For the past three months I have been posting articles on my Facebook page about the deteriorating economic position in Europe.
Now Italy's government has agreed an austerity package. The trade unions have called a general strike. The spectres of economic and social upheaval hover over Europe.
Leave to one side for a moment the massive unemployment, poverty and misery that economic depression will bring: the problems of either deflation or rampant inflation. Or maybe stagflation?
Instead, focus on the dangers of political turmoil. Whether one is pro or anti -European Union is not the point. The issue is that the EU and the eurozone is the creation of political elites: not the will of the electorates of the countries. Whenever populations have voted against proposals for greater integration the democratically expressed view has been ignored by the Brussels bureaucracy. Soon, maybe very soon, it will be pay back time.
We live in dangerous times: political, social and economic unrest combined will be toxic, we will be in uncharted waters. Have the lessons of the 1920s and 30s been understood?
Add to all this worries about money supply in the USA which compounds the problems. A weak USA economy will not ride to Europe's rescue.
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