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16
PART2
EUROPE'S NUMBER ONE CONCERN:
HOWTO MAKE
ENDS MEET
Deboize -
E.E.C.
T
E BIG
issues facing both
Americans and Europeans
today are very much the
same. They all center around the
soaring cost of living.
While prices over the years have
gone up, the increases today are
reaching proportions which threaten
to upset tbe normal order of things
bere in Europe. This poses a direct
threat to more than one European
government. National governments
are being increasingly thought of as
the culprits - either responsible for
the skyrocketing costs or at least
ineffective in stemming the tide.
Europeans, like people every–
wbere, want the good life: food on
the table, a roof over their heads,
money to spend, a secure job and
vacation with pay. The mounting
number of major problems con-
fronting Europeans refiects their
growing apprehension that all is not
well in the econornic world.
As Europeans feel their lives
more and more atfected by soaring
prices, insufficieot bousiog and
overcrowded, polluted cities, their
sense of well-being is increasingly
tbrea tened.
The roan on tbe street in Europe
is not only concerned witb soaring
prices, but also with tbe need of a
stable currency. Tbe currency ques–
tion is something Europeans
struggle with much more than their
American counterparts, because Eu–
ropeans must work out currency ex–
changes every time they, or their
goods, cross a border.
Germans are finding that not only
are domestic prices skyrocketing.
but also their currency has been re–
valued twice in recent months. This
means that their exports cost more
in America as weU as wilhin the
boundaries of the European Com–
munity. Ge rman exports are
thereby less competitive- a blow to
national and individual earnings.
One German comment, increas–
ingly true throughout Europe, is:
"Without my wife working, we
would not be able to make ends
meet, financially."
From Paris, ooe senses the num–
ber one challenge facing French–
men: "La vie est chere!" Life is
expensive!
Job security, the French feel, is
the second most important problem
in France. In big cities, the long–
standing problem of housing contio–
ues to plague people seeking to bet–
ter their standard of living.
lt
raoks
third on the French problem chart.
The average Frencbman would
like to have more time for bis prí–
vate life. He feels tbat too much
time is spent on the job, in addition
to commuting to and from his place
ofemployment. The average French
worker is now working as long as or
longer than bis counterpart any–
where else in Europe.
In England, the London
Times
re–
cently published a poli showing that
55 percent of all individuals ques-
PlAIN TRUTH October 1973
J