Summary: The current crisis is another chapter in the two-thousand year story of Europe’s people struggle to live together. As an economic crisis it shows progress from the last chapter, 1914-1945, their attempts at mutual annihilation. It’s better than the long-feared next chapter, featuring atomic suicide. Perhaps Europe’s leaders should field their best for winner-take-all soccer tournament. Here we see how that might work in practice.
.
.
For more about the Euro-crisis, including some powerful recent articles
These articles show that economists’ understanding of the euro-crisis slowly grows, so that they can explain its dynamics more clearly and succinctly. Perhaps soon they will be able to do so that policy-makers can understand, so that they revise their current guaranteed-to-fail policies. These articles explain aspects of the euro-crisis that are misunderstood by many experts on Wall Street and the general public. And by most of those posting comments on the FM website.
.
- ““Austerity has never worked“, Ha-Joon Chang (Cambridge), op-ed in The Guardian, 4 June 2012 — “It’s not just about the current economic environment. History shows that slashing budgets always leads to recession”
- “A Global Perfect Storm“, Nouriel Roubini, 15 June 2012
- “The End of the Euro Is Not About Austerity“, Simon Johnson (former Chief Economist of the IMF; now Prof Management MIT), New York Times, 21 June 2012
- “The tragedy-of-the-commons at the European Central Bank and the next rescue“, Aaron Tornell (Prof Economics, UCLA) and Frank Westermann (Prof International Economics Policy at University Osnabrueck), VOX, 22 June 2012
For a full list of the FM posts about this, see the FM Reference Page about the euro-crisis.
The referee should be a Roman – a governor, a caesar, or a pope, to ensure Pax Romana?
Pingback: The 3 pieces that are turning WordPress into a platform | Open Knowledge
Being old enough to remember the original screening of this, it brought a smile. However, it is easy to lose sight of the real reasons behind this apparent “crisis”. The whole sham is being stage managed by a few, as usual, at the expense of many.
Ignorance of directed history, how a socially dominant theme is used, well this is the root of artificial problems.
Until more open their minds this will continue. A small number of people, very controlling and powerful people will, as always dictate events. This time the internet is causing them a vast headache, millions do not swallow their lies, question established methods of control via MSM and crude economics to control and direct.
They will evolve their methods, to control the internet. When newspapers were a new idea, they were wild and uncontrolled, too. But then we had the control of newspaper distribution to local geographies, yellow press, and the partisan press, and then Murdoch’s press. Something similar will happen to the internet before too long. Whenever something new comes along it takes a while for the plutocracy to suborn it. That’s because it doesn’t happen with a plan, it’s just that the separate threads of the plutocracy all react to protect themselves in their own way and it appears from the outside to be more complicated than withdraw/study/conquer/use. The internet is already turning into a conduit for propaganda; all that’s left is for the propaganda to drown out the useful signal, as has happened in other media.
Ps – the internet is now “mainstream media”. Ever since AOL bought Time-Warner. Since then the current is running the other way.
Mmm! Interesting but rather pessimistic view! I point you in histories direction, Sir and The Reformation. That “thinking” took around one hundred years to gain a wide influence. I do not disagree with the content of your reply. However, add free thinking to the equation, instant worldwide communication and personal relationships built online, well that is a powerful tool.
Yes, history is full of attempts to control thought and, consequently the direction mankind takes.
Corporate propaganda is aimed at profit, control of populations on behalf of authoritarian government and other spurious reasons to keep the great unwashed in their place.
This is all fine and well, however, I see that magical 5% who rebelled against German George now multiplied manyfold. This time it is worldwide. The fact that an old codger like me can ( master? ) this medium, well that must frankly frighten the pants off many.
With that in mind, well from an “elite” ( a rather depressing term for grubby little uber rich so and so’s ) point of view, they were caught with their pants down. Sure, they will try and catch up, control and influence, but this medium is still in its infancy. For every trick played there is a blessed geek combatting it. Even I understand the basics of setting up local networks, Tor and dynamic IP’s. The knowledge and speed of younger folk adapting to this kind of thing leaves me dazzled.
Finally, the genie is out of the bottle. Their only hope of total control, like GPS, is to pull the plug. They then lose their own platform. Thanks to the internet, millions have seen the lies for what they are, millions filter through the new lies. What corporate think cannot control are the personal relationships made online, the trust built between ordinary and decent folk worldwide. I am an old fashioned soul. I believe in the human capacity for decency, truth and honesty. I experience this daily online, that in itself, to me at least, speaks volumes.
Cromwell,
You go to the heart of the struggle of our time. Is our era about choice (esp new choices opened by communication technology)? Or is it about control? {Either way, we’re living in a world like that of The Matrix}
A great growth story since 9-11 has been the intelligence and security services. The NSA listening to every form of e-communication, their massive complexes growing across the land. Cameras monitoring our movements, now including drones in the sky. FBI surveilance, including growth of a Stasi-like network of informers.
Can the new media prove stronger? Marcus describes the pessimistic view, that powerful elites can harness the new media as another means of control. Shaping the news. Shaping the perspectives through which we see the news. This — far more than the growth of security forces — has been their great success of the past decade or so. We’ve become astonishingly more ignorant about the world, believing an increasing number of things that are not so.
The Tea Party, not 1984, may be our future. Goebbels more than Himmler.
Fabius, I feel that the choices we make as men ie do we allow ourselves to be controlled, they are the reasons free thinkers are unpopular with corporate entities. More so if you have worked within the machine. You know its innards, its weak spots. They do not like that, they try and smother debate with obfuscation and blather. People then tire and accept, go on with their lives accepting dross.
I was lucky to serve in a unit that encouraged all ranks to contribute, a Chinese Parliament as we called them. Every gunner had a choice to speak up, most did. The result was that we were effective and lost few. We did not accept blindly without question.
I see this in our youngsters, a fair few question everything. I accept many do not, but I take great comfort in seeing many say no.
Your comment on ignorance is sadly true, the MSM are responsible, as are the damnable Prussian education systems youngsters in the west endure . Your observation on spooks is also sadly accurate. I am frankly appalled at the number of federal agencies who spy on each other, if ever a case existed for house cleaning within a country, well it would start Ron Paul style right there!
However, I digress. Yes I believe in new media being stronger, look at the Levenson enquiry into News International, seeing the Murdoch’s and former PM’s squirm has done alternative media a power of good.
The final act is now taking place within the US, the lines are being drawn. Accept or reject? The choices made by a fine and proud people, well they will resonate for centuries if they are the right ones. For others will follow, the bankster can only control so much, the banking dynasties seem to be at war with each other.
That is their Achilles heel.