Paul Krugman deconstructs the economic arguments against Europe today. These pervasive anti-Europe views, as Krugman notes, are made by "many Democrats as well as essentially all Republicans." Krugman doesn't sugar coat the European economy. But, the views of many American politicians are just not accurate:
So if there were anything to the economic assumptions that dominate U.S. public discussion — above all, the belief that even modestly higher taxes on the rich and benefits for the less well off would drastically undermine incentives to work, invest and innovate — Europe would be the stagnant, decaying economy of legend. But it isn’t.It probably helps to have politicians who support social justice.
Europe is often held up as a cautionary tale, a demonstration that if you try to make the economy less brutal, to take better care of your fellow citizens when they’re down on their luck, you end up killing economic progress. But what European experience actually demonstrates is the opposite: social justice and progress can go hand in hand.
