They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery—and a corollary to that adage is the idea that if you want to be successful, you look at someone who has achieved success and build on how they got there. The opposite, of course, is to imitate folks who are less successful and think, somehow, that this is a recipe for success.
Yet that seems to be what some folks continually call for when they want the U.S. to be “more like Europe” economically—Europe, whose socialist and quasi-socialist policies have led to complete economic stagnation. Although the American economy has experienced slow growth in recent years, the numbers show that our growth far exceeds the growth experienced in Europe.
One reason is that American consumption rates are at far higher levels than in your average European nation.