Krugman: How American Capitalism Fails—and Northern European 'Socialism' Succeeds—at Job Creation

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/krugman-how-american-capitalism-fails-and-northern-european-socialism-succeeds-job-creation




Paul Krugman wrote his column this morning in the New York Times from Europe, a place which—conservatives like Paul Ryan would like you to believe—demonstrates the complete failure of the welfare state. That's because, as Krugman points out, "Our political discourse is dominated by reverse Robin-Hoodism — the belief that economic success depends on being nice to the rich, who won’t create jobs if they are heavily taxed, and nasty to ordinary workers, who won’t accept jobs unless they have no alternative."

France, a country that the American media and conservatives particularly love to bash, is having particular success in employment rates. Krugman reports this "startling, little-known fact: French adults in their prime working years (25 to 54) are substantially more likely to have jobs than their U.S. counterparts."

Hmmm. There's a story you won't hear told in the mainstream media.

He continues:

It wasn’t always that way. Back in the 1990s Europe really did have big problems with job creation; the phenomenon even received a catchy name, “Eurosclerosis.” And it seemed obvious what the problem was: Europe’s social safety net had, as Representative Paul Ryan likes to warn, become a “ hammock” that undermined initiative and encouraged dependency.

But then a funny thing happened: Europe started doing much better, while America started doing much worse. France’s prime-age employment rate overtook America’s early in the Bush administration; at this point the gap in employment rates is bigger than it was in the late 1990s, this time in France’s favor. Other European nations with big welfare states, like Sweden and the Netherlands, do even better.

[el_bryanto]

1. It's interesting.

I don't necessarily think that because it works in Scandinavia that it'll work here; but I think that the limits of our ability to discuss economic solutions to problems - particularly those involving the Federal Government - are tragically narrow. If there are some successful ideas coming out of europe why can't we talk about incorporating them into our system?

Because Republicans won't compromise and the districts they come from will reward them for their narrowmindedness.

Bryant

[Enthusiast]

2. Once this nation fully embraced supply-side trickle down it was all downhill from there.