>If the European Union were a state in the USA it would belong to the
>poorest group of states. France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany have
>lower GDP per capita than all but four of the states in the United
>States. In fact, GDP per capita is lower in the vast majority of the
>EU-countries (EU 15) than in most of the individual American states.
>This puts Europeans at a level of prosperity on par with states such as
>Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia. Only the miniscule country of
>Luxembourg has higher per capita GDP than the average state in the USA.
>The results of the new study represent a grave critique of European
>economic policy.
Yup, those Yurpeans live in tar paper shacks in the swamp. On recent visits, I found the poverty in Florence, Munich, and London to be excruciatingly depressing.
Doug