Interesting Comparison of Blue Europe and Red America

[dude1394]

This also sort of goes along with the US secular versus religious underpinnings debate.



Europe learns the wrong lessons

Beyond economics and politics

There are now even deeper divergences which separate Europe from the U.S. Commenting on the collapse of the European birthrate (which will leave a majority of residents in many cities with no siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles), George Weigel observes that “when an entire continent, healthier, wealthier, and more secure than ever before, fails to create the human future in the most elemental sense—by creating the next generation— something very serious is afoot.” He concludes that “Europe is dying. The wasting disease that has beset this once greatest of civilizations is not physical, however. It is a disease in the realm of the human spirit.”

Look upon the suicide clinic in Switzerland that administers a glass of schnapps and then a peaceful death by injection. Note the German laws that, first, legalized prostitution two years ago, and then started requiring laid-off waitresses and secretaries to entertain job offers from the sex industry or face the loss ofunemployment benefits. Realize that 31 percent of pediatricians in the Netherlands have euthanized an infant, and that a fifth of these took place without the knowledge or consent of parents. And suddenly one is inclined to share the observation of Britain- dweller Dwight Longenecker that “beneath it all, the growing divide between Europe and America is a divide between theism and atheism. This simple divide is cosmic in its importance, and affects simply everything.”

[Drbio]

There is so much disturbing info there I don't even know where to begin.

[dalmations202]

There is so much disturbing info there I don't even know where to begin.

But Liberals are going to make this world a better place Doc --- we'll be more like Europe..... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[LRB]

I guess I'm just way out of touch, but I had no idea that doctor's were performing suicide, and for minors at that. This almost makes Germany's attempt to make women become prostitutes or lose unemployment benefit's seem trivial. I would hope that the vast majority of democrats would find this very sickening as well. If this is truely going on, then I'm just horrified at the decadence and decay of European society.

[u2sarajevo]

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: u2sarajevo
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

A refreshing inside joke in an otherwise bad thread. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[Mavdog]

How this writer can link the economic issues facing Europe (challenging Europe) and then extrapolate from that a religious/moral base is a reach of epic proportions.

The economic issues are very very deep. It starts with a regulated and protected business climate, and is compounded by the structural issues of the aging workforce/lack of training of youth. We have similar issues as it relates to pensions (anybody look at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Board?) yet America has invested in its youth with a much criticized but effective school system. We have also refused to fall victim to the calls of protectionism, and rejected the idea of erecting barriers to our integration with the rest of the worlds economies.

So how do these economic issues tie into a religious trend? They don't. The writer makes grand claims of "31 percent of pediatricians in the Netherlands have euthanized an infant, and that a fifth of these took place without the knowledge or consent of parents" which would place that physician as a criminal. The law is clear, a child of under 16 who qualifies under the law for euthanasia cannot be euthanized without parents involved, and to do so would cause the doctor to be prosecuted.

Just how is population growth an indicator of a economic competitiveness? It isn't, or otherwise all those lesser developed countries who have a hiogh pop groth rate would be seeing impressive GDP growth. Guess what? The top 15 countries in the world, ranked by pop growth rates, include

1 United Arab Emirates 6.51
2 Turks & Caicos Is. 6.07
3 Qatar 5.86
4 Afghanistan 4.59
5 Eritrea 4.26
6 Sierra Leone 4.07
7 Kuwait 3.73
8 Marshall Is. 3.45
9 Chad 3.42
10 Uganda 3.4
11 Niger 3.39
12 Somalia 3.2
13 Benin 3.18
14 Burkina Faso 3.17
15 Yemen 3.13

not what I'd call an impressive list of dynamic economies. In fact, it is a list of poorly performing economies (outside of the oil pproducers of the Gulf), while the strongest growth economies (such as Canada, Chile, South Korea and the US) have groth rates slightly above or below 1.

No, the issues facing Europe economically are rooted in their cloistered system, their attempts to erect trade barriers and a pension system that frankly cannot be supported with the level of worker productivity its workforce produces. It has nothing to do with the incidence of the population who are religious or not religious.