THE RISE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
...and the loss of liberty, freedom, and human rights at a fundamental level
To many idealists living in the United States, the European Union is the height of international cooperation and socialized living, where everyone is equal. Healthcare is provided for, and there are civil service jobs available to all. The IMF has the EU ranked 1st in the world for GDP, and social liberalism has firmly taken root to make all things better.
Of course, we who live in this other place called "reality" know better, and quite often point out to our fellow countrymen that many of the things the EU touts as successes over the United States come at a much higher price. A price that rarely, if ever, is mentioned.
This article seeks to enlighten many and answer, dispel, debunk or completely annihilate any argument that the residents of the EU are better off than those of us in the US. One of the things we will be doing here is providing you with the raw data, drawing the parallels, and allowing you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions. And since many of our brethren who tout the greatness of the EU also worship the error-prone Wikipedia, I'm using it as a source for all the facts here. Well, except for social security and the history of it. Even Wiki won't touch that one.
First off, I'd like to address the open-borders policy within the EU. Currently, many people believe that this policy allows for workers to move from country to country and work, providing many of the nation-states with cheap labor. This has allowed the euro to catch and pass the dollar after it's introduction as the official currency of the EU. This gives the impression that the people in the EU enjoy a higher standard of living than those of us in the US. Please, allow me to dispel that myth first.
One of the first things that people point out in their arguments is that the EU is wealthier because it has a higher GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which is the final value of goods and services provided within a country within a year. The US, as of December 2007, trails the EU by $860 billion dollars for the previous fiscal year. This is horrible, you may say. The US is broke, and our way of life is ending! Well, no.
The actuality of the US making $13.02 trillion for our GDP, with the EU at $13.88 trillion, places us behind them in means of GDP. That is actually not too bad, considering that in 2006 the EU, according to the IMF, had a GDP value of $14.6 trillion, and the US $13.1 trillion. However, the EU lost $728 billion somewhere along the line, while the US, with our housing slump and all, only lost $173 billion. Here are some of the percentages:
EU- Drop from 2006/7: -10.5%
US- Drop from 2006/7: -9.8%
Still a fairly close drop, which can show that our markets are linked due to the IMF (International Monetary Fund). However, a closer look at the EU shows that the nations, unlike the United States, are combined on the IMF chart as both the combined EU, and separately as nations. This allows the EU to take advantage of a loophole and create a semi-independent economic system, while maintaining the reputation of a secure and unified Europe. For example, France and Germany, two of the biggest members of the EU, suffer from a small GDP when alone. Germany's GDP is only $2.7 trillion dollars, and France's is a paltry $2.1 trillion. When looking at the US and its $13 trillion, you realize and see that as individual countries, neither can compete in terms of raw economic and social power as the US (After Germany and France, only Italy, UK, and Spain makes it into the top 20. And that is with the EU sporting 27 independent, economically viable nations). Oh, I'm not counting the United Kingdom yet, because they have not accepted the euro as their official form of currency. I don't blame them, really. The pound is doing much better than the euro...
So viewed as independent countries, the US currently is 1st in the world, with the People's Republic of China in 2nd and India 3rd.
Okay, so that point was made. However, they still enjoy a higher standard of living over us. Socialized healthcare is a boon, and everyone can go to the hospital for free! Well, again, no. Not really.
Comparing the US to a neighboring country with a socialized healthcare system is the easiest and most example. Canada has had socialized healthcare for a few years now, and judging by the wait in line to get a heart bypass surgery, I can see just how well it's working. While people in the US typically wait only a few weeks for a heart bypass, in the socialized healthcare system the wait is upwards of 8 months. A recent newspaper article reported that 1 in 3 people in Canada die before they can make it to the table to be operated on in heart bypass situations. Doctors and nurses, highly trained and extremely skilled personnel, are flocking to the United States in droves as the taxes in Canada are raised so that people can enjoy this social luxury, at the cost of quality surgeons and physicians. Personally, I say hey, more power to you Canada! What a subtle way to kill off people, avoid a massive social security debt and enable the United States to gratefully accept all those unwanted doctors.
Uh oh, I mentioned that evil little word. Social Security. Did you know that it was intended by FDR (damnable commie) to help our retirees who never saved up any money after caving to the pressure brought on by communist-disguised-as-a-democrat, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. His "Every Man a King" movement in the 1930's wanted to rid the rich and wealthy of their money and give it to the poor. How a man like that ever was elected governor, I shall never know.
However, if you went into every man's bank account in the country who made over six figures, and took out 25% of that money to pay for the poor, the US would quickly become bankrupt. Why? Because those same people who you are robbing to pay for the poor in your Robin Hood-esque manner are our primary investors into the stock market. They would quickly pack up and leave the United States, searching for a country (like the Grand Caymans) who will allow them to safely invest money while not worrying about the nation outright stealing it. If there are no rich to tax, then who gets taxed? Well, the "new" rich, formerly known as the middle class. This creates a war between the classes that many people who believe in the socialism efforts of the EU need.
So, you may ask. How does that relate? Three little words: France and riots.
France suffers from them on a yearly basis it seems now, as more and more young men and women 18-24 come into a workforce that had no meaningful jobs. The best, and safest, jobs are in civil service. They have the best social security benefits, the best pay, and the best hours. These jobs are protected, though, and it is damned impossible for someone to be fired from their job. With this in mind, the unpaid youth, with little futures, riots. They wanted jobs, damn it. But since there is no free-market economy in France (well, before Sarkozy's election that is), no company, no entrepreneur, wants to try to start a business there. Due to the restrictions in the hiring process (must hire X amount of people, X type of people, and pay them X amount of money if you want a business license, which can take upwards to two years...), no new business can properly get a foothold into the economy. This creates stagnation, and the only way to jar that, in the French government's mind, is to raise taxes, which restricts liberties and freedoms.
Whoops. Can't tax those who are unemployed, can you?
The loss of liberty and freedoms, and of national identity, is one of the primary reasons as to why the British have been reluctant to join. Which is funny, in hindsight, as the Brits have enabled enough security cameras and gun, cricket bats, and sword-control laws to prevent anyone owning a blade over 6" long. The EU wants to abolish this, and has laws insisting that any resident of the EU can move anywhere. And Britons, with a long and firm memory of history, knows this is simply another term for "invasion". The French failed mightily in their efforts, and Germany as well. Now, with the subtle diplomatic knife wielded in one hand and a friendly handshake ready, those two countries are now ready to achieve what they failed through violence.
The US is special in the world because we have liberties that many people strive to achieve. The problem is, most of these countries have not yet figured out how to balance the good and the bad. Too little government, and you have something akin to Sierra Leone. Too much, and you risk having France and the United Kingdom.
Never in the history of the world has a country like the United States existed. Now people are trying to undermine and ruin something that has bettered this world more so than any other nation, and pointing to the European Union as a shining beacon of hope and success. However, until the EU can truly claim success and be a nation and not a unified collection of nations, internal strife, bickering, and market fluctuations will ensure that they remain behind other industrialized nations. And I say this with some certainty because in the end of all things, the EU is a last-ditch effort by countries of irrelevance to have a say in a brave new world. |
