Nothing Sprouts from Brussels

A paralyzed Europe.

John O'Sullivan writes about the economic paralysis which grips Old Europe. In recent days we have seen the French rioting in order to keep their lifetime first jobs rather than get better ones. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my first job to be the only one I had for twenty years. Here in America we have a far more dynamic economy where people can, and do, move from job to job at a rapid pace. This is what keeps our economy moving. We allow adaptability and flexibility.

But in Old Europe the thicket of laws, regulations and taxes traps the people there into a permanent state of economic stagnation. And the people of Old Europe have grown so used to their lethargy that now they protest when anyone comes along who might upset the status quo. The result is that Europe is falling father and farther behind the rest of the developed world. But as Ayn Rand once wrote, there is no divine right of stagnation. The rest of the world will pass Old Europe by and leave them in the dust if they do not reform their system. And as that happens it will be progressively more difficult for them to fix their problems and the solutions will become more and more painful to enact.