As though even warm spring weather contains a hidden threat, we seem attuned as a society to the idea that another tsunami of disaster is about to hit us. We felt a little burst of optimism back in March. But May could end with most Americans braced for... what?
Paul Krugman's column today has a great, funny title: "Apocalypse Fairly Soon." At first glance, it's nothing more than a tease. C'mon kids! Things will work out okay!
Or not.
Suddenly, it has become easy to see how the euro — that grand, flawed experiment in monetary union without political union — could come apart at the seams. We’re not talking about a distant prospect, either. Things could fall apart with stunning speed, in a matter of months, not years. And the costs — both economic and, arguably even more important, political — could be huge.
This doesn’t have to happen; the euro (or at least most of it) could still be saved. But this will require that European leaders, especially in Germany and at the European Central Bank, start acting very differently from the way they’ve acted these past few years. They need to stop moralizing and deal with reality; they need to stop temporizing and, for once, get ahead of the curve.
I wish I could say that I was optimistic. ...Paul Krugman, NYT
Some commenters respond to the column with the notion that our right wing, our bankers -- and Facebook -- are behind the final collapse of the Eurozone.
Nicely buried in all this talk about the Euro is the fact the greed and stupidity of United States' bankers caused the worldwide financial collapse which forced the call-in of the humane social policies of the saner European states like France and resulted in sticking Germany with the bill - also stuck with the bill for reunification after the U.S.-USSR Cold War - as the only nation in the world with a memory of its past. Imagine the irony: a worthless U.S. company that produces nothing may become the most valuable company on earth on the day the G-8 is set to meet and begin anew discussions about how Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal should seek again to stick Germany with responsibility for solving the 21st problems that ruined the 20th century. ...Richard
What if there’s a picture only right-wing politicians, big banks, and multinational corporations see? Could these events be connected: big banks amassed, cumulatively, several trillion dollars; American multinational corporations keep huge profits in off-shore banks; a global financial crisis virtually engineered by bankers and enabled by right-wing policies; and conservative political leaders of E.U. countries and in America similar responses to the economic crisis.
What if? Can we afford not to think about things that seem fundamentally odd? What are possible alternative motivations to continue to drive a failed economic policy? ...Steve
Recommended: An interview with Krugman about the current depression and about Occupy Now can be seen -- and read in transcript -- here.
