention. I don’t get any feeling of anti-American fervor at all from the politicians or the European citizens. Of course people are not happy with the financial debacle in the US and I imagine nor are the majority of the Americans. Let us be grown-up and work together to get out of the GLOBAL economical mess we are now,shall we?
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:24 am 26. Titanic:Sorry to see the European nations in such financial turmoil. The America bashing is running high today. America won’t be bailing the EU out this time. Think about that. Oh well…enjoy the day.
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:30 am 27. Tantor:I care more about the opinion of the squirrels in the tree in my front yard than I do about the opinion of Europeans about America.
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:37 am 28. David H:Freddie Funky, I agree with you there mate. I was one of those taht did not walk away from such a loan, got down and saved up for another property got a second loan then made a packet on the house a brought and after ten years sold the apartment which tanked for the same amount I brought it for having rented it out for most of the period so I only made a small loss.
In spite of what some of you think there are still many Europeans like myself who respect the USA, I quite understand you having a pop at Europeans in general as I would think about 52% of the population and 100% of our leaders deserve it. I just hope that your there and in good shape when I have to flee Europe.
Do you know what my biggest fear is, that the Europe elites put capital controls to stop people like me leaving, just watch this happen, its only a matter of time…
Oct 7, 2008 - 7:41 am 29. jerry:The carping Europeans remind me of the French in the summer of 1940 when they said that Britain will have its neck wrung like a chicken in the days ahead. How’d that work out for you Marshal Petain?
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:02 am 30. Randall:Pardon me while I play a psychologist on the internet.
I think the Europeans have long felt a little (little?!) uncomfortable about the extent to which they have (allowed themselves to) become dependent on that big stupid jerk across the pond.
And I think they are like some one in a relationship they don’t like that doesn’t have the guts to walk. She just snipes and takes passive-aggressive pleasure in whatever pain and discomfort the “jerk” suffers at the hands others and (often enough) his own stupid self.
A breakup is almost certainly coming, and maybe in about 20 years, we’ll meet in a supermarket and talk awkwardly about old times.
But for now, I think we need some time alone.
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:07 am 31. DESGANS:Je suis Française et chez moi tout le monde sait que les démocrates sont à l’origine de la crise financière et que le plan Paulson est la pire des solutions, l’Obamania en France vient des banlieues à majorité musulmanes et des socialistes et communistes qui disent que Obama est un des leurs !!!!
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:10 am 32. KC:Americans – Get A Grip! This ‘thing’ that is happening is very bad! The lamp of western civilization seems poised to go dark in a great many places! American has always been the ’shining city on a hill’. As long as we all remember that this crisis (and I include the possibility of an Obama administration) will pass. If things truly get bad, America will be one of the few places left where our brothers in Europe might find a safe haven. Having to leave your home should be punishment enough – we don’t need to pile it on! The influx of this new blood will in turn fuel the next wave of Anglo-Saxon success. Have faith in what we stand for!!! Remember your history!!!
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:25 am 33. Nahanni:David H Oct 7, 2008 – 4:17 am,
GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLL!
Rosemarie Young,
“Let us be grown-up and work together to get out of the GLOBAL economical mess we are now,shall we?”
We will get right on that one just as soon as the EU quits behaving like a petulant child and realizes that the world is not one big happybunnyland and that the decades the EU has spent blaming and berating the US for everything bad in the world might not have been the best policy.
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:27 am 34. Janie Babe:Desgans Said:-
Je suis Française et chez moi tout le monde sait que les démocrates sont à l’origine de la crise financière et que le plan Paulson est la pire des solutions, l’Obamania en France vient des banlieues à majorité musulmanes et des socialistes et communistes qui disent que Obama est un des leurs !!!!
Translated said:-
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:08 am 35. rocketeer:I am French and at home everybody knows that the Democrats are behind the financial crisis and that the plan Paulson is the worst of solutions, Obamania in France comes from the suburbs predominantly Muslim and socialist and communist say Obama is one of them!!
To those in Europe that hate this country, is say, fine. We’ll pull out of NATO, throw the UN out of here, and stop anything that resembles foreign aid to any of you. We’ll close all of our bases and leave you to your own demise. Please don’t call us when either the Islamic minority starts beheading you or, when Boris decides he’s had enough of your crap and rolls his tanks into your god-forsaken countries. Keep your art and your crappy food and your snotty attitudes and enjoy your own downfall.
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:08 am 36. Len:Here is the google translation of DESGANS: I am French and at home everybody knows that the Democrats are behind the financial crisis and that the plan Paulson is the worst of solutions, Obamania in France comes from the suburbs predominantly Muslim and socialist and communist say Obama is one of them
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:09 am 37. Alex:If we look at this from a historic perspective, we see that European nations have long ganged up on the perceived “great(est) power” in each time period (within the European sphere of influence). Most GPs were eventually brought low by over-reaching military spending, greater borrowing, which in turn led to high deficits, then reduced credit ratings, then eventual loan defaults. The US doesn’t have an extravagant military budget, but we do run a sizable deficit, which is a historically significant problem.
