US vs. Europe vs. Third World Part II
Mixing altruism with politics can be sometimes dangerous. Every tyranny in history has been based on an altruist theme. For example for Lenin and Stalin it was the duty to serve the proletariat and for Hitler it was duty to the Fatherland. Although not in the same context as before, there is a duty of some European nations’ citizens to the Welfare State. To highlight on some dangers of altruism one can rely to the famous saying, “some of the greatest evils committed in history have been done not by people set out to do evil, but by people set out to do good by force.” One can also see it in the famous Nazi slogan, “Gemeinutz vor Eigennutz” which means: Common interest before self. Altruism is at the very heart of socialism and socialism, best now known as social democracies, is the economic system of most European Nations.
Socialism in Europe has been a very popular ideology for many decades. The Swedes and Norwegians are very proud of the social states and for many years have served as role models for other European countries. The current vice-president of my poor central american country, an ex-gorilla commander, has often expresses his admiration for these systems and wants our country to move in that direction. Should he really be admiring those systems? Germany, a big a welfare/social country, for 2004 had a real growth of -0.1% and an unemployment rate of 10.5%. On the other hand, we have the far less but still socialistic system in some ways of the US which during the same global recession period held a real growth of 3.1% and an unemployment rate of 6%. Well, he will probably still choose European Model since there is no morality in the US model. To emphasize on this we can look at what happened in Peru. In 1968 socialist military regime ousted the elected president and immediately expropriated assets of US oil companies and many other sectors of the economy to establish a socialist state to help the poor of this overwhelmingly poor country. Some of the European Socialist countries’ measures where imposed like price controls and regulation and in some years later even farming became unprofitable. Capital fled the country since it was more profitable to invest in other countries. During the twelve years of socialist rule real income dropped 40% and a country that had been able to feed itself for centuries ended up importing food. It is my view that third world countries can act as catalysts of political, economical and social systems. In the EU and the US it might take several decades to see the results of a specific economic system or policy because of its high educated population, relative low poverty, a legal system that works and most important that they are already industrialized. In a third world country it might only take a few years to see the results of the same system or policy. Take socialism in Peru and the free market economy of neighboring Chile. Both countries where in similar situations before each system came into play and it is obvious which system not only prevailed but set an example for the rest of our poor nations. So do European countries need to wait more decades to find out that in the long run socialism is a self defeating system? And for my vice-president, is there morality in Chile’s economic miracle?
According to Olaf Gersemann there is a very strong feeling in Europe that “Americans work three jobs just to make ends meet, and unemployment is low only because so many people are in jail.” In his book “Cowboy Capitalism”, he emphasizes that low economic growth and high unemployment are direct consequences of welfare and big government policies. I think Leszek Balcerowicz, former Finance Minister of Poland, said it best when he commented on the book, “This book offers an excellent comparison of U.S. capitalism with the 'social' model of Germany, France, and Italy. It is also a penetrating study of anti-market propaganda. Olaf Gersemann shows that the features of the American model that are attacked most by European critics from both left and right are those which continental Europe actually needs in order to overcome the social problem of high unemployment and to make the European economy more dynamic and competitive.” It is important to mention that Olaf Gersemann is German. More and more people are beginning to realize that socialism is not appropriate path to take. Like its more extreme version, communism, socialism in some time will be a relic of the past. A system that genuinely tried to do good by force and end it up with decreasing the overall welfare of the country. It will very difficult to move away from the welfare programs already in place in the EU and US without causing great economical and social turmoil.
Socialism in Europe has been a very popular ideology for many decades. The Swedes and Norwegians are very proud of the social states and for many years have served as role models for other European countries. The current vice-president of my poor central american country, an ex-gorilla commander, has often expresses his admiration for these systems and wants our country to move in that direction. Should he really be admiring those systems? Germany, a big a welfare/social country, for 2004 had a real growth of -0.1% and an unemployment rate of 10.5%. On the other hand, we have the far less but still socialistic system in some ways of the US which during the same global recession period held a real growth of 3.1% and an unemployment rate of 6%. Well, he will probably still choose European Model since there is no morality in the US model. To emphasize on this we can look at what happened in Peru. In 1968 socialist military regime ousted the elected president and immediately expropriated assets of US oil companies and many other sectors of the economy to establish a socialist state to help the poor of this overwhelmingly poor country. Some of the European Socialist countries’ measures where imposed like price controls and regulation and in some years later even farming became unprofitable. Capital fled the country since it was more profitable to invest in other countries. During the twelve years of socialist rule real income dropped 40% and a country that had been able to feed itself for centuries ended up importing food. It is my view that third world countries can act as catalysts of political, economical and social systems. In the EU and the US it might take several decades to see the results of a specific economic system or policy because of its high educated population, relative low poverty, a legal system that works and most important that they are already industrialized. In a third world country it might only take a few years to see the results of the same system or policy. Take socialism in Peru and the free market economy of neighboring Chile. Both countries where in similar situations before each system came into play and it is obvious which system not only prevailed but set an example for the rest of our poor nations. So do European countries need to wait more decades to find out that in the long run socialism is a self defeating system? And for my vice-president, is there morality in Chile’s economic miracle?
According to Olaf Gersemann there is a very strong feeling in Europe that “Americans work three jobs just to make ends meet, and unemployment is low only because so many people are in jail.” In his book “Cowboy Capitalism”, he emphasizes that low economic growth and high unemployment are direct consequences of welfare and big government policies. I think Leszek Balcerowicz, former Finance Minister of Poland, said it best when he commented on the book, “This book offers an excellent comparison of U.S. capitalism with the 'social' model of Germany, France, and Italy. It is also a penetrating study of anti-market propaganda. Olaf Gersemann shows that the features of the American model that are attacked most by European critics from both left and right are those which continental Europe actually needs in order to overcome the social problem of high unemployment and to make the European economy more dynamic and competitive.” It is important to mention that Olaf Gersemann is German. More and more people are beginning to realize that socialism is not appropriate path to take. Like its more extreme version, communism, socialism in some time will be a relic of the past. A system that genuinely tried to do good by force and end it up with decreasing the overall welfare of the country. It will very difficult to move away from the welfare programs already in place in the EU and US without causing great economical and social turmoil.
posted by LA Samayoa at 5:49 PM
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