Europe's Crumbling Economy
I heard an interesting commentary the other day whilst driving home from work on NPR. The commentator was remarking at how America was transfixed by Hurricane Irene, despite the fact that in the realm of hurricanes it did relatively little damage. I have to say I watched a little bit of the media coverage myself--it was weird to see Times Square totally empty. The commentator went on to decry the fact that we will have 24 hour coverage of a natural event, but little to no coverage of a human event: the European debt crisis. America was glued to its collective television sets when European leaders are making one bad decision after another. If they don't do something, the commentator said, the state of Europe will be far worse than any Hurricane Irene.
I have to admit that as I listened to this report I found myself saying aloud "I wish" to the commentator's dire predictions that the Euro-zone would collapse. If the Euro-zone collapses, will it be bad? Yes, yes it will. If the Euro fails as a viable currency, will it mean terrible (even more terrible?) economic conditions for the European people? Yes, perhaps. If the Euro fails, will it effect the world at large? Yes, perhaps. But will the European people be better off without the European Union, without the Euro as their currency? Yes, most definitely yes! Why? The European Union and the Euro has effected to strip the European peoples from their individual national sovereignty, identities, and to some degree even their cultures. Only if the E.U. fails will Europe be able to redeem itself culturally and morally.
So as the E.U. continues to pressure debt-strapped nations within the Euro-zone to enlarge their austerity measures and as the citizens in individual nations continue to protest (as is the case in Spain the day of this writing), a paradigm shift is taking place: individuals are moving further away from a continental-centralized-supranational government to what is traditionally thought of as the old Europe. And here is the heart of the matter: only within an old Europe can monarchy be restored as the government of choice among nations. So the sooner the E.U. collapses from its own debt, the better I say!
