One of Governor Romney's criticisms of President Obama is that he "takes his political inspiration from Europe...."
Romney never gives specifics on this criticism. The irony is that Romney (and Representative Ryan) "takes his political inspiration from Europe" and that the European policies they embrace have already proven disastrous in Europe. Here are five examples:
- Austerity. European austerity has promptly forced the Eurozone back into recession. Romney, channeling Germany's Prime Minister Merkel, claims that deficits are "immoral" and must be ended. Austerity is pro-cyclical policy that makes recessions far more severe. It has pushed several European nations into Great Depression levels of unemployment, which has reduced income and tax revenues and increased budget deficits. The EU's Stability and Growth Pact (an oxymoron designed by regular morons) produces instability and negative growth by banning EU nations from using effective counter-cyclical fiscal policies that have proven successful for decades in reducing the severity and length of recessions.
The truth is that Europe has some excellent and some terrible economic policies. Romney and Ryan have shown an unerring talent for embracing Europe's worst financial policies and denigrating its best policies. What is amazing is that no matter how badly the European policies fail, Romney and Ryan ignore the failures and promise to drag us down the path to inevitable failure. Romney and Ryan complain about unemployment in the U.S. while pushing Europe's austerity policies that would massively increase unemployment, debt, and deficits in the United States.