PIIGS
Two of my favorite current affairs writers look at the European Union.
First, British historian Paul Johnson, at The American Spectator:
"Much of the troubles of the European Union are very deep-rooted.Nearly 60 years ago, when I was working in Paris, I recall Jean Monnet, the founder of the European movement, saying that it could never succeed unless it carried the peoples of Europe with it. That meant it had to be democratic, to move by consent, and that it had to employ the absolute minimum of bureaucrats and impose as few regulations as possible. All this wise advice has been totally ignored. The EU is one of the least democratic organizations on earth. It employs vast numbers of highly paid and arrogant bureaucrats, each of whom generates an opposite number at national level in each of the member states. As for EU regulations, they are now numbered by the million."
And then Spengler at Asian Times Online:
"Failing demographics underlying an expensive welfare state make the European Union (EU) a failing proposition. It is a loser's game in which the most benefits accrue to the weakest, and that is a game that Germany simply cannot afford to play."
Thanks, David.
First, British historian Paul Johnson, at The American Spectator:
"Much of the troubles of the European Union are very deep-rooted.Nearly 60 years ago, when I was working in Paris, I recall Jean Monnet, the founder of the European movement, saying that it could never succeed unless it carried the peoples of Europe with it. That meant it had to be democratic, to move by consent, and that it had to employ the absolute minimum of bureaucrats and impose as few regulations as possible. All this wise advice has been totally ignored. The EU is one of the least democratic organizations on earth. It employs vast numbers of highly paid and arrogant bureaucrats, each of whom generates an opposite number at national level in each of the member states. As for EU regulations, they are now numbered by the million."
And then Spengler at Asian Times Online:
"Failing demographics underlying an expensive welfare state make the European Union (EU) a failing proposition. It is a loser's game in which the most benefits accrue to the weakest, and that is a game that Germany simply cannot afford to play."
Thanks, David.
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