Wednesday digest

- Presumably, this op-ed, which discusses some positive developments against al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia but advocates getting into bed with Iran and Syria to solve Iraq, was written before yesterday's assassination of an anti-Hezbollah leader in Lebanon, coming as it did on the eve of Lebanon's Independence Day (now cancelled). Are these the kinds of people we want to be relying on to help usher in stability in the Middle East? Staying the course would be much more preferable than relying on Assad and Ahmedinejad to play ball.

- Last night on Hannity and Colmes, in his first post-election interview, Senator Joe Lieberman (CT-I) said that he would first have to see who else was running before declaring his support for Al Gore, the man who he ran with in 2000.

If even Gore's own former running mate says that he thinks America can do better, perhaps the former Veep should just save himself the embarassment of a run in '08 and stick to the lecture circuit.

- Hey, are you a has-been, white supremacist celebrity who got into hot water because you let your guard down and stated that you prefer a return to Deliverance-era race relations? Just take a cue from the Hollywood mainstream, feebly attempt to change the subject, mention Katrina (1:39), and indirectly infer that the mess you're in is partly the White House's fault. After all, even the President doesn't care about black people, so Michael Richards must think that the advocacy of lynching shouldn't be that big a deal, right?

- In advance of tomorrow's economic update from the Canadian government, remember that when you hear the usual suspects prattle on that "it can't just be about tax cuts", remember that it also has to be about obstinate, recalcitrant, insulated-from-reality public sector unions who will only agree to annual raises if they're set at five times the rate of inflation under the guise of "education".

(It's all about the students, right?)

- Loony left play of the day comes from jolly ol' England, where the state is threatening to round up parents who can't put down their beer and popcorn long enough to learn how to sing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Ring Around the Rosie" the right way. (No doubt a similar proposal will appear as a resolution at a future NDP policy convention in the not-too-distant future, if it hasn't already.) I also have to wonder if they'll ban men from these classes in a sop to illiberal elements of society.

- Sticking with Europe, the numbers don't lie. As I've mentioned before, there are a number of reasons why the Continent is facing steep decline, not the least of which is their appetite for big government:

Government spending exceeds 50 percent of the GDP in France and Sweden and more than 45 percent in Germany and Italy, compared to U.S. federal, state and local spending of just under 36 percent. Government spending encourages people to rely on handouts rather than individual initiative, and the higher taxes to finance the handouts reduce incentives to work, save and invest. The European results shouldn't surprise anyone. U.S. per capita output in 2003 was $39,700, almost 40 percent higher than the average of $28,700 for European nations.

Over the last decade, the U.S. economy has grown twice as fast as European economies. In 2006, European unemployment averaged 8 percent while the U.S. average was 4.7 percent. What's more, the percentage of Americans without a job for more than 12 months was 12.7 percent while in Europe it was 42.6 percent. Since 1970, 57 million new jobs were created in the U.S., and just 4 million were created in Europe.

Dr. Mitchell cites a comparative study by Timbro, a Swedish think tank, showing that European countries rank with the poorest U.S. states in terms of living standards, roughly equal to Arkansas and Montana and only slightly ahead of West Virginia and Mississippi. Average living space in Europe is just under 1,000 square feet for the average household, while U.S. households enjoy an average of 1,875 square feet, and poor households 1,200 square feet. In terms of income levels, productivity, employment levels and R&D investment, according to Eurochambres (The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry), it would take Europe about two decades to catch up with us, assuming we didn't grow further.

We don't have to rely on these statistics to make us not want to be like Europeans; just watch where the foot traffic and money flow. Some 400,000 European science and technology graduates live in the U.S. European migration to our country rose by 16 percent during the 1990s. In 1980, the Bureau of Economic Analysis put foreign direct investment in the U.S. at $127 billion. Today, it's more than $1.7 trillion. In 1980, there was $90 billion of foreign portfolio investment -- government and private securities -- in the U.S. Today, there's more than $4.6 trillion, much of it coming from Europeans who find our investment climate more attractive.

- Finally, I'd like to wish my American readers (all two of you) a happy Thanksgiving, and as is always the case, I'm sure that those who prattle on about the separation of church and state are showing up to work today instead of enjoying a Judeo-Christian-inspired day off.