Developments in Euro-land are so volatile, so many contradictory words are spread by media, so much political galimatias is told, that I really had a hard time to keep up with it and gauge the real situation and its risks. It's not so much that uncertainty exists about the European economies or their usage of the €uro, but WHY this particular crisis persists! After reading Max Weber on "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" I thought to have found an important clou. He argues that Calvinism introduced the concept of salvation by "a chance of profit" for those God had choosen to His will, and wasn't longer in the Catholic realm of believing the sacraments, assent to doctrines or doing good deeds to negotiate salvation.
When we carefully look to the difficulties the Eurozone has with its economies, we do see the clear dichotomy(pdf) between orthodox plus mainly catholic, southern countries and the reformed ones, like Germany. Beyond all political abracadabra isn't there a religious component at work? Is Germany as a Protestant stronghold trying to impose its traditional convictions and its associated economics on countries that have a distinctly different attitude towards the value of labor and its resulting materialism? How then could you ever align those countries into one single economic space with some degree of unity? What however when one or more of the southern countries would leave the Calvinist dominated Eurozone? Apart from the religious component Capital Economics manager Roger Bootle provides some answers in his paper: "Leaving the Euro - practical guide"(pdf). A recent interview of Roger Bootle with RT explains more about what could ultimately be a blessing in disguise...
Exciting times in Europe! Sorry to bother you one more time with developments that overtake each-other on a per day basis. Europe is entering a war-like situation: us against them, it seems. Or to say this in other words: growth against austerity. The analysis from Prof. William K. Black, lawyer and expert in economics, is devastating. Is Europe (and the USA) on the "road to Bangladesh"? A system appears to be upheld that is stripping people from their right to live a decent life. A system full of manipulation, fraud and lies. Greece and Spain are downgraded anew by rating agencies the last few hours. Investors and common people relocate their money to safer countries. What should have been a prosperous, peaceful 'united Europe' is rapidly becoming a 'war-zone', separating countries and their populations to compete at knife-edge for survival. With high unemployment in the group below the age of 30, with wages down to as low as 1 (Germany!) to 5 Euro per hour, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and even Ireland appear to have reached the edge of the acceptable. I am puzzled by what goes on in the minds of those who execute our democratic rights. Why are they playing with fire? What explains their irrational behavior? Do listen to Prof. Black to hear him explain the catastrophic road utopian European political fantasies have taken...
New austerity measures by the Spanish government either could ignite the break-up of the Euro-zone, or drive Spain into a social and economical disaster with unpredictable consequences. That is what currently many economists and political experts believe after briefly studying new decisions yesterday taken by the Spanish government. The situation is grim indeed, pushing this beautiful, large country with its nice population into its third recession within 3 years. However, to my opinion an important aspect of Spain is still kept out of all equations: its peculiar social structure, making it in a way exceptional in Europe.
What is Spain? The fact that over 500 million inhabitants of this planet speak Spanish indicates that it is an important country within Europe and abroad. However, how do you govern a 'country' like Spain comprising 17 autonomous "regions and nationalities", say: semi-independent states, that largely run their own business, have their own administrations and contribute to and receive means from "Madrid" where the territorial (central) government is situated. The social structure, the cohesion of families in a context of cooperative 'clans', is another peculiarity, which together with remnants of feudalism causes class-differences of some magnitude¹,². This fabric makes it difficult for outsiders to understand how 'Spain' is making and spending money. In that respect often the word 'corruption' is mentioned as a factor why Spain collapsed after its house-building 'boom' from 2001 until 2007 in the light of a global financial crisis. What is this 'corruption', or was what hides behind this word the decisive factor that kept the Spanish economy going all years?! Was its consequence perhaps unwise spending of money by those with influence, rather than paying or taking some bribes? There is no oligarchy in Spain as often claimed, there are in fact hundreds of them, often intertwined. Only Cervantes' famous Don Quixote de la Mancha and his squire Sancho Panza could fight against the windmills. A propos: windmills. They are everywhere in Spain, hardly useful as everywhere else and a bliss but costly fantasy of the alternative energy clergy. Whatever the case, Spain is an autonomous country within Europe and can't go belly-up, unless it allows "Europe" (i.e. predominantly Germany) in to re-create the total disaster that occurred to Greece. The "Euro-zone", virtually run by Germany, is at the verge of a break-up, where Germany with its rigid, unique, but failing 'social-market economy' could leave, to allow the other European countries to rearrange the common currency, restructure debts or re-introduce their own money. Regarding Spain's current, alarming position, the following is what some important experts have to say. Interestingly almost without mentioning any sort of bright solution...
As one of the great European (Austrian) thinkers and economists, Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was an advocate of individual freedom, liberty, the truly free market (not a playing field for monopolies, oligarchies, the interventionist State or collusions between parties with secretive agreements), free consumers and the advance of peace. A libertarian he was. His words are astonishing little heard these days. In fact he "predicted" what occurs today in the world. As a thinker he was provocative and earned a fair share of criticism, mainly from conservatives and left-wing factions. Precisely those circles now trying to kick their cans along the road as long and far as they can to stay where they are. Yet, it seems worthwhile to spend a few minutes with him and his theory about liberty and economics to find that the truth might be somewhere in the middle of his ideas...
I am not a clairvoyant, yet I know there are difficult times ahead. Either you stick your head in the sand, stay dancing on a volcano, or inform yourself to be prepared for the unexpected. I gladly admit that a glass can be half full for some or half empty, depending your state of mind. In either case the glass (the issue itself) is half filled (indicating a problem). Seeking information about time-relevant issues is one thing, verifying its reliability and trustworthiness another. Finding final solutions for our problems in this complex world requires us to know where these problems originated. The revelations about State terrorism, several spectacular cases of corporate fraud, and the recent global Banking-, Swine Flu- and Climate-Gate scandals have proven that we can't even trust our leadership, sciences and most of the media. We now can also add the Church to this list. In the history of this multi-national organization we find interesting clues why we have landed in the global chaos of 2010! Church, State and Corporations seem synonymous for posturing grandeur, concealing crimes, living corporate narcissism while having a remarkably similar, but vulnerable, organizational structure. The only difference being corporations, that know full well when and why they are breaking the law. Lies, crimes, corruption and suppression now appear the name of the game to maintain an aura of influence. However, when we peel off the skin of these organizations we see people. People like you and me; vulnerable, fallible. Have some of them lost their soul to the Mammon: money, honor, ambition, combined with dreams about a Utopia? Whistleblowing and describing abuses are methods to attract attention for a problem. But what is their relevance and how trustworthy are certain claims? Our society appears embedded in archaic traditions that, by their legacy of lies, slowly corrupted our thinking, making us believe in 'secret sins' as facts. Here are some intriguing assessments of this dilemma...
My Opera
Developments in Euro-land are so volatile, so many contradictory words are spread by media, so much political galimatias is told, that I really had a hard time to keep up with it and gauge the real situation and its risks. It's not so much that uncertainty exists about the European economies or their usage of the €uro, but WHY this particular crisis persists! After reading Max Weber on "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" I thought to have found an important clou. He argues that Calvinism introduced the concept of salvation by "a chance of profit" for those God had choosen to His will, and wasn't longer in the Catholic realm of believing the sacraments, assent to doctrines or doing good deeds to negotiate salvation.
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