Mocking European Statism

January 23, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Editor's Note:  I publish Dan's articles because he has a lot of great information that I embrace, but he and I don't agree on what he calls Trump's protectionism.  Otherwise it's a great article. RK

I have a special page for humor involving Europe, but I have not added to it since sharing some Brexit humor in 2016.

Let’s being the process of catching up with some amusing cartoons and memes mocking our government-loving cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

I’ve made the serious point that bureaucrats in Brussels, when dealing with any issue, have a knee-jerk response of “more centralization.” This cartoon is a humorous version of that.

Sticking with that theme, here’s a comparison of where Europe leads compared to where China and the United States have an advantage.

 

Europeans often try to compensate for their economic inferiority by mocking the United States.

As this next meme indicates, Americans feel no need to play that game.

 

For our fourth item, here’s a list of things to do in Europe in 2025.

As usual, I’ve saved the best for last.

Though Trump may be about to impose protectionist policies that will hurt Europe, so the shooter may have a point (those protectionist policies also will hurt the US, so it will be a lose-lose situation).

I’ve used that same visual for my meme about the European Central Bank, so I’m obviously a fan.

I’ll close with a serious point. The European Commission in Brussels is a source of needless red tape, has a pro-centralization ideology, and it’s always trying to push for more tax harmonization.

All of which explains why I was a fan of Brexit (even if British politicians have been too stupid to take advantage of their independence).

However, Europe’s biggest economic problems are excessive taxation and a stifling burden of government spending – and those are almost entirely the fault of national governments.

P.S. I’ve also pointed out that the euro currency is not a big cause of European economic stagnation (even though the head of the European Central Bank is a joke).

P.P.S. Europeans will correctly complain about Trump’s protectionism, but they will be throwing stones in a glass house.