Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Monday, March 9. 2009

It's normal unemployment, in Europe


My cousin Oscar offers this comment -


I don't want to sound like a spoilsport, but does anyone in the Mainstream Media or in the Obama Administration understand that the latest unemployment rate of  8.1% as of February, bad as it now feels, is actually close to the normal unemployment rate in France and most of the European Union (EU) without a recession?


Yes, that is the same EU which Obama and his friends want us to emulate in terms of much bigger Government, higher taxes on producers,  weaker Free Markets, and much stronger Labor Unions.


In fact, there is no country in the EU which came close to the United States' former unemployment rate of about 4.5%, save Ireland, which adopted our Free Market approach and so was loathed by the other welfare states.


So, if you're an Obama enthusiast, stop whining.   This is the norm for governments whose spending absorbs 30+% of their Gross National Product.  


Get used to it...this is what you wanted.


Or, is it?


-Oscar


Posted by Gwynnie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays at 11:22 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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yur dollar sent to DC comes back to in services as two quarters, as cash three quarters and a dime. the shipping & handling, even if they mail it right back to you. however, the bureaucrat who gets the missing dime and a nickel does spend it somewhere, so, no loss to the system --so long as that person with your dime and nickel is as productive as the private citizen doing the same job would have to be (in order to stay employed, that is, you see).
#1 buddy larsen on 2009-03-09 11:39 (Reply)
In 2008, I spent four months at US installations in the Middle East. This was before the markets really began to head south. So many young contractor expats from Europe, in particular from the UK and Eastern Europe. No work at home.

The Europe of the US liberal imagination and the Europe of reality are two very different things.
#2 Skookumchuk (Link) on 2009-03-09 11:56 (Reply)
All very interesting, except we got to this unemployment rate under Bush's policies, not French policies. The proposed solution--more of the same that got us here.
#3 Jeff on 2009-03-09 12:02 (Reply)
jeff, you must mean the fed's easy money policy having gone on too long, and the admin's failure to jawbone it up sooner. Who could disagree with that? however, honesty requires that we keep in mind the asterisk in the 'actual real-deal what-really-happened' truth column, an asterisk which leads to a footnote partially described here:

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/03/meltdown.html
#3.1 buddy larsen on 2009-03-09 12:11 (Reply)
jeff - That's like saying we got the Depression from Hoover not FDR. They did the same thing, FDR and Obama just did it 10 times more.
#3.2 NJSoldier on 2009-03-09 12:59 (Reply)
Jeff,

Either you are not intellectually curious enough to dig beyond the surface to find out the complexities and the players in this disaster or you are not intellectually honest.

If the first instance is true, it can be fixed with a bit of effort and discipline.

If the second is true, then you have to ask yourself deeper questions. Perhaps Lucy will put up her tin can with a $.05 (no cents symbol handy) and ask Charlie Brown to wait so she can help you.

Best of luck in either case.
#3.3 Barrett on 2009-03-09 22:04 (Reply)
Americans continue to pay the lowest taxes in 50 years... SOCIALISM!! Ireland's model worked out great, didn't it?
#4 dex on 2011-03-24 01:33 (Reply)

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