> > Productivity and social mobility are now higher in Old Europe
>than in the US -
>
>Doug can correct me on this, but I believe US productivity still
>tops Europe. I don't know about social mobility figures.
Mobility stats aren't much different between the U.S. & WEur. On productivity, depends on how you measure it. On a very broad measure - GDP per hour worked - there's not much difference between the U.S. and EU. (More Americans work, and work longer hours, so U.S. GDP is quite a bit higher.) U.S. productivity growth has been much faster than Europe's - though that's only since the mid-1990s, and depends in part on how the U.S. measures computer prices.
Doug