Americans are finding out the hard way what happens when America withdraws from the world and politicians prioritize comfort over success. Having been to Western Europe for extended periods, this is a horrifying reality I anticipated years ago. Perusing small shelves in small shops lined with small, overpriced and less dynamic goods bought by people who make less and consume less than Americans, loitering about with higher unemployment, lower growth and spend more of their lives under their parents’ roofs, I realized just how grateful I am for American freedom and power, and our globalized economy of scale that allows us to take risks and make money for our own selves in all kinds of ways.The pandemic revealed vulnerabilities of this hyper-efficient global market. Ports are backed up causing shortages — for the first time in many Americans’ lives. The odds are that eventually the port issues will be resolved (we hope). But there are reasons to believe the age of over-abundance is over. Even before the pandemic the U.S. government offered more subsidies and imposed more tariffs to encourage companies to produce more goods domestically, and the Biden administration wants to expand the effort to promote resilency. That may mean more goods are made in America, but over the long run less trade tends to mean less variety of goods at higher prices.
In short, with higher prices, a more eco-conscious population and less trade bringing fewer cheap products, Americans may have to get used to consuming like Europeans. We will certainly not be deprived, but we will trim back our excesses, perhaps be more thoughtful about what we buy and purchase fewer, higher-quality goods.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...like-europeans
I shuddered to think how boring and pointless life would be if I had to live like a European, and thought about my own ancestors who chose to risk it all on a dangerous trip to the middle of nowhere in America, with no family and no connections waiting for them on the other side, rather than continue living in that place. And now here we are, our own institutions telling us to abandon the American experiment in liberty “for sustainability.” The financial and political elites are trying to crack down on crypto “for sustainability.” We’re supposed to eat bugs and plants “for sustainability.” We’re supposed to give up individual freedoms “for sustainability.” Be poorer “for sustainability.” Live like a European “for sustainability.” Are you awake yet?
It is nonetheless appropriate that the US should be drifting toward a European political and social climate as American power and dynamism declines, another symptom of the disease. We don’t need to wonder what awaits us. A look across the pond shows what was once home to the most wealthy and powerful countries ever, now doomed to indefinite stagnation, flatlined growth, a nonexistent military and a paralyzed, impotent foreign policy leading to subjugation by foreign powers. We owe it to ourselves as Americans to preserve the Revolution and our way of life against the slow death of mediocrity, and it starts with one word: “No.”