| Probono |
02-13-2003 12:47 PM |
The Pew report is not surprising to me. As an American who travels to Europe great deal I have encountered more than a few discussions condeming the US. The usual reason is that we are perceived as greedy bullies. We are a small fraction of the world's population using a disproportionate amount of the the world's resources. Since GW assumed the presidency we have also become the bullies of the world.
What is forgotten by younger generations is that the US shouldered the vast majority of the costs of defending Europe from the Soviet's from the end of WW2 through the fall of the Soviet Union. This placed US military forces around the world as a prophilatic to Soviet invasion and cost the US taxpayers dearly.
The fact the US has a high standard of living for most of it's population is because we have a less socialist economy than most of western europe. We have lower taxes we also conversely have a very bad safety net. 15% of Americans polled in the Pew survey were hungry, you will not find that in Canada or Western Europe.
I am not wise enough to know what is better but I know that the US government only plans short term and we all have and will paid for that in the future. We lack the maturity of Western Europe.
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