We could be seeing European low self-esteem issues at the loss of global influence over world affairs. This is why they are so “whiny”. I think we should send over some self help books. Maybe if Stuart Smalley could do some one-on-one time with the EU…
just my two cents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Great_Powers
a good read on power and influence of the last 500 years.
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:13 am 38. vb:I remember a German TV report on the US elections. In a typical snarky manner the reporter ended questioning whether the average (read dumb, provincial) American even knew that Europe would be choosing a president in January. That was before the Irish vote.
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:13 am 39. Dave:Is the Weimar Republic in search of a new fuehrer? Looks like “seig heil” has been replaced by “obamahu akbar”. Other than that,
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:25 am 40. NahnCee:not a lot of change.
Posters like Vivo parachute in, drop their load of poop and exclamation points, and then scuttle off like cockroaches, pleased and smug about their self-avowed superiority. I wonder what Vivo does in real life to put food on the table. More than likely, mooching off depressed and resigned parental units.
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:52 am 41. ic:Never their own faults. Who else will they be “anti” this time? The Jews?
The sad thing about Americans is they are getting more like European: always look for scapegoats, never one’s own faults. Must be Big Oil, Big Pharma, Wall Street, predatory lenders…
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:58 am 42. Tony:Wow – it is so easy to lump all us Europeans into one big entity and then bash us isn’t it?
Perhaps the so-called anti-US sentiment that everyone is getting so fired up over is just more of the same old media bias and policital spin that you get in the USA itself. How many of your own politicians have a poor opinion of the USA? It looks to me like one of those major anti-American politicians of yours is about to become your bloody president for God sake. So well done to the columnist for putting a few names together and picking our some newspaper articles but some might call that cherry picking to do some “euro-bashing”. As for the media in Europe….for heavens sake guys how pro-American is your own liberal elite media? Not much I’d say.
If I said that all Americans love Obama and Paris Hilton would I be right? I doubt it…..you see it is just a generalisation. So if you all want to get worked up over a few tossers in Europe and their anti-US issues do me a favour and leave the 495 million ordinary folk out of it.
As for those who want to see Europe crumble – I wouldn’t be so quick to laugh because if Europe falls you wont be far behind. An extreme left-wing democrat president and democrat majority in congress? You’ll be f*cked.
Oct 7, 2008 - 9:59 am 43. mike cooney:Next time Europe needs our help ,we will tell them to go ask CHINA!!!
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:01 am 44. njcommuter:“We in Europe know how to do socialism and kleptocracy without crashing our whole economic system.” It just bleeds to death slowly.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:01 am 45. jdubya:Wait…let me get this straight…one of the German politicians said it is time “for Europe to take over”. Ha! When did we hear that one before? Or, how many times did a German politician say this the last century.
No. Hate to ruin your Kuchen party, but the USA will bounce back, as usual. YES, we did end WWI. YES, WE (YANKS, BRITS, AUSSIES, KIWIS, CANNUCKS) ended WWII. Remember Dachau? Do you? And YES, we ended the cold war, allowing Germany to reclaim its country. Basically ending the tensions.
And now this? What a dashing bold stroke of totalitarianistic facism coming from, you would have guessed it, a German politician. wow…yawn.
Don’t call us, or for that matter the rest of the “Anglo-Saxons” who, by the way, have been fighting the war against Islamic Facists while the rest of Europe has been sitting at the Quiche and Pacifism table, bowing down to their future rulers.
No, when our economy springs back (AND IT WILL), we will be touring the other “Anglo-Saxon” countries, in bold thanks for being, oh how should I put it…ALLIES.
Later Europe!
Thanks for the Quiche!
Don’t get too soiled in your Bidet!
JDubya,
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:19 am 46. Dave K:Proud Yank.
I was on a trip overseas to Russia for 10 days while this story broke and I can tell you it received 24/7 coverage in the European press. Across Europe they are obsessed with any stories that paint the US in a bad light. After the lead-in, every story discussed the negitive impact of the US on their economies. Give me a break! The best part of every trip overseas is having the Customs Agent at IAD say “Welcome Home.” People don’t know how good they have it.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:21 am 47. Laura:I come from Socialist Canada and as far as I’m concerned, Europe can have their “cradle to grave” welfare programs and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine. America will bounce back. She always does. That is because the American people are resiliant, proud and have a strong work ethic. Europe is crumbling and they want to take America down with her.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:37 am 48. Rick:To David H. and other European commenters on this thread so far. It’s good to hear a least some reason coming from the other side of the Atlantic. Thanks.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:38 am 49. BC:Sorry, right wing dudes and dudettes who have Koolaided themselves into believing that this financial mess was caused by the mean old Democrats blocking the efforts of the righteous Republicans to fix Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac way back in the early 00’s. No. Those two 800lb mortgage gorillas had issues, but it was everyone else and his/her cousin in the financial industry exploiting those issues that caused a small, smoldering cigarette everyone saw lying on the ground to grow slowly but surely into a wildfire that ended up burning down both the forest and the surrounding towns.
