An Economic Lesson For The U.S.?

Fareed Zakaria:

The great winner of this recession has been Germany. That country faced a crash just as dramatic as all others; in fact, Germany’s GDP declined more than that of the United States in 2008, yet its unemployment rate rebounded fast. There are many explanations for German success, but as Elisabeth Jacobs details in a new paper from the Brookings Institution, government policies that created incentives for business to think long-term, value their workers and invest in capacity all helped. The German system gives incentives to train workers and keep them employed; in contrast, the U.S. system emphasizes flexibility, the ability to hire and fire, and keeping wages low. Jacobs points out that, in a world filled with cheap labor, rich countries are better off with highly skilled workers, making premium products, with a focus on long-term growth and social stability. The German system, in other words, might be a better fit for the globalized world.
When asked how they will create jobs, Republicans simply talk about cutting taxes and regulations and getting government out of the way. Yes, it is important to have competitive tax and regulatory policies. But the lessons from East Asia to Northern Europe suggest that government policy and investment can play a vital role in providing incentives for the private sector. If Republicans want to get practical, they might learn from this.

Republicans learn economic lessons from the rest of the world?  Fat chance.  They won't even learn any lessons from U.S. history.  If it says government involvement and economy, they'll ignore it.  Note that the Republican Party of Lincoln supported the land grants for the transatlantic railroad, the land grant colleges and the Homestead Act.  Their predecessors in the Whig Party supported the building of canals.  Teddy Roosevelt pushed for dam construction in the American West.  Eisenhower pushed for the Interstate Highway System.  Today's Republican Party is the intellectual (or lack thereof) heir of the conservative Southern Democrats of the 19th and early to mid-20th century.  We get the same opposition to government investment in infrastructure, and we get the same racism.  Not a good deal.