6 ms·
Reading this article I wondered why it is published in UK by an American economist and what is the point of publishing such an article. If this academic economi
by thstart 17y ago
Reading this article I wondered why it is published in UK by an American economist and what is the point of publishing such an article. If this academic economist lived a little bit in Europe he should know better.
I made some research. The bottom line - an American economist supporting Hugo Chávez.
Weisbrot has been cited as the architect of the Bank of the South.
The Bank of the South (Spanish: Banco del Sur, Portuguese: Banco do Sul); or BancoSur is a monetary fund and lending organization first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
Some comments on the artice:
"...being the only "no-vacation nation"..."
I have been working in West Germany for 4 years and can tell - yes indeed Germans have up to 12 weeks in paid vacation. The question is who is paying for this? You can look at the taxes Germans pay and understand the German government is subsidizing it. In Germany grocery stores, etc. still close at 18:00 PM - the debate is still going on to remove this or not. Most probably not - because of the unions.
"...we have a broken healthcare system that costs about twice as much per capita as that of our peer nations and delivers worse outcomes..."
I agree here in US healthcare payment via insurance is not the best solution. From other side in Germany (I know Germany best) the government is subsidizing it. Guess who is paying this?
"...the French could not afford their welfare state..."
Again - who is paying the bills. Somebody has to pay the bills.
"...half as much energy per capita as the US does. A big part of this difference is because Europeans, in recent decades, have taken much more of their productivity gains in the form of increased leisure time..."
Increased leisure time? So what is the point?
"...We estimated that the US would consume about 20% less energy if it had the work hours of the EU-15. This would have a significant impact on world carbon emissions..."
Carbon emissions - this was invented by Europeans academics to get more grants for research, then supported from interested leisure oriented parties as a way to extract money from big businesses - e.g. who has the money.
- gasull 17y agoReading this article I wondered why it is published in UK by an American economist and what is the point of publishing such an article. If this academic economist lived a little bit in Europe he should know better. I made some research. The bottom line - an American economist supporting Hugo Chávez. Ad Hominem. This doesn't make less true that the US has less self-employed people per habitant than other developed countries.
- thstart 17y agoself-employment != small business. I believe we are talking about small business here.
- psranga 17y agoWhat is your point? Even sadder to see this thing upmodded so much. I would have thought this would be languishing at -2 or so.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- mercurio 17y agoI can't believe a comment that essentially consists of irrelevant objections to the article is sitting at the top. Please don't upvote emotional rants masquerading as arguments. The bottom line - an American economist supporting Hugo Chávez The author's political views do not automatically make his arguments valid. Yes indeed Germans have up to 12 weeks in paid vacation. The question is who is paying for this? You can look at the taxes Germans pay and understand the German government is subsidizing it. First, while the German government might subsidize a lot of things, I doubt that it pays employers for the vacation time taken by employees (except in special cases like childbirth). Even if this were true, since the subsidies would come out of taxes, it would be economically the same as a person choosing to take a pay cut for working less hours. I agree here in US healthcare payment via insurance is not the best solution. From other side in Germany (I know Germany best) the government is subsidizing it. Guess who is paying this? I don't recall the author claiming anywhere that healthcare is magically paid for in Europe. His point was that per capita it costs half has much and provides better outcomes. "...the French could not afford their welfare state..." Again - who is paying the bills. Somebody has to pay the bills. I don't get this rhetorical technique of asking who is paying the bills. Not only is it a bad argument, it is poor rhetoric. Increased leisure time? So what is the point? May I point out that almost all art, science and human culture originally came out of leisure time. Carbon emissions - this was invented by Europeans academics to get more grants for research Carbon emissions are real. They are byproducts of combustion. It is their trading that was invented. Consuming less energy reduces real world emissions, and increases the tradable commodity.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]