And as far as naming names, I see that the right wing keeps omitting at least one certain Republican who seems to have done more than his fair share in behalf of Fannie Mae:
http://www.banklawyersblog.com/3_bank_lawyers/2006/06/fannie_maes_sol.html
Make no mistake — there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle, but the roots of this mess started under Bush and a Republican controlled congress early on and that’s where it festered.
And as far as the Europeans go — gee, why should they be mad at us? Just because we drew them into a war justified by evidence we pulled out of our butts? Just because we re-elected one of the worst Presidents in history despite plenty of evidence that he was a lying, bungling incompetent prone to hiring corrupt incompetents for important government positions? Just because Bush and his advisers hate science, distrust scientists, and think stuff like Global Warming is no more than a liberal conspiracy? That our slack, nudge nudge, wink wink style of “regulating” the behavior of financial institutions ended up causing havoc worldwide? Those silly Europeans should just mind their own business, eh?
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:50 am 50. Brad:Tony,
Points well taken, thanks. Yet us Yanks have spent a lot of our tax dollars defending Europe for years. Sometimes it really rubs us raw hearing any of ‘em bitch about it. Call this some overdue venting.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:56 am 51. nooneyouknow:Not all europeans are anti-American. Actually, where i live (Denmark) i havent noticed any America bashing as a result of the financial crisis – and i follow the news more than most. Of course there a few lefties that miss the sovietunion and/or loves everything about islam, who will occasionally say something bad about the US, but no one pays much attention to those.
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:59 am 52. Marc Malone:DESGANS – Je suis d’accord avec vous. Obama est un des leurs. Je croix que pas de toute Europeans pensent comment cette article dit. Il est comment ici. Il est seulement les elites qui ca pense.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:05 am 53. Marc Malone:Tony – I think you’re right. My take is that many of the Euros like the U.S. Many don’t, but we have that same problem here. I think the Euros also suffer from media elitism. Guys, don’t believe what you read about European attitudes, anymore than what you read in our papers.
As to the reporter doubting whether any Americans knew there was a German election coming up, she was right. No one here really cares. Europe cares about our election, because it has a huge impact on the world. Germany? Not so much. Besides, the funny thing is, Euros forget that our country simply dwarfs theirs. Each of their countries would be a State here… important States, given , but just States.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:16 am 54. Clyde:Tony – I think you are spot on. Yea, there are probably many over there that despise the US and quickly blame the “younger, but bigger brother”. It’s instinctual, but not rampant. America will get this problem fixed and help bring all of Europe back with us. I find it funny though how President Bush is the only one who showed non-partisan leadership and pushed for a solution. You can argue that we should not have saved these institutions and just let them go-down and rebuild from scratch. But Bush didn’t name call or finger point. He just focused on the problem. As with Reagan, I think history will be more kind to Bush then many can now imagine. Having a democracy on each side of Iran may prove to be extremely strategic. Millions of young, educated Iranians can surely hope.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:17 am 55. ST333:Of course not all Europeans are America bashers but I’ve said this for months if not years now. We need to gather NATO leaders and discuss drastically updating or simply dissolving the relationship altogether. We have very little need for Europe as far as I can tell. They are International puppets like the United Nations are. It just sounds better when “Europe” issues a statement but the truth is there is no European “Union”. They are suffering from a Napolean Complex the size of which we’ve never seen. If they were so serious, then why don’t they remove themselves from us? Sever business and military ties? Reject any and all conflicts? I think it’s time to redeploy from European bases and move on from old Europe. WWII is long over. It’s time they are responsible for themselves. I’m sure International business will continue as will tourism but that’s about all I want from Europe.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:25 am 56. David H:Thanks Rick and Nahaani, there are a lot of people like me, I am happy that people here are understanding that the elites and MSM are mainly the problem in Europe. I am not denying that there is a large percentage of the population that agree with the MSM and the elites, many due to conditionaing by their education and by the media.
Brad I understand your frustrations with Europe as a whole and accept your rant without any upset, I don’t blame you. I am grateful to the USA and continue to be grateful and I despise our governments in Europe for what they have become and their policies.
Marc Malone, I don’t care about any election in Europe because at this point 90% of laws are made by people who are not elected, the only election that matters to me at this point is the one in America.
DESGANS, bien sur et merci mon ami pour votre mots.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:41 am 57. Clyde:Oh BC, you crack me up. You liberals always blindly trust lawyers dont you. There is only one group of people that are trusted less then those in congress. You guessed it, Lawyers. Now you are putting your trust in a left-wing Harvard law schoold grad and a bunch of banking lawyers. BTW – can you compare the money received by Sen Bond with that received by Sen Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank? Let’s see – $7500 to Sen Bond, and $134,000 to Sen Dodd (over $100,000 to Obama!)And ole’ Barney gave a new meaning to “being in bed with the enemy” didnt he! Yep, all Bush’s fault. PLEASE! We better make copies of the public record before the DNC deletes, re-writes or steals all the files.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:50 am 58. Douglas Bogle:Never fear Obama is here.
