My own view is… [that] the German deflation regime is – in the current circumstances – the greater threat to Greco-Latin societies, and to post-War comity in Europe. Sometimes you have to go through a cathartic trauma to break free.
But it is also true that Germany’s own democracy may turn fractious if policy strays too far from German needs and Grundgesetz. This is EMU’s curse. It destabilizes each nation state in turn, each in different ways – a “negative sum game”.
The worst of all worlds would be a nasty spat between Mr Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel that poisoned the atmosphere without bringing about any substantive change to Europe”˜s “asphyxiation compact”.
Socialism works fine until you run out of other peoples money, the Germans don’t want to be the last pocket left to pick.
Euro-socialism is failing rapidly because its self-induced collapse in birth rates makes it impossible to fund even their existing old age benefits, let alone the rest of what most Europeans have come to expect. The blundered along by borrowing, but that has now reached the end of the line.
I don’t much care for the French, but its pretty hard to be critical of them when we have doubled our debt in 3 years, and 50% of Americans now get a government check.
Oh, they are where we will be. Our own socialists can no more turn off the money tap than they can.
David Keller,
I didn’t take the comments by Br. Michael or Bart Hall to be excusing our own headlong rush into a financial collapse. Quite the contrary, I suspect each of them thinks that we (the USA) are also headed down the same path. A financial collapse is now, I think, a virtual certainty. The uncertainties that remain are what will initiate its onset, when the initiator might occur, and how deep and long-lasting the effects will be. I rather strongly suspect that the answer to the latter two uncertainties are:
• – at least as deep as the Great Depression of the last century, and,
• – roughly of the duration of the latter event.
I say that because the dominant story of what caused 1930s depression, and when and by what it was cured, have been misrepresented to the public for the past 6 decades (at a minimum).
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
We in America have little more than a year to correct the course we have been on, particularly that of the last three years during which the Senate has not even brought a budget to a vote — Democrats have the 51 votes they need, and budgets cannot be filibustered — and the Executive has spent like sailors on shore leave.
If the FY14 budget does not slash expenditures, and drastically so, it will be clear that there is no possible collective solution and it will soon become everyone for themselves. Watch what happens to ammo and gun sales.
This is a terribly serious problem, yet I have not seen one Washington Democrat appearing capable of addressing the issue, and at best only half the Republicans currently in that town. The political elite quite obviously view the rest of us and ATMs to be exploited for their own comfortable lifestyles. Tar. Feathers.
That, or let it all crash and a few of us will come through okay. Too bad for the rest. Something that cannot continue forever … WILL not continue forever. The only questions are when, how rapidly, and how violently the change will come. If you make war against arithmetic, arithmetic will win every single time.
#5, No argument on that. I was merely making an observation. Lets see if we agree: Joe Kennedy caused the depression and the Japanese navy ended it.