Beyond Europe ... Mark Steyn

Steyn Online ^ | 18 Mar 2014 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

On Saturday, I spoke to the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire. I was one of the last of a bazillion speakers over two days, many of whom - Bobby Jindal, for example - had pointed out how serious things are by offering some variant of the warning that, if we're not careful, we'll wind up like Europe.

So I tried to explain that, by most measures, America is already way beyond Europe, and significantly worse than other English-speaking nations in the New World (Canada, Australia, New Zealand). From the OECD's 2011 edition of Government At A Glance, government expenditures per person:

New Zealand $12,252
Australia $13,819
Spain $14,771
Canada $16,655
Italy $16,811
Germany $17,263
United Kingdom $18,155
France $18,866
United States $19,266

America is not who it thinks it is. John Hawkins has an excellent post today on the five structural problems that are destroying the nation, and he marshals some evidence of his own:

America doesn't have the highest taxes in the Western world, but it does have the most progressive tax system in the Western world. As a practical matter, what this means is that we have large numbers of Americans voting on whether others should pay more taxes in order to give them things.

[Rummyfan]

[Rummyfan]

In a two-party system, it's entirely possible that November will be a big wave election for the GOP. But, unless they've got serious plans to address some of these structural defects - not in 2050 or 2075 but in the term of office for which they've been elected - it will, as 2010 did, make no difference.

[dfwgator]

There is only one party, The Government Party.

[Slings and Arrows]

Steyn ping.

[Rummyfan]

And:

It is quite literally impossible to pay off the debt our nation owes along with the commitment we've made to our own citizens via Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security unless inflation dramatically reduces the value of our currency which would erode savings, drive cost-of-living expenses into the stratosphere and generally decimate the economy. Meanwhile, taking even the mildest steps to safeguard the future of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has proven to be almost impossible in the current political environment. As a practical matter, this means our country is headed towards bankruptcy or runaway inflation so bad that we might as well be bankrupt.

[MarMema]

Ted Cruz. I think he wants to abolish the IRS.

Russia has a flat tax, why can't we????

[Sans-Culotte]

Bump.

[Tupelo]

re: The Government Party. And that Government Party has put this nation in the same position financially as the USSR was in 1988.
At the current rate of spending,we may be able to survive by bluff and bluster for another 10 years, but I seriously doubt it. Then the SHTF and we go the way of the Soviet Union.

[mac_truck]

There is only one party, The Government Party.

Sad, but true.

[zeugma]

Ted Cruz. I think he wants to abolish the IRS.

Russia has a flat tax, why can't we????

A flat tax won't abolish the IRS. A national sales tax might.

 

[afsnco]

Translation: Paradigms are a biotch.

[JLS]

Mark Steyn ping.

Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.

Thanks for the ping Slings and Arrows.

[Gritty]

bttt

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the ping.

And thank you, Mark Steyn, for telling us how very horrible it is here in America without a single word of advice about WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

Your doom-and-gloom essays are useless without constructive criticism, not just a litany of what we're doing wrong and how much better a group of other countries are.

[varon]

And thank you, Mark Steyn, for telling us how very horrible it is here in America without a single word of advice about WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

I don't believe the slap on the wrist of Mark Steyn was warranted. Of what value is advise that when offered it's discarded? Americans don't respond too kindly to advice as their ego stands in the way and facts are only "for the other guy'. Americans are driven by emotion. Americans are flighty as they have no core belief. Americans have developed into a "disposable" and "planned obsolescence" society................

[TheOldLady]

And thank you, Mark Steyn, for telling us how very horrible it is here in America without a single word of advice about WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

I don't believe the slap on the wrist of Mark Steyn was warranted. Of what value is advise that when offered it's discarded? Americans don't
respond too kindly to advice as their ego stands in the way and facts are only "for the other guy'. Americans are driven by emotion. Americans
are flighty as they have no core belief. Americans have developed into a "disposable" and "planned obsolescence" society................

Thank you for expressing your extremely low opinion of Americans, and for painting everyone in the entire country with the same broad brush.

I had no idea that every American was just another clone of everyone else in America.

I'm amazed, and that is about the most insulting critique of America and Americans I've ever heard from someone who is supposedly an American
herself. And of course, since you are broad brushing, you do include yourself, I presume.