All this bashing will end when we become them.
They will only be able to turn to communism, EU’s next logical step. Or is it. can anyone say Sharia law.
Never fear Obama is here.
Happybunnyland will be everywhere.
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:59 am 59. JMS2008:I really hope more Europeans will weigh in on this. I think we Americans get the hate mail spoon fed to us through the media, but I am certain that is not how all Europeans think. Please, let us know your thoughts so we can get a real sense, not just that to which the media chooses to expose us.
Oct 7, 2008 - 12:11 pm 60. jdubya:Clyde, well said.
Only BC, could you possibly put down the crack pipe, remove the tinfoil hat, and perhaps seek gainful employment?
By the way, your parents called. They would like you to move out of the basement so they could turn it into something more useful: a rental space to someone who actually has a job.
Keep it fresh BC.
Oct 7, 2008 - 1:26 pm 61. Jim Baker:Do Europeans believe that they can’t solve their own economic problems without us solving ours, too? Why would that be? Soon the “citizen of the world” will come to Europe’s rescue. And we can all fail together. kumbaya people.
Oct 7, 2008 - 2:28 pm 62. Dee:Is it time to stop sending them money and providing security? Please yes, our monetary problems will start to mend, well someday.
Oct 7, 2008 - 2:29 pm 63. DoktorNo:In the meantime…
Eurocrats are going to squizze EU newcomers’ economy with new “pollution trading” regulations.
So much for European Fair and Better Social and Economical Model, That is Always Better than Anything Else, espectially American One…
Oct 7, 2008 - 2:42 pm 64. Dave Surls:“Europe’s future does not look nice.”
Couldn’t be any worse than how their past looks.
Oct 7, 2008 - 3:39 pm 65. Brian Richard Allen:syn has it exactly Right. I’ve “lived” off and on for decades in their Neo-Soviet, too, for an aggregate several years — and work with Neo-Soviet subjects, still, all over the world. And confirm from first hand that the universally ingrate and almost psychopathologically-hesperophobic Europeons – Brits included – have ALWAYS loathed America and Americans. Their hatred is organic, is taken onboard with their mothers’ milk and oozes from the marrow of their bones.
Why, as Soeren Kern has just pointed out, in this piece, in their hatred of and rage toward us, the ingrate bloody Euro-peons are almost as bad as Canadians!
Brian Richard Allen
Oct 7, 2008 - 3:44 pm 66. HE:Los Angeles – CalifOBAMAcated 90028
I think Soeren Kern has done some cherry picking in his report, giving you the headlines of a few German newspaper articles. I have read the articles and I did not find Schadenfreude or even anti-Americanism, but deep concern. Concern is what you feel for a friend when you see him in trouble or doing wrong.
And what would you expect a real friend to do? Keep on telling you that you are the best, strongest, most beautiful …? – Do you really expect your friends abroad to adopt the pathetic blindfolding patriotism of Conservative America?
It is true: there has been criticism of the US in Europe in recent years. – But is this anti-Americanism? What, if criticism is justified? Isn’t criticism a friend’s duty? –
Oct 7, 2008 - 4:59 pm 67. Mark:Don’t apply double standards: Wouldn’t you criticze it, if US-citizens were kidnapped in the street by a foreign secret service and taken to, say, Syria for “interogation” (as the CIA did in Europe)?
Wouldn’t American employees and workers be angry, if hedge-fund managers came across the Atlantic, bought their (profitable!) company just to take out what they can get and close it down for a higher short term profit. – You may be used to things like that, but I think it can (and must) be criticized: It is like buying a farm, and – instead of just selling the apples – cutting down the trees and selling the wood as well for the sake of a higher profit in your next balance sheet. – You may call this “free market” and all efforts to regulate this “socialism”.- In my opinion, and in the opinion of 99% of all people I know, this form of free market is unethical, it is barracuda-capitalism that no longer invests in companies and job creation, but instead makes money out of money, it’s greed and gambling finally destroying economies.
Saying this is criticizing some free-market fundamentalism – it is not anti-Americanism!
Everywhere socialism has been tried it has failed. Our economy is now in a crisis due to socialist policies forced on our lending institutions by the Democrats. Enough said.
Oct 7, 2008 - 5:31 pm 68. Bob Murphy:I think Europe’s problems far outweigh America’s and unlike America, I don’t think they have the resources or the children to fight it.
Oct 7, 2008 - 8:09 pm 69. BC:Nor is there any hope of wresting control back from their Apparatchik Aristocracy.
