July 30, 2005
New York Times Worships French Socialism
Paul Krugman at the New York Times tries to make the case that Americans are arrogant by comparing us to the French of all people. Americans may be considered arrogantly indifferent but the French can easily be considered condescendingly arrogant. What I can never understand is the hero worship heaped on the French by American elites such as Krugman. He almost seems to celebrate French unemployment in this article as a desirable family value. It makes one wonder if Bush would get praise for the unemployment figures if they rose four points to match France.
Next he goes on to brag about the French family value of not having to worry about health insurance. How this ever came to be classified as a “family value” I will never understand. I wonder when these people will discover there is a difference between insurance and actual health care. All the insurance in the world will not get you an MRI if it is not available to get due to shortages.
It's true that France's G.D.P. per person is well below that of the United States. But that's because French workers spend more time with their families.Since when did more time off necessarily mean more time with families. Granted it helps but is hardly a given.
The study's main point is that differences in government regulations, rather than culture (or taxes), explain why Europeans work less than Americans.Yes, it’s called socialism. Where have you been the last 50 years.
And they even offer some statistical evidence that working fewer hours makes Europeans happier, despite the loss of potential income.Now that is what I call a convincing argument.
We in America despise European welfare states like France because we want to make our own choices not have our lives and options dictated by an indifferent and corrupt government. After a while animals in a zoo get content with their regular feeding schedule and mediocre health care as well.
The only thing I dislike more then socialist government controls are the snake oil salesman like Krugman that try to sell them.
Posted by Sid at July 30, 2005 12:25 AM | Politics
