The financial crisis has exposed a trend that has been in the works for some time. Since the fall of communism, some of the more socialist countries have learned lessons from the Soviet collapse: free markets work, and government planning does not. Meanwhile, the capitalist countries have slept through these lessons, and have been slowly becoming more socialist.
The financial crisis has made this crystal clear. For example, US car companies, and now auto parts dealers, have received bailout money. Sweden, every liberal’s favorite social-democratic country, has let their signature car company, Saab, fail.
While the US Federal Reserve has been finding creative ways to print our way out of this financial mess, the European Central Bank has resisted this doomed inflationary policy. The European Union is actually concerned about high taxes, inflation, and excessive spending.
From the formerly communist Czech President of the European Union, we have a warning that Obama’s spending frenzy is a “road to hell,” but from the formerly free market United Kingdom, we have the Prime Minister calling for a Global New Deal.
It seems that, in the 21st century, “European style economy” might come to mean “free market” and “American style capitalism” might be a new term for “socialism.”
