...eriphery of Europe and northern creditor countries. The alternative would be prolonged economic suffering, a complete shift to the extremes, and an experiment to reform a war-torn continent in tatters. It is safe to say that Germany, the sole economic powerhouse in Europe at the moment, has been instrumental in holding the euro together. For example, last month, the German court ratified the European Stability Mechanism, the permanent bailout m...
...Great Depression we encounter in history textbooks. The mass suffering not only in Greece but also in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy is evidence of the failure of the economic policies being forced upon them, primarily by Germany. The two central tenants of economic policy—intended not only to ensure the survival of the monetary union but also to bring it back to prosperity—have been government austerity and supply side reform to boost compet...
...German society and “statistics” proving their intellectual inferiority, is just one striking example of a phenomenon that has swept across Western Europe: the spectacular resurgence of nativism. Sarrazin paints a picture of a Germany fighting to preserve a grand national heritage against a modern-day Ottoman invasion of barbarian infidels. He is not alone. Europe, the proud home of classical liberalism, has seen its people and leaders embrace a h...
...he competitiveness of American businesses depends on businesses’ resisting an increase in labor benefits. The problem with this argument is that it has been disproved by European social democracies such as France, Sweden, and Germany, which have all largely cooperated with laborers’ demands. Laborers in these countries have enjoyed steady increases in wages, particularly in Germany, where, adjusted for inflation, German workers’ pay has risen alm...
...and spooking investors, these measures exacerbate economic contraction at a time when the eurozone is already entering recession, only to start the cycle all over again. Dramatic action by the European Central Bank (ECB) and Germany is necessary if disaster is to be avoided. The ECB needs not only to severely loosen monetary policy, but also abandon its conservative demeanor and accept its role as one of the only institutions capable of taking d...
...rate of youth unemployment is nearing 50 percent. One in two young Greek citizens does not have a job and increased austerity measures are not likely to help this number at all. What is strange about the measures advocated by Germany and the European Union is that, in addition to decreasing pensions and healthcare spending, they are attempting to cut the size of the Greek public sector workforce. This is strange because it is not the approach tha...
...way too. In the absence of any polling data, Alan Benson, a leader of American Voices Abroad (which helps people register), told Reuters last week: “Based on what I’m hearing, I’d say most expats [in Berlin, Germany] are going to vote for Obama, probably about 90 percent.” There are a few reasons for Obama’s popularity. The first is that Obama’s economic policies are seen to be fairly successful compared to the austerity-b...
...iently protect U.S.S.R. athletes and may even actively harm them. Both boycotts involved convoluted diplomatic maneuvering, and neither the U.S. nor the USSR acted alone: in 1980 America rallied Canada, Japan, China, and West Germany, all of which refused to send athletes to Moscow; in ’84 the USSR kept Bulgaria, Mongolia, Vietnam, and East Germany from participating in the games. And these are just recent cases; examples abound from all points i...
...ce intervened, among others, in Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Somalia, Libya and now Mali. In Europe, only Britain has the expertise and willingness to take on international interventions, which is also a product of its imperial past. Germany, on the other side, though the economic powerhouse of Europe has become somewhat pacifist and is still extremely cautious of its actions. It is understandable that the thought of a strong German military makes many a...
...spell disaster for the common currency. The euro can be saved, however – what will be required, though, goes far beyond the superficial remedies that have been tried up until this point. The powerhouses of the Monetary Union, Germany and France, need to take more decisive action to save their common currency. It is clear that the European Monetary Union (EMU) – the basis of the eurozone – is an idea half baked, so to speak. The European Central B...
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