Back to the illusion of globalization

[luvdovz]

Well, it's Bash-a-Country month, but how about bashing an entire continent (or at least most of it)? I know you want to. OK, let's look at what's going on in Europe. Cos Europe is so funny and fucked up, right? But seriously. In its attempts to save the Euro, the EU is logically advocating ever more strongly the idea for a tighter and closer

Comments

[mahnmut]

There is an air of pessimism in your conclusion (I recently read that Soros is also thinking along these lines; ha - cue the Soros Iz Devil crowd!) The future of the Eurozone is undoubtedly in... doubt. Right now the Greeks are ordering the pizza, and Germany and France are paying for it. It's no surprise that a number of countries want the return of the national currencies. This way everybody would know exactly what their bill looks like. But the bad kids on the black prefer not to come to that

[mahnmut]

Two things. Populist stunts for domestic consumption (4-year election cycle, politicians trying to score points, etc; you know the game).

People being fed up with paying the bills of other people. "Why should I keep being fiscally responsible, when those guys over there are always getting a free pass?" And they have a point. True, the moment may not be appropriate, but if they don't make their point now, when will they?

Not that I'm supporting their stance in this, but I'm trying my best to understand it.

[allhatnocattle]

There is some (ample) doubt the bank bail-outs were a good thing. Least of all, it doesn't seem like bailing out the banks, the auto makers, etc was exactly biting the bullet... er, doing the most painful thing short term for the greatest good long term (which is what biting the bullet implies). I mean if you're going to amputate the legs to save the patient, then do it! Let the banks fail! That's biting the bullet! The patient will soon learn to live a healthy and productive life from a wheelchair

[luvdovz]

If we don't take the predominantly pessimistic conclusions too deeply, and if we look at the situation from another angle, we'd realize that neither the Euro will sink into history as a currency, nor will the EU disappear from the map.

Because frankly the more realistic scenario (dropping the Euro) would lead to huge economic consequences, and not just for EU itself. The political consequences are hard to predict, and history tells us that we should be very concerned if that scenario plays out. As some WW2 famous person had said, "Peoples who share the same currency, never go to war with each other". The validity of this statement is proven by the last few decades.