Fwd: Europe recession worse than U.S.

Free markets have faired better in the U.S., because of George Bush's policies, than in Europe, with their various forms of socialism.  We could be doing even better with a Libertarian congress/president. If our Business tax were dropped from 35% to 25%, we would be out of this recession in no time. At the very least, Obama should heed his own words (paraphrasing): Debt will ruin us, let's balance the budget.
---------------

Europe is in its deepest recession since World War II, so reports the UK's Telegraph .

"German economic policy is 'bankrupt,' economists have said.  The declaration was made as it emerged that Europe's biggest economy has now suffered a worse 'lost decade' than Japan and is deeper in recession than any other major economy.  On a day of dismal news for the European economy, official figures also showed that Italy, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are facing their biggest combined slump in post-war history."

Eurostat provides the raw data.  Here are real GDP growth numbers for some selected countries and averages for the latest quarter (1^st quarter of 2009, or January through March).

                                                From Previous Quarter From Previous Year

Austria                                                 -2.8%                                      -2.9%

Belgium                                                -1.6                                          -3.0

France                                                  -1.2                                          -3.2

Germany                                              -3.8                                          -6.9

Italy                                                     -2.4                                          -5.9

Netherlands                                         -2.8                                          -4.5

Portugal                                               -1.5                                          -3.7

Spain                                                   -1.8                                          -2.9

UK                                                      -1.9                                          -4.1

Europe (EU27)                                    -2.5                                          -4.4

US                                                       -1.6                                          -2.6

Do you notice anything funny about these numbers?  Here is what I notice: the recession in the US is milder than that of Europe.  Every country on this list had more economic shrinkage from 2008 to 2009 (Q1 to Q1) than did the US.

How could this be?
[It is because George Bush has kept us from having a worse decline by maintaining free markets and lower taxes.]