We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
|
Samizdata quote of the day “So 2011 is the year of the “beneficial crisis”, when the EU will try to exploit short-term economic hardship in order to eliminate the powers of national governments and to create a new pan-European political structure. If it succeeds, it may go on to become a great world power. If it fails, it will start to revert to a collection of nation states.”
– Peter Oborne
He makes a persuasive argument that as far as the architects of the EU superstate were concerned, the sort of crises we are living through – such as the Irish/Greek debt problems – are not problems for the eurozone, they are actually very useful stepping stones towards creating their own new version of the Holy Roman Empire, except that unlike the HRE, the new state will be one run on corporatist, heavily regulated, lines.
|
Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
|
One can only pray for a financial meltdown and the collapse of the Euro, otherwise the triumph of fascism is at hand.
“So 2011 is the year of the “beneficial crisis”, when the EU will try to exploit short-term economic hardship in order to eliminate the powers of national governments and to create a new pan-European political structure. ”
Just one fatal flaw. The one I bolded above. These are not economic blips but chickens coming home to roost. They are the result of long term structural issues in the economies of Europe and much of the rest of the world.
“If it succeeds, it may go on to become a great world power.”
Yes, it may succeed at that political level but the end result would not be a great power but a schlerotic one. The end result would resemble something like the Russian, Austro-Hungarian or Ottoman Empires in 1914 and not, say the USA in 1914.
The only argument I suspect the likes of M Fillon could make to say otherwise is that the USE (or whatever dumbass thing they call it) would be “too big to fail” which in the context of the three afore-mentioned empires is…
This was patently obvious from the first, and has always been the ultimate objective of the Europhiles. Which is why you in the UK will never get a vote on the matter; there is too much political power to be had from consolidation, and your political masters want their share of it.
The existence of a euro which could function as a legitimate alternative to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency would be of concern to the US, but for the fact that if true European political union should be achieved the resulting euro will be at least as debased as is the dollar. If Germany has to prop up the likes of Italy and Portugal the “blended” economy will be far weaker than its proponents claim, and the Euro will be a fragile creature indeed. So even with political union I don’t see the euro as serious competition for the dollar.
Whether common eurozone bonds find market acceptance will be an interesting experiment. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that unsecured bonds issued by a quasi-governmental entity without taxing authority could be salable at interest rates acceptable to Brussels, but then I tend to over-estimate the intelligence of investment bankers and the capital markets. After all, these are the same people who are demanding less than 7% interest on Portugese government bonds; eurozone ones couldn’t be any worse.
“When there is crisis (chaos) , there is opportunity.”
Be it in the US with recent shooting of a congressman and the resultant attempts by the statists to damn their opponents with the blame or this Eurozone meltdown, politicians will charge in with their ideas.
The sheeple have been seduced by these centrist politicians just like the rest of the western world have, just one small problem, they’re all broke and heavily in debt. There’s not going to be much happy camping.
“…would not be a great power but a sclerotic one.”
Some people and some writers still harbor delusions of grandeur…
Europe is a decaying non entity. The decay began about a century ago, at least, and is accelerating.
For a couple of centuries France and Germany have been duking it out over who would run Europa.
Then they decided to share it instead.
Domesticate their people, mass transfers of population… a gentle, or not so gentle breaking with traditions…
Never admit the eventual outcome, never gain the informed consent of the people you govern…
And here we are.
Oborne mentioned the PIIGS in his article, but the real disaster would be if France teetered towards bankruptcy. That would basically just leave Germany and the Nordic region (and maybe the Dutch?). I have spoken to people in the City who talk about this as a real worry.
Jacob,
Precisely. And that is why I alluded to 1914. The EU as a project has a distinctly back to the future feel does it not? It’s the sort of thing Bismark would have understood and seems quaintly out of place in a world which has blogs such as this one with contributions and comments from across the globe. Geographically based power blocks jockeying for position are so century before last, darling! When I think of the EU I can’t help but feel that it’s like a demented game of “Diplomacy” or “Risk” played for real and we are mere pieces on the board.
Nick, you speak da troof. In fact, Bismarck used similar tactics when he created modern Germany out of the thirty-odd states and principalities in the region — but at least they had a common language and (more or less) shared culture.
I’m watching events unfold in the EU with the same fascination that one has when watching some nature show on TV as a snake stalks a cute bunnyrabbit. One recognizes the event as part of nature and inevitable, while still feeling sympathy for the bunny.
The closer the EU gets to full political union the more similar the economic policies of each member state will become. They will all have high taxes, very high regulation and very inflexible labour markets. This will lead to very high rates of unemployment among young people throughout the EU. But the EU’s approach to European integration also involves the transfer of power from elected national governments to unelected and unaccountable officials.
Europe would have tens of millions of frustrated young adults with no job prospects and no opportunity to change anything through democratic means. That is a certain recipe for violence and political instability.
The most likely result is an upsurge in extreme nationalism. Firstly, because adopting a nationalist identity would be an explicit rejection of the beliefs of the elite. Secondly, because there would be nostalgia for the good old days when jobs were plentiful. Thirdly, because many people would want to regain control over their nation’s borders to reduce the number of immigrants competing with them for jobs.
So a unified Europe would be a bit like the Soviet Union in reverse. It would begin with stagnation and bureaucracy and end in a revolution.
Why should I pay the price for the pleasure of being a non-consenting lab-rat?
Want to experiment in Empire-building? Do it with your own lives, property, time and energy. Otherwise, go boil your own head.
@Laird: you find it difficult to believe that unsecured bonds issued by a quasi-governmental entity without taxing authority could be salable?
So do I.
So do the (self-appointed, unelected, unaccountable) panjandrums of the EU.
That is why they are giving themselves taxing authority.
These people won’t stop until they are stopped, and the really beneficial (to us, that is) crisis which seemed about to happen, has apparently been averted by the intervention of the Chinese, of all people.
It’s difficult to stay hopeful just now, but despair is a sin.
Isn’t the Chinese system the role-model? “You’re free to make as much money as you like, but don’t forget, technically(for now) WE own it all.”
whOOps.
Yes – the establishment are fairly open in the fact that they see China as the way to go.
The establishment are fast approaching the point where they will not even pretend to support freedom anymore (for China is NOT a land of freedom – not even in making money, as anyone who some Party official takes a dislike to, soon finds out).
The mask is comming off.