FRANKFURT, Germany – One of the major reasons for the creation of the European Union was to make Europeans wealthier. Along the way, however, something went seriously wrong.
Europeans are becoming poorer compared to Americans, who are becoming richer.
One in five Germans now faces the risk of imminent poverty in what has long been one of the world’s wealthiest nations.
In France, the poverty rate has hit a 30-year high.
While every nation has poor people, the standard of living in Europe has been falling behind America’s for almost 20 years. And some believe it could someday spark a revolution.
The European Union’s economy has been stagnant for so long that the poorest state in the U.S., Mississippi, now has a higher GDP than any nation in the EU except Germany. And Mississippi looks to be on track to surpass Germany.
Europe has been killing economic growth with heavy-handed environmental policies, a self-made energy crisis, a crippling tax burden, a bloated welfare state, and regulations that make it hard for businesses to compete globally.
In short, while Americans innovate, Europeans regulate.
Economist Sven Larson, who writes Larson’s Political Economy on Substack, says, “The EU is like a vacuum cleaner sucking up more and more powers, concentrating more and more influence and more authority to Brussels. And it cannot stop itself. It doesn’t want to stop itself from doing that.”
Larson says the EU welfare state “…consumes close to half, or in some countries, more than half of the economy. And that means that they essentially take the free market economy and run it through government instead, which means that they depress economic activity. They don’t get nearly as much out of it.”
Half of the EU nations surveyed by Eurostat, the official EU statistics bureau, had growth last year of less than one percent, while the U.S. has been growing between 2.5 and 3 percent.
European leaders have now begun to panic after reports that the continent is de-industrializing. This includes Germany, once one of the world’s industrial powerhouses.
Germany scuttled its nuclear power industry just when energy costs began to soar, in what the Wall Street Journal dubbed ‘The World’s Dumbest Energy Policy.’ Germany used to rely on cheap Russian energy. No more. When President Trump, in a 2018 UN speech, warned Germany about becoming dependent on Russian energy, the German delegation could be seen laughing. The Germans aren’t laughing anymore.
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A German banking and finance expert told us he’s had enough of life in Germany and is moving his family to Spain.
Chris Consultant, as he’s known on YouTube, says Spain has problems too, but it’s a better life overall than in Germany.
He says, “For the short and medium term, we want to get out of the city here in Hamburg more to a healthier lifestyle and to, let’s say, a ‘net win’ quality of life, and lower cost.”
Chris says, on top of all the economic problems, Germany is also experiencing a loss of freedom.
“People do not dare to speak out what they think, because of (fear of losing their) job, financial, societal norms, or the way the thinking is embedded here. But on the other hand, and that worries me even more, is the mental state of denial. A lot of people are still living in denial and are not able to see the down path and the trajectory we are going.”
Austrian political analyst Dr. Ralph Schoelhammer has warned that bad economic conditions have historically helped ignite revolutions, and he wrote recently that some sort of political upheaval is coming to Europe.
Schoelhammer says, “I cannot tell you precisely what it’s going to look like, but pretty much all the indicators of coming social unrest at best, and potential quasi-revolutionary and regional civil war-like scenarios at worst. All of this, I think, is almost unavoidable.”
All signs indicate the wealth gap between the U.S. and Europe will continue to widen. Larson told us he believes a return to Christianity in Europe would boost economies.
“I’m an economist,” Larson said, “but I need to add this: Christianity is a spiritual, moral, and social force that builds civilization and prosperity and helps us become responsible citizens so we don’t need government.”
A poll last year showed most Democrats wish the U.S. was more like Europe. However, as conditions in Europe slowly worsen, they might want to reconsider.
