Thumbs up? Thumbs down!

Thumbs down!.

Thumbs bug me. I send someone a text and they send me back a thumb. Is it that they are too lazy to text back words? Apparently this is the go to emoji of lazy people. I once considered it rude. But then I also consider it rude for the man to walk on the inside of a sidewalk. So pardon me if I feel like responding to your thumb with another finger.

Thumbs up?

I am not a Europhile which may come as no surprise. I am grateful for western civilization, culture, religion and Adam Smith. But in no way have I ever wanted to emulate any of the Europeans. British cuisine is so awful that the best British food is Indian. French cuisine gives me gas much like the effete snobs who populate the country. I like Italian cooking although it too can produce its share of backfires. My mother hated pasta. Spanish food is passable although I once turned down an offer to visit a tapas bar. Then there is Scandinavia which is too cold and much to bigoted for my tastes. Eastern Europe suffers from having a surfeit of unattractive women with unpronounceable names. It seems that throughout most of history, Europeans have been intent on killing each other. That still continues with the war in Ukraine. That Europe has not decided to shut down the Russian economy and fully protect Ukraine is enlightening. If they won’t do it, then why should we? I don’t get the US talking with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine. Don’t the Ukrainians have a say? What about the Europeans? This may be one of the weirdest things Donald Trump has done.

The Europeans are intent on driving themselves into the ground. The embrace of green energy, the shutting down of coal and nuclear, the high cost of getting less energy for more money speaks to the effeteness of the continent. When it started the EU was comparable to the United States in GDP. It is now 60 percent smaller. That should be scandalous. In Europe all you get is a ho hum. Europeans want to work less, produce less and complain more. Is this any way to run (or ruin) a continent? The shrinking populations of all of Europe – I don’t think that there is a country with a replacement rate over 2.1 – and the influx of aliens who do not share the Europeans’ values will be a death knell. 

The Europeans have abdicated their prosperity to the greens, to the influx of illegals who refuse to adapt to their new country’s culture and to general malaise (calling Jimmy Carter). It is like the politicians on the continent are nothing but a bunch of wimps (Italy’s Meloni and Poland’s Duda may be the exceptions). Seriously, do you think Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron, Bajram Begaj, Vahagn Khachaturyan, Katalin Novak, Ignazio Cassis or any of Europe’s leaders is a capable leader? If so, enlighten me. For me this is a continent in decline. Its best days are past.

The Europeans have fallen victim to socialism and the welfare state. They were shocked by the two speeches given by JD Vance. In one speech Vance excoriated the Europeans saying that “the threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia; it’s not China. It’s not any other external actor – What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.” Vance is telling the Europeans that having the so-called elites seeking to control their citizens’ lives is part and parcel of the continent’s decline. People should be free to make their own decisions. Vance is saying that going forward Europe must take a greater role in their own defense, reject rule of the elites and go back to its roots and strengthen western values against external and internal threats. Vance also scolded European leaders for stifling dissent, religious liberty and free speech. 

The Europeans were shocked, shocked! How dare the uppity Americans tell them what to do! The other important speech by Vance was on European censorship and heavy handed regulation of American high tech firms. Vance said “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry. We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship.” Vance then shot a warning shot across the European bow saying for European governments to “look to this new frontier with optimism, rather than trepidation” and warned that “excessive regulation” of AI technologies could “kill a transformative industry.” He then said that the Trump administration “cannot and will not accept” efforts by foreign governments to tighten the screws on “U.S. tech companies with international footprints.” Pow! Take that you effete snobs!

Trump is defending American tech against the onslaught of European regulations. The European Commission fined Google over €8bn and Microsoft over €2bn. In 2024, Apple and Meta also received EU antitrust fines of €1.8bn and €800m. The French and Italian national authorities have levied substantial penalties of their own on Amazon, Apple and Google. In the past I have asked why there were no trillion dollar European firms. Maybe the answer lies in the regulatory straitjacket so prevalent on the continent. 

The future belongs elsewhere. Where? Perhaps America can continue to show the way, provided it throw off the impediments of climate change, social “justice” and letting the education industrial complex get away with not educating our children. I firmly believe that economic prosperity is closely aligned with economic freedom. With Europe in decline – outside of Ireland – where do we look for strong economic growth? Not Latin America where the five of the six largest economies are either in decline from socialist governments or in recession. Argentina, once a basket case is the sole bright spot with Milei as president. Asia with Malaysia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand is a maybe despite the train wreck that is the Chinese economy. Maybe Australia if it gets its act together. I would like to have high hopes for India and Nigeria but take a wait and see cautionary outlook. Maybe Botswana, Armenia, Ukraine and Poland. Of course there is Israel. South Africa is wonderful country burdened by a woeful and corrupt government. But then again, aren’t most governments corrupt? 

Regardless, if I were Donald Trump I would enter into free trade agreements with countries that valued private property, entrepreneurship and freedom. I would ignore the pompous self-indulgence that is Europe and have America lead the way to a more prosperous and freer world.