Europe has become a sick joke that supports bureaucracy over 'Hangar Time' and adds no value to the system. The FAA are like 'Snap on' they are at the coal face of the real world in aviation and operate a system that actually works.
Not everything in the FAA rule making process is hunky dory either, but POBJOY puts it very well.
New elements in the equation are
- A collective expensive job creation exercise in the face of treasury deficits and a European wide financial crisis (IO540, I guess the comparison to the 3rd-4th Century AD Roman empire would be the discrepancy between taxation needs, fiscal deficits and job creation in the military).
- Throwing the rulebook on legislative procedure out of the window : making a mockery of the comitology procedure; delay tactics in transmitting texts to congress (parliament); altering legislation during the process without a mandate; civil servants lying to parliament and citizens; an abundance of blatant personal conflicts of interest that make the Teapot Dome affair look like a trivial matter.