America’s “Public Squalor” Versus Europe’s “Social Justice”

A British member of the European Parliament urges approval of the new European Union constitution (now being called a reform treaty in an effort to preclude a referendum), arguing in the Guardian that it will promote European‐​style solidarity rather than the American‐​style squalor. Yet according to both the IMF and the World Bank, per capita GDP is $8,500 higher in the United States (nearly $13,000 higher according to the CIA and $9,800 higher according to the OECD) than it is in the United Kingdom. As for the less fortunate, a left‐​wing think tank published a report last year showing that poor people in America have more income than poor people in the U.K. (see Figure 8D). The international data suggests that the European social model does a good job preserving the self‐​interest of the political class and a crummy job helping people improve their lives:

The reform treaty will explicitly commit European governments to defend and strengthen the European social model. It will enshrine the values of social justice, full employment and solidarity in the EU’s “mission statement” and commit the EU to “a social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress”. Similarly, the treaty emphasizes that the EU must work to “combat social exclusion and discrimination”, and will be legally required to promote social justice, gender equality and solidarity between generations. It is values such as these that clearly differentiate the EU from the American model of capitalism that allows private wealth and public squalor. …The overwhelming majority of our socialist colleagues across Europe support the reform treaty, despite some reservations, precisely because it will enshrine the European social model.