France has been a spiritual/philosophical soul killing pestilence since at least their psycopathic Revolution and Germany may well have caught the disease. But at least in their resultant mutual mental projection they did not have the energy or inclination to go to war again. Adenauer and DeGaulle would be happy about that much. And that’s why people like me in the US Army stayed in Germany until the militarists were too old to start anything. And then we drove the Soviet Union into the ground while France and Germany hid behind our shields.
My main regret is to see the UK fall ever further into the orbit of the continentals and turn their backs on their own history and that of the Anglosphere.
I couldn’t care less about western Europe, an area where people have forsaken the bases of their own cultures.
But I remain concerned about the Baltics, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia, perhaps Serbia and yes, Denmark which may be the last sensible western European nation.
The last lot have at least not forsaken western culture.
To jdubya:
Perhaps you should move your head from your butt, your hand from your crotch, your radio from Limbaugh, your TV from Fox News, your computer from sites like this, your gun back to its shelf, as well as wash your pits with soap, feed the dogs, change your underwear, put on some clean clothes, open up the windows, breathe in some fresh air, put on your walking shoes and then head out bravely out into the sunshine to finally face the world with curiosity and eyes wide open…..
Fresh enough for ya?
Oct 7, 2008 - 10:25 pm 70. kabud:>Mark:
>Everywhere socialism has been tried it has failed. Our economy is now in a >crisis due to socialist policies forced on our lending institutions by the >Democrats. Enough said.
Exactly: socialism it was what was done to our housing loans industry
Remember Clinton cut on wellfare: so he instead gave free mortgages and now Obama Husein or McCain will make sure that no one will take away the houses from underclass
It is typical wealth redistribution combined with orginized financial crime
against the interests of the middle class of america and aggresive like communist revolution
But their days are gone. A lot of very serious people are very much concerned
So all the stealth communists around Chicago and in other places should start looking for a place to escape to. Because if it will get real bad here
WE KNOW THE NAMES ADDRESSES CAN BE FOUND
Oct 7, 2008 - 11:33 pm 71. Warren Bonesteel:So, Europe’s into the usual ‘blame it all on someone else’ political routine.
I mean…after all, it couldn’t be decades of European socialist political and economic policies coming home to roost, could it! No. Never! It’s all someone else’s fault…like those upstart, arrogant, imperialistic Americans! Yeah! Blame them!
As a matter of fact, with the stock markets of several industrialized nations running at 50% losses ytd, America could legitimately blame it’s own economic troubles on Europe and Asia…if we hadn’t already shot ourselves in the foot with our own socialist versions of Freddie and Fannie and the CRA, etc., etc….
Oct 8, 2008 - 1:01 am 72. Marco di Luce:“Europe”? “Europeans”? Which Europe, which Europeans? Is there such a thing beyond the geographical metaphor?
Oct 8, 2008 - 3:53 am 73. john from cinncinati:there wasn’t any need to translate desgans words. Obama said we need ( Americans) TO LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE. no soy inalfabeto, por algo, intiendo lo que quiere hacer, nos quiere joder. we are more hip to the world then some think. it isn’t that we don’t care about europe, its just, not that much.
Oct 8, 2008 - 4:45 am 74. Blended Families:One of the simple things blended families can do to help themselves in these times of crisis is to enlist their kids in saving family money. As the greening of the environment came alive with the participation of kids, so kids can be actively involved in trimming the family budget to help you feel more control during this economic crisis Explain what is happening without unduly scaring them and devise strategies to make your family financially pro active.
Oct 8, 2008 - 6:31 am 75. Sarge:The European countries have a short memory. As a former infantryman, liberated death camps, help to rebuild Germany and others, lent money to a country like France and never got paid back etc……the Europeans should straighten their own mess. France once a cradle of Christianity now atheist AND Muslim. Cut all foreign aid!!!!!
Oct 8, 2008 - 8:19 am 76. Garf:Holy cow, what a load of crap most commentators spew. And the original article is EXTREME cherry-picking at it’s worst! European newspapers are not nearly that anti-american. Why would Soeren Kern write such an misleading article anway? Do you need a common enemy? Are there not enough of them already?
United Nations has ended several deadly plagues world wide, helped millions of hunger-stricken people, elevation more millions from poverty, spread literacy/sanitaition/reason almost everywhere. Granted, their peacekeeping missions have not always been successful but that is more the fault of politics by Great Powers rather than failure of UN itself. Besides, they have had very successful peace missions as well. It is just populistic rhetoric that UN leeches money from “honest american tax-payers”.
And most anti-americanism in Europe and everywhere comes from Bush and his administration. There was no link between 9/11 and Iraq. You invaded a country without any good reason. That generally tends to aggravate other people. Since, you know, if you can do it AND you actually go through it, what’s next? How about those British or Norwegian oilfields? Some people do ask questions like that.
And hey, what is it with the religion? I thought US had a separation of Church and State? So why bring God (any of them) in the debate?
