Domingos Amaral on the new social orientation of the US

Europe's social model is only possible because until now the US has assumed the role of the world's police, writes Domingos Amaral in the business newspaper Diário Económico. Barack Obama's election as US president, however, will change that: "America's left has always admired Europe's 'social model', and sought to import it. Europe's right, by contrast, has always been for introducing the American economic model. ... Europe's 'social model' was only possible because after World War II Europe no longer had to worry about military expenditures. ... Yet this was only possible with American protection. America's military duties, on the contrary, left little money for the state to invest in a social model. It's either cannons or hospitals. The Americans chose cannons, and allowed the Europeans to build hospitals. Obama is now promising to change this model. Now America wants to invest more in schools, hospitals and renewable energy. But the US is in debt and cannot afford the kind of social state Obama is after while remaining the world's police force. It will have to decide. In the years to come the US will have to put its interests before those of the rest of the world. This is not necessarily bad news, but it will force the world to revise its power relations. Less US means more China, more Russia, more Iran and a little bit more Europe. Time will tell if this multipolar system can work."

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