Where we're headed

You certainly can't argue with the last part:

"In Europe, we have a social-market economy," European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in an interview. "We have universal health care, a more generous system of social security, a general principle of almost free university education. And we want to keep that."

..."President Obama," Mr. Barroso said, "is moving toward a European-style model."

Here are some recent headlines out of Europe, where they allegedly practice a kinder, gentler version of capitalism:

Financial Crisis Causes Iceland's Government to Collapse

Iceland's economic crisis toppled the government and destroyed the conservative prime minister's career yesterday when the entire cabinet resigned.

Ireland’s Cowen Says Economy May Shrink 10% by 2010

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said the economy may shrink an “unprecedented” 10 percent in the three years through 2010 as the global financial crisis compounds the country’s construction slump.

The country is facing a “scale of decline that is without precedent here in Ireland and with few international parallels,” Cowen said in the parliament in Dublin today. He said the economy could lose 100,000 jobs this year and next, or almost 5 percent of total payrolls.

Spain's Jobless Rate Hits 13.9%

Spain's unemployment rate, which was already the highest in the eurozone, hit 13.9% in the last quarter of 2008. During the period, 3.2 million people were out of work, which was nearly 1.3 million more than in the same three months of the previous year.

Huge Crowds Join French Strikes

Huge crowds have taken to the streets in France to protest over the handling of the economic crisis, causing disruption to rail and air services. Unions said 2.5m workers had rallied to demand action to protect wages and jobs. Police put the total at 1m.

Germany's Gloomy Labor Market Future

Unemployment in Germany is once again on the rise. Government plans to limit joblessness may avert the worst but the measures are only temporary. Commentators worry that the downturn could last longer than Berlin's coffers.

Latvia is Shaken by Riots Over its Weak Economy

Violent protests over political grievances and mounting economic woes shook the Latvian capital, Riga, late Tuesday, leaving around 25 people injured and leading to 106 arrests. In the wake of the demonstrations, President Valdis Zatlers threatened Wednesday to call for a referendum that would allow voters to dissolve Parliament, saying trust in the government, including in its ability to deal with growing economic problems, had “collapsed catastrophically.”

Sure seem a contented lot those Europeans. Also, before rushing off to adopt their model we might want to consider the fact that they're almost all poorer than us:

US GDP per capita: $48,000
France GDP per capita: $32,700
Germany GDP per capita: $34,800
Italy GDP per capita: $31,000
Spain GDP per capita: $34,100
UK GDP per capita: $37,400

But yeah, otherwise sounds great.