Get it right chaps!

Guy Rundle provides some clarification for anglophiles today in Stars & Swipes. A few tidbits:

While Britain swapped its manufacturing sector for financial ''services'', and the US swapped production for consumption, Germany, Sweden and others used manufacturing as a base to develop high-tech industry, value-added by free higher education. The results are obvious - exports account for up to a third of national output for such countries, while Britain and the US run trade deficits that average 5 per cent of GDP.

Poverty rates in these parts of Europe range from 5 to 11 per cent, whereas they are north of 20 per cent in Britain and the US. Household savings rates are stable, at about 12 per cent, more than triple that of the Anglosphere, which is dependent on breakneck consumer spending to keep the wheels moving. Medical coverage is universal, affordable public housing is widespread, yet budgets are -balanced (save for Germany's, whose deficit is nevertheless a fifth the size of the US).

Now admittedly Ireland, Greece, Spain and Italy are likely to default, causing vast financial confusion. And admittedly the cheap money that caused this problem (by offering cheap loans to businesses that could not pay it back with or without interest) came from France and Germany with quite a lot of help from the US and Britain. But I don't see the US and Britain doing much to bail these countries out.

So ... instead of sucking up to China and Japan and attempting to emulate the US and Britain, wouldn't it make more sense to learn from Europe? Imagine: we could rebuild a manufacturing sector and, gasp, value add our enormous natural resources. We could try educating our population again, just like we said we would back at Federation and again when we were supposed to become the clever country. Since all the smart money is on things getting very difficult (what with all that climate change stuff), this may actually be a good idea!

However, do we have the cultural characteristics found in northern Europe? Characteristics based in the harsher climate? I remember driving through Sweden marvelling at how neat all the farms looked - how extremely well maintained and compared them to Oz farms where junk has been an art form.  The I realised that when you get ten feet of snow for several months of the year everything had better be well maintained because if something fails no one will be coming to fix it. But I reckon we have a case of the Southern Europe's here: it's a lovely day, crack another tube. Doesn't auger well. I suppose country Australians have the resilience born of drought and flood but city Ozzers are living in fantasy land.