Incidentially, I don't suppose that having all our fucking infrastructure destroyed fifty years ago made any difference? A few military dictatorships? Absorption of economies mangled by the Cold War?

On top of that he's conflating wealth with income again. As you've pointed out wealth and income aren't the same thing, and neither can you conflate income and poverty in the batshit stupid way he does. How do you count public services in personal wealth? You don't? There's a shock.

And then onto that stupid survey which pointed out that many Europeans would be willing to work more than 35hrs a week if they were suitable compensated. Though I'm interested to see the logic that proves this will help with unemployment.

Europe's relatively low employment-to-population ratio contributes little to justify the gap as it is largely involuntary. Prof Gordon also made adjustments to US GDP to account for factors not present in the EU, such as America's high prison population. Taken together, these items reflect about two-thirds of the gap between the EU/US ratio of per capita income and productivity.

This nonsense needs a LTE I think.

Apart from abuse for the esteemed Mr. Munchau, I guess my response is that we're basically dealing with two different views of the universe.

And we're on the losing side if we can't invent some metrics that we can propagandise our view of life through.

They need to be childishly simplistic and preferably autistically oriented to material questions, so these economics commentators can get their head around them.

Perhaps the single most detrimental policy in Europe has been early retirement,

scholastic theology: much concerned with precise definition of and deduction from dogma. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)

I can't think of anything else. Munchau's reliance on doctrine and a set of approved metrics reaches a level of abstraction that is numbing. A mediaeval theologian, shut away in a monastic cell with a parchment and a quill.

Let's see, most Americans are reaching the point where healthcare and higher education are simply not affordable.  Priced out of fundamental rights.  The nature of our infrastructure and the price of energy are making some people question whether they can even afford to go to work.  As a country, there is not enough money to fund education and basic services.  

Poorer, how?  Poorer than a significant portion of the population a major city who were too poor to leave town before a hurricane came and drowned them?

Yes, yes, yes,  Europe needs to just work more and they'll be richer like us.  Like Americans who work 60+ hours a week in multiple jobs who still live off credit cards because they can't make ends meet.

Ask most Americans about 6-8 weeks of vacation and they'll tell you that's a form of affluence.  Many Americans work overtime to pay for a vaction they get to cram into 2 weeks.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

The Conference Board, a private research group, found that at the start of the summer, 40 percent [later corrected to 60%] of consumers had no plans to take a vacation over the next six months -- the lowest percentage recorded by the group in 28 years.
...About 25 percent of American workers in the private sector do not get any paid vacation time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Another 33 percent will take only a seven-day vacation, including a weekend.

"The idea of somebody going away for two weeks is really becoming a thing of the past," said Mike Pina, a spokesman for AAA, which has nearly 50 million members in North America. "It's kind of sad, really, that people can't seem to leave their jobs anymore."

...The Travel Industry Association, the largest trade group representing the industry, found that the average American expects his or her longest summer trip to last only six nights. And it takes three days just to begin to unwind, experts say."

Some companies have realised that this is actually counter-productive:

"... the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, has taken to shutting down its entire national operation twice a year to ensure that people stop working -- for about 10 days over Christmas, and 5 days or so around the Fourth of July.
"We aren't doing this to push people out the door," said Barbara Kraft, a partner at the firm in the human resources office. "But we wanted to create an environment where people could walk away and not worry about missing a meeting, a conference call or 300 e-mails."
...

"Company leaders at PricewaterhouseCoopers said they started their nationwide shutdown because people were not getting their batteries recharged. Now that the entire work force of about 29,000 takes a vacation, company officials say they are seeing positive results.
"It has taught our people what it is like to have unencumbered time," Ms. Kraft said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/us/20vacation.html


Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

Dear Sirs

In his last column (More work and less play is the best policy for Europe), Wolfang Munchau inadvertantly makes a number of arguments which go directly against the point he is attempting to make, i.e. that Europeans are poor because they do not work enough, despite wishing to.