Oct 8, 2008 - 10:52 am 77. dan:i agree instinctively with the claim that not all Europeans feel this way, but i believe – i’m afraid all of us are reduced to belief regarding 400 million individuals – the article is more right than wrong. if some large percent of our own countrymen are not too far from these positions, it seems reasonable that at least as large a percentage of EU dwellers share it. for example, i listen to the BBC’s show World Have Your Say a lot, and – even accounting for the self-selection of a BBC audience – almost every caller talked with this sort of Bolshevik triumphal schadenfreude. “it’s the end of capitalism!” was the basic mood – “free market extremism,” etc.
i hope a lot more people in Europe are like Tony and Desgans than it seems through the media lens we have. otherwise you guys are even more f*cked than we are yo.
Oct 8, 2008 - 1:24 pm 78. Marc Malone:Garf – WTF are you talking about; the Un has done all this blah, blah? The uN has done nothing. All these things you talk about are almost exclusively the effort of America. We decide to support something, and it gets done. Without us, nothing happens.
They have not had good peace missions. Oh, as long as things are settled when we leave, yes, but if things are not settled, then the violence starts anew, and the UN stands around with its collective thumb up its collective a$$.
You know who the most popular man in /africa is? President Bush. He has an 80% approval rate there. He could be King. Rwanda. PEPFARS. Malaria relief. It’s not the UN. It’s the US, and don’t you forget it!
In exchange for all our efforts and largesse, the only response we get from the UN is hate from the UN representatives from the worthless countries, and hate for Israel.
Oct 8, 2008 - 2:37 pm 79. HE:dan: “… a BBC audience – almost every caller talked with this sort of Bolshevik triumphal schadenfreude. “it’s the end of capitalism!” was the basic mood – “free market extremism,” etc. …”
“Bolshevik triumphal schadenfreude” is nonsense! People just realize who the profiteers are:
The same corporate interests whose taxes were minimized by Bush, that profited from the closing of U.S. factories, the movement of millions of jobs out of America, the off-shoring of profits, the out-sourcing of workers, the knocking down of wages, the cancellation of health care benefits are now rushing to Washington to get money to protect themselves.
The double standard is stunning: their profits are their profits, but their losses are our losses.
The “free market” seems to be your religion; you call European countries “socialist”, just because they have health-care, public transport, worker’s rights …
How come that these “socialist” economies seem to be at least as successful as the Land of the Brave and Free?
Value of exports in 2007:
US: 1037 billion $
Germany (a spot on the globe smaller than Montana): 1112 billion $
The Netherlands (14 Mio. people in an area hardly bigger than Maryland): 443 billion $
… and so on. These are the fruits of “socialism”.
But you still mix up criticism of the vices of the “free-market” economy with anti-Americanism – There is much more America has to give the world than this greed- and gamble-capitalism!
(Just a jollier look at it:
Oct 8, 2008 - 3:37 pm 80. Tex Taylor:http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1843168,00.html )
Sometimes you read opinion on the internet that at first would appear to be sincere even if misguided, only to recognize the content so ludicrous it had to be parody.
Consider Barf…[United Nations has ended several deadly plagues world wide, helped millions of hunger-stricken people, elevation more millions from poverty, spread literacy/sanitaition/reason almost everywhere. Granted, their peacekeeping missions have not always been successful but that is more the fault of politics by Great Powers rather than failure of UN itself. Besides, they have had very successful peace missions as well. It is just populistic rhetoric that UN leeches money from “honest american tax-payers”].
I got to thinking about the helping poor folks, feeding the poor, and the so-callede successful peace keeping missions.
And damn if all I remember were raping women, blatant anti-Semitism, stealing food from the poor or more specifically stealing under the guise of oil for food, and blue hats running for cover when the first bullet flies…
Great humor Barf!
Oct 8, 2008 - 3:56 pm 81. rspar:I think we should leave NATO and let them fend for themselves. Why are we expending our resources over there? They’ve always been that brave little brother acting tough while standing behind the big brother. Mean while when we need them their nowhere to be found. With exception for the Brits of course. We should be spending our money protecting our own backyard.
Oct 8, 2008 - 5:18 pm 82. AD in California:The 700 billion to rescue the financial meltdown started with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loosening regulations on home loans during Clinton’s administration in 1999; here’s an article from the New York Times that confirms this; also, the CEOs of these two organizations at that time were ex-Clinton appointees:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=September%2030,%201999&st=cse
It is unfortunate that we really have lost the main media or “journalism” in this country and the reason so many Americans are uninformed about the root cause of these crises and issues facing our country; present company excepted.
Oct 8, 2008 - 8:45 pm 83. Jim Baker:The Europeans are mad at us? They want our Capitalism to perform better for their benefit? Imagine that!
Oct 8, 2008 - 8:49 pm 84. kabud:Netherlands
Oil – exports:
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
1.546 million bbl/day (2004)
this is 154,6 milion $ a day of russian and may be OPEC and others oil transit
a year: around 40 billion
and natural gas as well
Oct 8, 2008 - 10:17 pm 85. Marc Malone:HE – interesting stats. I wonder whither they’re doing all their exporting; other european states, perhaps? What would be our trade numbers if we counted interstate trade? I bet it would be a pretty big number, seeing as we’re the biggest consumers in the world.
