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Subject: For Lisa -- Thank you!

A little politeness goes a long way.

I will again remind you that what happens now isn't necessarily what's going to be in the next month, year, decade.

I don't know if you're old enough to remember when Japan was THE global economic powerhouse.
Japanese real estate developers were buying up huge investment properties in the US. Huge buildings formerly built and owned by Americans were suddenly owned by Japanese. Japanese products were out-competing similar products all around the world, not just American autos. Everybody was jumping up and down predicting doom and gloom about how "Japan Inc." was going to "take over the world financially."

Well, it didn't happen.

For one thing, just because the Japanese were buying up all the real estate didn't mean they were all good investments. They lost a bundle on a lot of properties. It turns out they were willing to pay so much more than what the properties were really worth, probably fooled by how ridiculously expensive real estate is in Japan.

Then, for another, their version of "mercantile capitalism" has government and corporations and banks so very tightly intertwined. They aren't called "Japan Inc." for nothing! That system just couldn't hold up under inevitable stress. Mixing capitalism with government force gives the capitalists a "welfare mentality," where they begin to expect that profits are an "entitlement." So they don't work as hard (or as smart).

And, being the government, it's virtually impossible for them to leave it behind.

This and any number of other factors caused Japan's economic explosion to turn into a simmer, and, nearly two decades later, they have yet to recover.

In hindsight, this should have been predictable. Government involvement in the economy is bound to go wrong. You can't always predict how or when, only that it certainly will.

Note that if you do a little research on Japan, very few people will make this claim. This is because most people, even Republicans, think the only thing wrong with a government-run economy is that they sometimes make mistakes -- and if you get a "smart" government that doesn't make those mistakes, then everything will be all fine and dandy. A "smart" government tends to be defined as "run by people like me."

Wrong.

It's impossible to have any sort of centralized controlling authority with the wisdom, intelligence, or omniscience to not make mistakes. And when they make those mistakes, by nature of being the government and using the Strong Arm of the Law, they inflict and perpetuate those mistakes on everybody.

Now then -- Europe.

As to the people of Europe freely deciding to give up their liberties in exchange for, oh, whatever it is they think they're getting in exchange, well, sure, yes, of course. They do have that right. Nobody said they didn't.

Only thing is, though, they might not know it now, but sooner or later they're going to wish they didn't. Just like Japan's "partial capitalism" was doomed from the get-go. Socialism *ALWAYS* fails. Government meddling in the economy *ALWAYS* makes things worse. Maybe not right away, maybe not in any predictable fashion, but it is bound to happen.

Again, that's why we fight so hard to keep it from growing any more than it already does in *this* country.