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Second
thoughts on a role model
The
euro is finally up from its depths. But Europe on the whole is not
out of the woods. Its ideologues and policy makers get polarised in
a dangerous way. The centre holds the ground for the moment but the
pulls and pushes set the stage for tensions which are likely to stay
on. The left is demoralised and the right resurgent and diabolical.
For once the wind blowing in from across the Atlantic offers little
comfort. The dollar drops. Post - Paul O’ Neill, heavens might
fall.
The Europeans spent the whole of the nineties thinking and
rethinking on where to go and how. And for a while anti-Americanism,
which was so popular in the “ culturally superior” old world
seemed to have lost its dough. USA emerged as an acceptable role
model with its share prices, corporate earnings and spendable income
riding an ever-rising graph. What, if egalitarian values are buried
in favour of a non-stop growth and property? The consensus bias was
thus for American way of doing business. The case was made stronger
by the flood of capital funds fleeing the collapsing markets. They
went straight to US ignoring an ever-rising dollar. Few looked in
the direction of Europe, the US being universally, certified as the
best location for investments. The herd mentality, so created,
infected. Benz, Vivendi, Unilever among a slew of companies.
To be sure, 9/11 did not shatter the dream completely. It was
considered only as minor setback to the faint signs of recovery seen
earlier. But the delayed revival combined with the Enron collapse
and the parade of corporate scandals and the ubiquous manipulation
of accounts of the blue chip companies inspired a frenzied
rethinking. The conclusion: A new set of goals needed.
It is against this background that the political polarisation in
Europe is taking place. It is certain that the centre cannot fly
solo for long. It must have the support either of the left or the
right. So the catalyst elements will call the tune. For the moment
it is the left. It may not be so tomorrow.
On the right bank, there is no preaching of any new ideology. All
the problems are reduced to simple arithmetic. France, for instance,
will regain paradise of only its 6.5 million immigrants are sent
back to their original homes. That number roughly works out to the
total of the country’s jobless. Ditto for other EU countries. The
cultural incompatibility,is just another exhibit.
The left does not quote Marx. That stopped a decade or two ago. But
its stance is more logical. There is no excess population anywhere
in Europe. The problem is one of untapped resources and
maldistribution of wealth. The dismantling of the apparently
inequitable society will yield considerable resources to ensure full
employment of men and material.
The leftists are on firm ground when they content that the right is
taking a narrow view of the immigrants and their impact on
employment. For a short term, the sums would look fine. What is to
be noted, however, is the deteriorating ratio of working population
to the aged. The welfare schemes will come under pressure sooner
rather than later. Unless of course a total 9 million foreigners are
allowed to settle in every year for the next 25 years. That
contention leaves the anti-immigrant lobby without its starch. And
the enlarged EU is seen as a plausible way out of looming crisis.
While the centre is caught in the crossfire between the right and
the left, there is a slow down in the steam of unsolicited advice
gushing out from across the Atlantic. With more corporate
reputations making way to their funeral ground, the table of do’s
and don’ts usually set in high decibels has all but disappeared.
Otherwise it was a great nuisance with almost everyone telling
themselves and the world how America is doing well and Europe not.
Also simple.
During the nineties unemployment averaged ten percent in the
European Union. At the same time, it was only 5.5 percent in US.
Private employment rose only slowly in Europe while it was on fast
track in the new world. As per labour productivity the growth was
twice more in US than in Europe. (The London Economist has recently
argued that the productivity gap is not so wide as it appears to
be.
How it was all so? Blamed are high social security, heavy labour
taxes, laws that make it impossible to hire and fire employes,
general doles for jobless and high minimum wages in Europe. On the
whole, the Eldorado is only a few pages of legislation away on the
continent. Pity nobody took such sound bytes seriously.
Now there is respite. And it is time to fight back. In his latest
book,” The World We’re In” author and journalist, Will Hutton,
fills the blank. In so many words he puts on record that America has
lost its sum and substance. And he sees in Europe a much better
social and economic model. A thriving economy too. He depicts US as
the most “unequal society” in the prosperous west.
Chasing short-term profits to please shareholders, the US corporates,
in his opinion, disembowelled the country. He argues ably that the
social welfare schemes embraced by the western Europe is superior to
what America has so far come up with. Stressing the need for a
productive balance between leisure and work, he shells critics of
government’s pro-active role in public services. Hutton’s obiter
dicta on America is being tendered to a receptive audience across
the world. |