Oct 9, 2008 - 2:27 am 86. vivo:JFP Oct 7, 2008 – 6:04 am:
I don’t know if this will happen, but it’s getting there very quickly. I agree with you, especially 1, 2 & 5. The polarization is already very sharp. I don’t know if the Democrats can fix this, but the Reps definitely can’t. The two party system doesn’t work. People need representation, but they don’t know how to go about it. Ross Perot and Ralph Nader gave it a try, but the time was not right. Somebody has to figure out this mess.
Oct 9, 2008 - 2:44 am 87. vivo:uburoi Oct 7, 2008 – 7:16 am:
“Vivo expresses himself the way most teenage, Hollywood hipsters around LA do: with a litany of words and phrases strung together that are supposed to have a jolting effect but instead come across as largely illiterate. It sounds like they were cut out from headlines in the Nation magazine and glued together. They get drunk in silly bars and then practice saying these things out loud in the hope that it might attract a sexual partner.
If you let your children attend public school, they may end up writing like Vivo.”
You are exactly right. That’s what I did. But the fact is that all is true and it bothers the guilty. And I don’t have the patience to write elaborate snobby paragraphs.
Oct 9, 2008 - 2:51 am 88. vivo:NahnCee Oct 7, 2008 – 9:52 am:
“Posters like Vivo parachute in, drop their load of poop and exclamation points, and then scuttle off like cockroaches, pleased and smug about their self-avowed superiority. I wonder what Vivo does in real life to put food on the table. More than likely, mooching off depressed and resigned parental units.”
Not really, I’m baaack!
I know that some people don’t like to hear the truth. That’s their problem, not mine. By the way, I live a comfortable and happy life, just a little frustrated about so many people who don’t get it.
Oct 9, 2008 - 3:01 am 89. HE:Marc Malone – ok. To have a fairer comparison:
Value of the European-Union exports to the rest of the world (2007): 1183 billion Euro (ca. 1633 billion us$)
Not bad for a bunch of “socialist” economies, eh?
Oct 9, 2008 - 3:22 am 90. Slartibartfas:This article is entertaining indeed. Someone who calls the weekly paper “Die Zeit” anti American really has some serious problems in judgment.
Furthermore I lack to see the supposedly exploding anti Americanism Europe. Its not more or less than a few months ago and it is definitely less than shortly after the Iraq war started.
And the EU does not have to anti American either. It has the power to introduce regulation it considers necessary. The chemical directive REACH for example is a large progress compared to the outdated American regulation that does not really protect people from many potentially dangerous chemicals. The US tried to prevent REACH at all costs but guess what, it can’t give legislation orders in Europe. Ecological oriented Americans are in fact already in good hope that they can profit from REACH at least indirectly. The worlds industries are already on the best way to make their processes REACH compatible, at least those which are interested on having access to one of the worlds largest markets.
PS: Even American intelligence analysts seem to be anti American as they also predict a decline of US power until 2025… hm or maybe they are only seeing the most realistic scenario. For some Republicans thats for sure already next to treason…
Oct 9, 2008 - 11:08 am 91. Slartibartfas:“Je suis Française et chez moi tout le monde sait que les démocrates sont à l’origine de la crise financière et que le plan Paulson est la pire des solutions, l’Obamania en France vient des banlieues à majorité musulmanes et des socialistes et communistes qui disent que Obama est un des leurs !!!!”
LOL
Oct 9, 2008 - 11:14 am 92. Marc Malone:Its not surprising to see that Islamophobia and Communism-hysteria has a home in Europe too. Maybe Americans should open their eyes and realise that many Europeans are just as much of a bigot as many Americans are.
HE: You make a good point. 1633B vs our 1138B. How much is that per person? I think that works out to roughly the same, despite our superior worker output ratio (about 1.3x).
Of course we consume more. Our houses are bigger. We use more energy. Our cars are bigger, and we have more of them. We have more gadgets. Oh, and we spend about 3x as much on our military. And we give more foreign aid. By a lot. When we give stuff away, and we rebuild foreign countries, it doesn’t count as “exports”. American largesse never counts.
But, you’re right. The Euros don’t do too badly considering they’re socialist countries.
Oct 9, 2008 - 1:29 pm 93. kabud:European economy is very much dependent on USA as well as the rest of the world
it is not just finances but science, technology, innovation, spirit, so on..
Oct 9, 2008 - 3:02 pm 94. Dave Surls:“But the fact is that all is true”
No, actually it’s a bunch of nonsensical ranting, and nothing more.
Oct 9, 2008 - 4:45 pm 95. rspar:Tell that to the 12% unemployed euros.
Oct 9, 2008 - 5:23 pm 96. Paul-Indianapolis:Why is the USA being blamed? After all, didn’t the gurus in Europe declare us to be on the decline and irrelevant? [reality check overdue].
