I have some real issues with that report.
His implication that a disruptive technology like computers should be priced like pork bellies or some other commodity is absurd, I'll let it pass.
He cites growth in Europe, particularly East Germany, but is that any surprise? East Germany is literally coming from *third world status* since the wall came down. When you come from levels like that, aided by reunification and today's speed of money engendered by the technology that some people love to hate, their economic growth is quite expected. As for the growth in other european countries, there too since the early 80's they have made great strides. Friends of mine who worked in my company's Valbonne site in France in the early 80's told me that many secretaries didn't even have refrigerators (!), yet my experience working near Paris from 1995-1999 was that things are really comparable to US households now. In short, Europe seems to have been putting in place things that US households have taken for granted for a long time. In my opinion this is where a lot of that growth he cites is coming from. And that growth is going to slow when the economy in the US slows since things are globally connected more than ever before.
One pithy statement in that report caught my eye, I cite:
"Europe, too, has fully participated in the global stock market mania, but with two very important differences to America: first, participation of the public is incomparably smaller in Europe; and second, there was no visible effect on consumer and business spending."
Indeed, doesn't this put a finger on what sticks in Rickenbacker's craw. God forbid the public "participate" in the stock market. In Europe (at least in France which I'm familiar with) there are no SEC sites for you to download financial statements from. You can't find out what kind of salaries and stock options the CEO and other insiders are awarding themselves. There's in fact a significant lack of transparancy in these things. That's for the graduates of l'Ecole Nationale d'Administration, en ce qui concerne le citoyen de base, allez circulez, rien a voir! I have to wonder if the Euro would have passed in France if it had been put to an informed public referendum.
On public and consumer spending, again this follows from the high unemployment and the fact that with the unions and socialists running things there is no elbow room to do anything or get anything done, in France the moment anything is likely to change some union will paralyze the country with a strike.
There are certain things about Europe that are not to my taste. |
