Europe has better government, and is not shy about imposing rules on corporations. And despite this (or maybe, thanks to this), it is attractive enough that corporations want to do business in the EU and thus follow the EU rules. And the good news for them is that once they follow EU rules, theu pretty much follow the rules everywhere else, because they are never as tough. If you're good enough for Europe, you're good enough everywhere else.
It is of course the case that each and every improvement in the lives of ordinary people, be it child labour laws or environmental/health protection laws, have been pressed through in a fight against corporate/capital interests, each time with the same arguments trotted out, that this legislation, this measure, this law that might seem good, would bankrupt the corporate back bone of the nation/society and lead to devastation for all. Or at the very least, while these are good ideas, the time is not right, we need more profit, more growth first, but maybe later, after productivity/free trade/whatever really kicks in, then these benefits will be there... (Human/labour rights in China...) It is a fight, alright. I don't think it is in the profit-interest of business to give way. So we must drag them there, kicking and screaming if necessary. They will survive, but without the regulations, they might get even richer...
The 'market' will obviously adopt to whatever rules are in place, one way or another.
Exactly. Which points the complete hollowness of the argument that "jobs will be lost" if you impose regulations in what is one of the most attractive markets around.
We're not attractive because we have cheap labor, we're attractive because we have rich consumers. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Only if we work together does this great thing work.
Take that Swedish anti-EU leftists! Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
(Incidentally I agree - I hope that was clear. :) ) -----sapere aude