For instance, he blames lower GDP on the vast number of early retirees who choose to eat at home and practise their DIY skills, thus taking activity away from the comemrcial sector. Surely the choice to cook and to operate drills rather than subcontract these activities must result in a higher utility for those making these choices, and thus in higher overall "income". The problem is therefore not that Europeans are poorer, but that the results of their ingenuity and work are not recorded.

He also notes that the "famous Polish plumbers cannot compete with this [frenesy of home activity]". Surely this shows that European pensioners work long, hard, and with high productivity? Again, poverty would seem to come from the definition of income rather than from the lack of production, as meals consumed and improved housing surely attest.

Maybe it is time to take a harder look at the metrics used to judge the economic performance of countries, rather than using the very obviously flawed existing ones to pass judgement - inevitably in favor or corporate revenue-enhancing activity - on the social choices of such countries.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060828/CPACTUALITES/60828053/1019/CPACTUALITES

It's a bit like IQ. IQ measures IQ-test-taking ability. GDP measures GDP-making activity. Each metric has its solidly-established place in the worldview of conventional wisdom, yet each metric is to some extent tautological.

Munchau's article, though, can be approached from the other end, as it were: what has he got on offer? More work. A longer working week, a longer working life, a higher rate of employment. But it's not pundits who offer work, it's employers. Where is the work to come from?

Well, from a more dynamic economy. What does that mean? One in which "people" work more, and pay "other people" to do menial tasks for them.

First of all, it is a bit ironic how these new-age economic liberals are preaching that people have to work more hours for their own benefit. I say ironic, because this happened also about a hundred-some years ago during the big industrial revolution. Capitalists back then also preached that long working hours were good for the people. As a result, we got an enormous economic inequality, horrible quality of life, and subsequent economic depression. I think we should maybe try to look for another alternative.

Secondly, I never bought that "lower standards of living" bullshit that is based on some extrapolated statistic. I can say this. I know that not every country in Europe is comparable to the U.S. in terms of standards of living, and that is OK, because they are all at different stages of development. On my recent visit to Belgium, I had a pretty extensive discussion with counterparts in our Brussels office regarding wages. When comparing apples to apples, wages did appear slightly lower; however, when you start factoring in additional benefits offered in Europe, that system wins hands down:

1. Healthcare costs. I have recently done an upper endoscopy. My hospital bill was $4000. My insurance (one of the best in the country) covered only 80%. When you add up medical expenses in a given year, especially if you have a family, the costs are insane.

2. Transportation. The complete absence of a decent public transit system (yes we do have one, but I am talking decent here:), the horrible road conditions in the States, all add up to more costs. If you want to take BART from my town to San Francisco, you pay $10 roundtrip. For a 45-minute train ride. You want a monthly pass? Sure, just buy 20 roundtrip tickets. The government provides no assistance, neither does the employer. I know that many European countries have various schemes to compensate workers for their public transit expenses, plus their system actually works.

3. Vacation time. No need to even go there. Many countries in Europe stipulate that employers compensate for vacation additionally. In Belgium, for example, you are allowed to take 24 days by law, for which you get 80% of your monthly salary in addition to regular salary. This is a perk not even remotely offered in the States.

4. Lunch coupons. I know I know, it's a petty thing, but it means a lot to someone who comes from the States and has to pay for everything out-of-pocket. Lunch coupons are a great investment. Many people would collect them in the office, bring their own lunches, and use the coupons in grocery stores. The guy I spoke with spends almost no money on groceries between his and his fiancee's coupons.

5. Prices. I don't care what anyone says about Europe being more expensive than the States. When it comes to going out, and doing quality-of-life things, there is absolutely no comparison. I am tired of paying 8-9 bucks for a glass of wine :) While in Belgium, we could easily go out, spend 20 Euro, and get a couple of wines and a couple of appetizers, tax and tip included. Here, in an equivalent establishment with good quality food, you will spend twice as much, also tax and tip included.