If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The European Union currently suffers from "competitiveness deficit" compared to other advanced economies. It has lagged behind the U.S. for the last two decades and, if we look at gross domestic product per capita, the gap has actually widened. Why is this?
It is good to be Angela Merkel. Growth in Germany goes sharply negative in the last quarter of 2012 and press reports emphasize how sound the German economy is because it is a net exporter.
How can we restore stability to the European banking system? A banking union is the only solution, including bank deposit insurance to protect savers' assets and a central regulator, the European Central Bank.
The EU austerians' hope is that our economy will act like such a powerful tow truck that it will be able to overcome the "fiscal drag" of austerity on the Eurozone's economy. This is a significantly insane idea.
On Sunday, I gave away my mince pies. I had got to the point where I didn't really like a cup of tea without one, and when you drink as much tea as I ...
There are many that won't entertain the U.S. being vulnerable to a mass sell-off in U.S. treasuries but then I doubt that four years ago, Berlusconi, Papandreou, Socrates, Cowen and Kiviniemi would have signed up to that notion either.
One sentence in a recent article in the Economist, on Britain's relationship with the EU, really alarmed me: A "senior Labour figure" saying, "Whatever our position on Europe, we cannot be seen as an anti referendum party." If Labour adheres to that line, the UK could be out of the EU by 2016.
The road-map is there. The road remains arduous, full of ambushes and challenging. During that journey, the Euro will remain as the anchor of European economic integration and Greece will be part of the trip.
The eurozone will not break up. The price of departure is simply too great for any one country. Indeed, when Mario Draghi announced on 6 September that the European Central Bank would undertake unlimited purchases of government bonds, the continent crossed the bridge to its future.
Austerity has made it difficult for Greece to meet its fiscal targets, as well as its structural reforms. This is why anything short of debt forgiveness and more bailout funds is only a way for Europe to buy a little bit of time but at a huge price.
Symbolically, the Oslo ceremonies are an historical turning point for Europe. By recognizing the European Union's peacemaking past, the Nobel Prize challenges Europe to escape once and for all the destructive pull of narrow national interests and passions.
David Cameron suggested the European Union headquarters in Brussels "continues to exist as if in a parallel universe," in part because its idea of austerity is to increase the workweek from 37.5 hours to 40. How can we possibly make sense of all this?
"This was clear from the beginning, and it remains clear. It is up to Greece and its Europeans partners to decide how to structure and spread over time this default."
Who cares about why and how Greece entered the eurozone? Who cares about state accountants tip-tapping on Excel fifteen years ago? Does this discussion make tomorrow's solutions more likely?
Workers across southern Europe took to the streets last week to protest the region's growing unemployment and government spending cuts.
No one is forcing us to follow the dictates of our own homegrown versions of Merkel, although there are plenty of them around, including in Congress, who are as adamant, powerful and potentially obstructive as she is.
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