Oct 10, 2008 - 8:38 am 97. lgkick:Europe is in trouble as much as its older brother US is. The Nato countries are shaking really bad and this raises questions about the success of Capitalism. Capitalism like Communism seems to have reached its peak and now heading down. But don’t forget China. They are rapidly becoming the center of world’s economy. The Iraq/Afghanistan war to the US is like the Afghan war to the Soviet Union. The US watched the Soviet Union fail in Afghanistan and gradually become the only superpower. China is watching the US fail in Afghanistan again and that will leave one clear victor: China. Learn chinese before it’s too late.
Oct 10, 2008 - 8:39 am 98. nooneyouknow:Some of the people here seem fairly uninformed about how things are in Europe.
The military budget of the US is (a bit) less than twice that of the combined budgets of countries in the EU. Off the top of my head only Finland and Sweden are members of the EU and not NATO. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_federations_by_military_expenditures . I think the spending of the European countries should be higher btw.
The difference between the average American living in New York and the average American living in – say – Alabama is probably pretty big. Now consider that the differences between people within the EU are (by my guess) most likely even bigger, and probably by alot. Consider France vs. the UK, Denmark vs. Portugal, etc.
The biggest reason why the EU as a whole compares unfavorably against the US economic wise is, that only a few years ago many former communist-block became members. These are much poorer than the average.
When you compare the per capita economy of European countries such as the UK and Denmark with the US. The picture is quite different than when comparing the whole EU with the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
I dont know if the average unemployment of people in the EU is 12%, but i think its lower (more like 7~9%). In Denmark where i live it’s 1.6% however. Oh, and did you know that the surplus on state budget here is around $15 bil? That would be something like $850 bil. scaled to a country the size of the US. Not bad for a “socialist” country, huh?
Oct 10, 2008 - 9:31 am 99. Marc Malone:nooneyouknow – You’re right, of course, about Denmark.
Btw, aren’t they the omes who decided to drill offshore? Oh, and do they spend 2% of GDP on the military as required by treaty? Finally, how’s the immigration system there? I suspect you have very tight, strongly-enforced immigration laws, if that 1.6% is right.
It’s amazing how strong a socialist country can be when it’s almost all indigenous peoples. I’m just guessing that’s the case, based on those numbers. Is it? By the way, are you really a socialist country? I bet you fail the test with those numbers.
Oct 10, 2008 - 3:16 pm 100. Matthew O'Brian:Europe wants to dominate the world economy?
Fine. Go ahead. Dominate.
If you think you can.
Oct 10, 2008 - 3:43 pm 101. stupid canuck:lgkick said:
Europe is in trouble as much as its older brother US is.
Really?
Heh, I love revisionist history on the fly, what a hoot.
So when was the US formed and when was Europe formed?
Europe couldn’t agree on an agreement amongst themselves, let alone ‘dominate’ the worlds financial markets.
Oct 10, 2008 - 7:27 pm 102. David H:Just so you know, when you hear those superior Brits and Europeans look down their noses and blame the USA, point them to this:
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/10/theyve-known-it-all-along.html
Some of of course know teh truth behind all of this…
Oct 12, 2008 - 10:13 am 103. Jonesy55:Wow, so apparently there is anti-americanism in Europe. Having lived here for over 30 years I can say that this is true, there are a small number of people who just don’t generally like the USA for whatever reason and many many more who criticise various aspects of US society and/or policy (especially when it is suggested that Europe should move closer towards these policies and this type of society). This seems to me to be very normal and healthy.
If this blog and the comments posted are representative of Americans in general though, it would seem that the hatred and invective is more widespread on the other side of the Atlantic aimed at us. It could be that the posters on here are extremists, I don’t know.
Of course Europe has some problems, what part of the world doesn’t? But some people over the pond seem to have a very distorted view of the situation here and what life in general is like in Europe. The Islamophobic tendencies of some Americans and the Eurabia nonsense that they come out with just seems so disconnected with the reality of life here that it’s laughable. The sirens of doom who lament the economic collapse of “socialist” Europe don’t seem to realise that life for the vast majority of Europeans is far better than in previous generations, there is no mass migration to the Americas as there was in the period that many of you guys seem to think was Europe’s halcyon days in the 19th and early 20th century. This fact alone must say something, people vote with their feet if life sucks and yet in a world where it is easier than ever to travel, fewer Europeans are interested in leaving for the US, life here can’t be that bad!
Indeed, if you look at GDP per capita statistics, many European countries have actually seen higher growth than the USA on average over the past couple of generations which just goes to show that you can have an economy that taxes more highly to provide public services, protection against poverty and infrastructure investment while still being very competitive internationally. Not that everything is perfect in Europe by any means (or in the US or anywhere else) but I think that some people would do better to actually get off their keyboards and look for themselves what life is like rather than take the polemic of some blogger at face value.
Oct 30, 2008 - 6:29 am