EUROPE AND AMERICA DRAW CLOSER TO COLLAPSE

"Consider the facts. In Spain, unemployment has already reached a gut-wrenching 19.3%. But unemployment for those between 16-24 is a catastrophic 42%. In Greece, youth unemployment is 25%, in Ireland 28.4% and Italy 26.9%. Marginal eurozone countries such as Greece, Spain and Ireland are not just in recession. They are in depression – and so long as they remain inside the euro there is no exit.

Before their decision to abandon economic sovereignty and sign up to the euro, policymakers had a tried and tested response to the kind of global setback of the last two years – depreciate the currency and loosen fiscal and monetary policy. This has been the answer produced by Britain, mercifully outside the euro thanks mainly to John Major's brave, far-sighted and universally denounced decision to opt out of monetary union when he signed the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. But inside the euro, individual countries are stripped of the ability to manage their own economies. That is why the global recession has been far, far more devastating for some eurozone members than would otherwise have been the case – in just the same way that membership of the ERM inflicted wholly unnecessary damage on the British economy in the early 1990s."

The Guardian

Not being a political scientist, economist or anything else of note, thus not competent to render any sort of meaningful opinion on these sorts of issues, I'm going to do it anyway. 


This article got me thinking about Europe and the Euro; and by extension, the U.S.A. Europe is a group of very different societies bound together through geography and some common interests. Their differences are pronounced enough that the history of Europe has been a history of war and strife. This seems to be the natural course of things. I'm not judging whether this is good or bad, I'm just looking at what is true.


The European Union has attempted to create a unified economic zone right in the middle of this mess. It has tried to create unity where none has ever existed. Why? For the sake of the banking interests. In the name of a more orderly flow of capital to their pockets they have forced an unnatural and in the end destructive form of control on the people of Europe. They have also, applying the Second Law of Thermodynamics, created such an efficient means of wealth transfer that they have sped up the cycle of collapse. By trying to remove the natural inefficiency of the system of sovereign states they have only insured the European proclivity towards war. The bankers have denied the people a voice in the system and have created massive economic dislocation. This heavy handed, big government elitist imposition of laws designed to control the uneducated and unenlightened masses will result in escalation of riots and societal discord. If the people are denied legitimate political recourse to solve their problems at the local level they will strike out at the powers that be.


America is following the same course. While this country is more cohesive than Europe it isn't all that different. We were designed to be a union of sovereign states that would work together to support our common interests. Over the last 150 years or so state sovereignty has been abolished and strong central control has taken its place. The natural inefficiency of the system designed by the Founding Fathers prevented the Federal Government from exercising the power to destroy the country as a whole. Each state was responsible for itself and functioned as its own country, competing against the others for business and political advantage.


The Lincoln administration forced a one size fits all government on the American people where one was never meant to exist. Like the E.U. all of our eggs were thrown into one basket. Instead of a group of independent economies supporting a few narrowly defined common interests we have become a one size fits all oligarchy.


Today we find ourselves on the verge of collapse. Just like in Europe, the people are frustrated and feel that their "government" is unresponsive to them while bowing and scraping at the feet of the bankers. The legitimate means of political redress seem to be ineffective. The majority of Americans are opposed to the health care bill and have made their opinions known. Forcefully and loudly. Yet the elitists in Washington will pass it anyway, because they are "wiser" than the people.


America is no different than Europe today. The people sense that they have lost control of their destiny to the banking and political interests. We are told that the economy is expanding and that life is good while we can see with our own eyes that the economy is only expanding for those on Wall Street, not out here where the people live. And just like in Europe, the frustrations are beginning to boil over. We are caught in an unnatural system of controls and in the end we will not stand for it.


America and Europe are on the verge of revolution. 2010 may be an ugly year.