American productivity measured as output for every person-hour worked is now
lower than in France, the old West Germany, Belgium and Holland. Most other
parts of Europe are catching up with the United States fast, a trend that
began in the late 1960s and has been continuing ever since. Economist Julian
Callow of Credit Suisse First Boston calculates that after adjusting for the
very kind way American statisticians compute productivity compared with
those in Europe, Europe's growth in productivity outstripped the United
States during the 1990s.
Unemployment is lower in seven European Union countries than in the United
States,
This economic strength pays for a social contract that offers most
individual Europeans opportunity, mobility and security that is beyond the
compass of most ordinary Americans. For here is another uncomfortable truth.
American social mobility, traditionally comparable to Europe's, is falling
as decades of tax cuts and spending cuts undermine the opportunities for
advancement.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030901&c=1&s=hutton
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lbax01.spamguard@no-spam wrote:
> American productivity measured as output for every person-hour worked
> is now lower than in France, the old West Germany, Belgium and
> Holland. Most other parts of Europe are catching up with the United
> States fast, a trend that began in the late 1960s and has been
> continuing ever since. Economist Julian Callow of Credit Suisse First
> Boston calculates that after adjusting for the very kind way American
> statisticians compute productivity compared with those in Europe,
> Europe's growth in productivity outstripped the United States during
> the 1990s.
>
> Unemployment is lower in seven European Union countries than in the
> United States,
How about the big 3 (France/Germany/Britain)?
>
> This economic strength pays for a social contract that offers most
> individual Europeans opportunity, mobility and security that is beyond
> the compass of most ordinary Americans. For here is another
> uncomfortable truth. American social mobility, traditionally
> comparable to Europe's, is falling as decades of tax cuts and spending
> cuts undermine the opportunities for advancement.
>
>
>
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030901&c=1&s=hutton
>
>
Yeah, passing laws that forbid people from working more than 32 hours a
work will lower unemployment, but it will also lower the standard of
living.
