Washington Times: European job-killing machine - by Richard W. Rahn

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European job-killing machine - by Richard W. Rahn

"A major reason the U.S. has grown more rapidly than most other developed countries is that unions and the government have, for the most part, been sensible enough to recognize both differences in job requirements and in personal preferences to allow employees and employers to voluntarily find ways to accommodate each other's needs to everyone's benefit. France, Germany and some of the other European countries have extremely rigid work rules, such as the French requirement that workers not work more than 35 hours weekly, even if they want to, and the almost impossibility of firing workers, no matter how lazy and incompetent. The predictable result is there has been little growth in private-sector employment in these countries -- the U.S., with a smaller population, has created more private sector jobs in the last four years than Europe has in the last 20.We will know the Europeans have finally become serious about stopping the killing of jobs when the European Court of Justice recognizes the restrictive work rules in France, Germany and elsewhere are a denial of the fundamental human right to earn a decent living and work as much as one wishes. But, as the ruling against the British shows, their European neighbors still seem more intent upon killing success than emulating it."

EU-DIGEST editorial comment: Mr. Rahn is comparing apples with pears and seems to believe that if a country does not follow US economic policies it is on the wrong path. Most Europeans and their governments have a completely different interpretation about economics and how it relates to the quality of life on a national scale. The EU has not done too bad so far Mr. Rahn, and we certainly do not want to emulate the US National debt, which now stands at over 8 trillion US dollars and continues to increase an average of $1.58 billion per day. Before you criticize Europe Mr. Kahn, you better clean up your own back yard."