Eurozone Now Is Danger Zone Igniting a Worldwide Crisis: The Potential Collapse of the Euro Has Brought Europe-And Much of the Global Economy, Including That of the U.S.-To Its Knees

Thomson, James W., USA TODAY

FOR ECONOMIST, author, and syndicated columnist Thomas Sewell, the first lesson of economics concerns the scarcity principle, stipulating that there never is enough of anything to satisfy the desires of everyone fitly. Sewell's corollary is that the first role of politics is to disregard completely the first lesson of economics and then seek fame by promising abundance for all. During the Euro monetary crisis, Sewell's irony seems appropriate because Europe has drifted into a seemingly endless dilemma: its politicians often make decisions based on political goals rather than economic realities. With the advantage of hindsight, the Euro currency clearly was intended to hasten the political integration of Europe--a longtime objective sought by many past leaders, including the Roman emperors, medieval popes, France's Napoleon Bonaparte, Germany's Adolf Hitler, and, more recently, by the bureaucrats of Brussels, Belgium. Indeed, the annals of history are tittered with numerous failed attempts to unify the disparate European cultures.

In modern democratic societies, politicians are very likely to seek advancement by making grand economic pledges that usually consist of transferring wealth from the well-off few to the "deserving" many. This political tactic seems omnipresent in the West, from Pres. Barack Obama's soak-the-rich rhetoric to the divisive class warfare politics practiced in Europe. To protect themselves from public scrutiny, the Western political classes created supposedly independent economic bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Federal Reserve Bank, and European Central Bank (ECB), and then put political appointees in charge. For the transnational European political class, found mostly in the wealthy Northern European nations, the Euro has become the symbol of a resurgent and unified Europe. For this rising class, the quest for political unity means that the Euro must be retained regardless of cost, and its defense largely is the product of political calculations rather than economic considerations.

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Publication information: Article title: Eurozone Now Is Danger Zone Igniting a Worldwide Crisis: The Potential Collapse of the Euro Has Brought Europe-And Much of the Global Economy, Including That of the U.S.-To Its Knees. Contributors: Thomson, James W. - Author. Magazine title: USA TODAY. Volume: 141. Issue: 2808 Publication date: September 2012. Page number: 24+. © 2009 Society for the Advancement of Education. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group.

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