24/11/2004 10:21:07 am
Nine Times Higher Growth in the US Than in France and Germany. In the third quarter of this year, economic growth on an annual basis was 0,4 % in France and Germany - and 3,7 % in the US. Such extremely low figures for the large European countries are risky - another rise in the euro or in the oil price may push them into recession. Remember that all this is in a situation which is supposed to be in a positive trend for the business cycle. The US productivity growth is higher, they work more per person - and there are more persons working. Of course they run ahead and the wealth gap is widening. But this is not destiny, it is not a higher power that has decided this outcome. Europe doesn′t have to lag behind and become the old backyard of the world. It is a deliberate choice. We have a system of society with big government that simply destroys our opportunities. We have chosen it by ourselves and we could choose to change it. I think that big change is coming, much more than Agenda 2010-like reform programs, but why wait? Why should we allow it to get even worse before we reduce government, taxes and public monopolies and thus liberate the forces of wealth creation?