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Here we go, already declining Europe turning even more socialist. The problem is that most countries in Europe are not like Switzerland where the common culture
by michalu 13y ago
Here we go, already declining Europe turning even more socialist. The problem is that most countries in Europe are not like Switzerland where the common culture is economically educated and work oriented. If this passes in Switzerland or Netherlands it may actually work, but if it spreads to and passes in e.g France, Spain or some post communist countries in EU it may lead to completely different outcome and EU economies are increasingly co-dependent.
Even worse thing is that there is a lot of populism in Europe spreading lately, I fear this will be quickly adopted as a tool to get more voters in countries that respond to populism well, eventually gaining support for economically illiterate parties.
- InclinedPlane 13y agoTurning socialist... Have you any concept of the percentage of GDP that most European governments take in through taxation or on what sort of programs that money tends to be spent? Europe has already been socialist for a long time, some places much more so than others.
- danieldk 13y agoHere we go, already declining Europe turning even more socialist. This almost feels like an insult. The modern capitalist wellfare state as it is implemented in The Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia have given the population at large huge and equal opportunities. It's actually the solidarity that have given such a wide group a high education. Spain and communist countries were recent authoritarian states. It is not surprising that haven't been able to gain as much resilience yet. The countries that are doing badly are countries that are corrupt, lived on EU subsidies for decades, or are strangled by unions. (In fact, it's funny that you mention Spain, since it had one of the lower levels of social expenditure.)