NATION: America Headed Towards Europe

I try hard to remaining apolitical. I try to find solutions, and not dwell on whether the objective is highly desired by one political team or another (Team R: Republicans, or Team D: Democrats). It's hard to argue that we are not heading down a path to look suspiciously similar to Europe. I, for one, want no part of it. I love the American spirit and energy, which derives in large part from our work ethic and our drive for innovation. 

Let's look at some details in France - a beautiful country - similar in many ways to the semi-socialist state of California, where I live. France has realized the opposite-of-America dream: 35 hour work week, extreme restrictions on business and employment, voluminous and complex laws and regulations, ever-expanding free services from the government (health care, college education, pensions, etc.) 

Above: Theo the Dog resting on a recent backpacking trip to the Inyo Mountain Wilderness - his first time wearing a backpack for 5 days! Blog posts are boring without photos, and this one is totally unrelated to this blog post! Click to enlarge.

Any attempt to reign in the freebies in France are met with violent strikes and demonstrations, and finally, caving in by the spineless government wimps. Those on the dole fight effectively to remain there. Large businesses are controlled by the government, and those that should go bankrupt and go away are kept on life support forever. Government debt is massive and growing, and "living within your means" is treated as a joke (sound familiar?).

The result? French unemployment at 10.4%, youth unemployment at 26%, 5 year economic growth of under 1%, government spending at 57% of the output of the entire economy. From where I sit, this is where we are heading and I don't like it. 

What I do like is America's "can do" attitude, to just get off your butt and make your dreams happen - even if it takes more than 35 hours per week. I am proud that Americans work long and hard, and lead the world in the most important areas of science and technology. I've been blessed to work at jobs where we don't look at the clock, but instead pursue what needs to be done - even if that takes 80 hours per week - we happily do what it takes to "make it happen". Now we appear to be heading down the wrong path - the path to Europe's socialist quagmire. Just my observation - I pray I am wrong.

Perhaps this is just the way of the world. I just read that the Scandinavian countries are pushing towards a minimum income for everyone in their country of about $2,500 per month! Yep - you'll be able to sit on your butt and do nothing, and collect $2,500 just for being a homo sapien located within the country's borders. No doubt, this will be held up as a model for America to strive to attain. Eventually this will bring actual inequality - the productive ones creating for those who are, let's say, not productive.

Note, of course, that I am not talking about the disabled, the elderly, the infirm, the homeless, the downtrodden. I believe we do not do enough for these folks already - those who are truly in need and cannot provide for themselves. I lobby our local politicians for more help for these folks. Alas, this needy group also does not vote in high numbers, so are thus ignored to a large degree by our politicians. What we have are the weak and the poor going without, and the healthy but lazy getting to choose whether they want to work, or sit on the couch and watch TV. Time will tell which way we are headed.

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