Getting To Know Europeans From Tremont Ave. In The Bronx

The Cato Institute(conservative think tank) loves to proclaim that our poor has the highest GDP per capita in the world. On paper they are correct but Geoghegan(Were You Born On The Wrong Continent)tells them to go outside and walk around the typical American city to find reality in their statistics.Disorder,crime(largest criminal justice system in the world) and hopelessness abounds with segregated housing and poverty income levels(without European style safety net system..free tuition,health care,retirement,job security,collective bargaining,etc.).The average per capita income(purchasing power ratios) in America is $45,604 in 2007 while Germany ,Denmark,France,Netherlands and Switzerland are about $12,000 to $5,000 behind that number. Geoghegan states that the super rich gobble up well over two-thirds of the difference in the U.S. In 2005,the real hourly wage for production workers in America was approximately 8% lower than it was in 1973,while our national output per hour is 55% higher.

Americans are working much harder(2300 hrs/year to survive for most) than the Europeans who work around 1,500 hrs. Those eight hundred hours are spent by Europeans taking family vacations,reading books of interest,going to the movies,riding a bike through the city park or spending quality time with one's family.God forbid the employee who balks at the notion of less hours and more pay without collective bargaining(U.S. has only 11% of the workforce unionized...up to 85% in some European countries,many with work counsels).Americans also spend a great deal of time traveling to work unlike the Europeans.Only 5% of our country can use public transport at the same time our bridges,roads and rail systems are collapsing.At the same time,Europe is unifying thanks to Ryanair and faster rail.Europeans use public transit ten times more frequently than Americans do.In Germany and France that statistic is higher(gov. planning).Americans are moving farther away from there jobs and quality entertainment. They travel to the suburbs and exurbs to find affordable housing with quality public schools because of income inequality(poverty,joblessness),crime and the high cost of private education.

Goeghegan claims that if our society was more efficiently planned(extended safety net with collective bargaining,planned housing/transit,income equality with little crime)our GDP per capita would fall. The lower we keep taxes, the worse the infrastructure so we pack up and move.The result is that our GDP per capita rises. Why?Lower taxes(Europe only pays 1/5 more)create middle class movement that increases our gas/car bills and our tendency to supersize our homes.We also go out a lot to eat due to time restrictions from working(two job earners) and traveling. Income inequality creates jobs in law enforcement,private security guards, prosecutors,public defenders, public prison guards,janitors,etc.The super rich make life harder for the middle class who want to send their kids to the best schools in the country.School tuition to top private universities have skyrocketed and the middle class must pay the ransom to continue in the game that leads to select employment opportunities.

According to Goeghegan,many middle class workers invest in themselves to become more attractive workers.He calls them investments in producer wants instead of consumer wants.Computers,private gyms,day care for the children,reliable,expensive cars to get to work and even cosmetic surgery to look younger.Debt may even be a mark of self-discipline(investing in themselves) to stay on top at the office. Most Europeans save and avoid debt due to the planned infrastructure and security of employment.They spend on items not connected to the workplace but supportive of creative culture. A European-type social democracy is really a form of guided spending.The state taxes and spends tax money on what one really needs.The state can buy in bulk,in the most efficient way. This leaves one plenty of money to spend on your own. One person can't buy things for oneself as cheaply and efficiently as the state can.The state can allocate money better than someone for retirement,health,education,transportation and childcare collectively by pooling money and avoiding mistakes.

More from "Were you born on the wrong continent" in a few days.