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Friday, February 25, 2011

American Capitalism vs. European Socialism are NOT alternatives.

Driving home from work today (yes, I did not take the day off to protest) I heard Representative Paul Ryan tell the radio audience that the choice America must make is between the American free enterprise system and European style socialism. I really wish that Republicans – especially Republicans who are labeled as fiscal hawks would stop this. It’s a false choice. It assumes that both systems are sustainable. If there is anything that the events in Europe are telling us is that the European style socialist system is not viable over the long term.

Greece is bankrupt and its people are rioting as its government tries to paper over its financial catastrophe. Spain, Portugal, Ireland, England and the rest of the European assemblage of socialist states are trying to prop themselves up like drunks gathered in a huddle. The facts are perfectly clear; the world cannot sustain a true socialist system that provides for both the needs and the wants of people. It has been said for the last 50 years that Europe has been allowed to free-ride on American military power for its defense while spending its money buying its people a cradle to grave lifestyle. The gravy train has ended as even skeleton military budgets have been absorbed by an ever-expanding demand for “free” public services. Even before Wisconsin declared virtual bankruptcy, European governments have come face to face with the fact that there is eventually a limit to what governments can pay before not just the cash but the credit limit of governments ends.

Let us be perfectly clear: Socialist countries – even those who don’t degenerate into Fascist or Communist dictatorships become economic cesspits. They have all the attractiveness of America’s welfare system without the ladder that allows motived people to climb out of the pit of dependency.

No, Paul, your choice is a false one. The European socialist model is nearing its useful life and the future looks like Greece without the Parthenon. Think Cabrini Green.


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