The European Union

[innonimatu]

Piketty just restarted the obvious.

Now what I'd like to see was someone getting famous pointing out that high debt is a feature of this capitalism we have. And that the use of central banks to back financial debt instruments (as opposed to a policy of direct financing of state deficits - aka "printing money") only served the purpose of defending and increasing the fortunes being amassed by a few. Every piece of financial wealth is ultimately a debt instrument, whether old-fashioned deposit, corporate bond, or national debt. The more of these are created and float around, the bigger the private fortunes can grow. The Central Banks are the force behind creating and sustaining the huge increase in inequality we have seen over the past decades. They enabled the "debt economy", and the debt economy enabled the crushing of wages while (for a time) maintaining consumption: debt replaced income as a means of backing spending.

Interestingly, there was some noise against debt creation within the EU. But only some kinds of debt creation (private debt creation, the bigger problem, is not ever addressed) and financing of state deficits remains an heresy. The real fear of those who push for budget limitations is indeed that if enough public debt accumulates governments under pressure by rebellious populations will start to print money and "discover" they can eat away the wealth of the owners of debt instruments.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I am catching up on reading old news, I see that the Danes voted to opt out of Europol by referendum earlier this month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_European_Union_opt-out_referendum,_2015

 

[Kyriakos]

This points out the main problems:

Great video

Its ok though, EU will fix stuff, rally behind the goon who ludicrously is on the frontline of this continent atm:

You know, germans of all people should have been more careful with supporting this kind of sick pos (a figurehead, of course; the mentality is the actual issue). I hope that the collapse of the EU that this german gov is utterly instrumental in causing, will in the long term result to cancelling their cute re-unification inside the EU as well. Cause sometimes crap just is way too sickening to bare, fellow teutons.

 

[Agent327]

This 'the EU will collapse' narrative is getting a bit old. Give it a century or two, then yes.

 

[Kyriakos]

This 'the EU will collapse' narrative is getting a bit old. Give it a century or two, then yes.

Difficult to spot even a nuke hit when you are in orbit, right?

 

[innonimatu]

I am catching up on reading old news, I see that the Danes voted to opt out of Europol by referendum earlier this month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_European_Union_opt-out_referendum,_2015

Good for them. Someone probably pointed out that the previous big fans of the idea of an "european police force" were the nazis. As a country that was occupied by the third reich, Denmark has a healthy distrust of the fourth reich.

 

[Agent327]

Good for them. Someone probably pointed out that the previous big fans of the idea of an "european police force" were the nazis.

No, they weren't.

Difficult to spot even a nuke hit when you are in orbit, right?

Nukes are actually best spot from orbit. That's why satellites keep an eye on them. Any seasoned Civ player knows this.

Interesting tangent though. Interesting, uninformed, but still a tangent.

 

[Kyriakos]

No, they weren't.


Nukes are actually best spot from orbit. That's why satellites keep an eye on them. Any seasoned Civ player knows this.

Interesting tangent though. Interesting, uninformed, but still a tangent.

Yes, yet sometimes when you think you spotted something the other person missed, it was like walking into a hole one dug for you. Some of us actually use irony in a mischievous way.

 

[Verbose]

The Nazis worked hard to create sets of illiberal international agreements – an entire European-wide system of them was envisioned. That WAS downright paradoxical, since Nazism by its very nature denied all claims on universality. BUT the Nazis needed something to put in the place of multilateral international organization — be it about medicine, law, cinema, music, literature, whatever (the Nazis DID think "Kultur", in their version of it, was more important than things like the economy or law).

The thing is, all those kinds of organizations already existed. The first international scientific such organization dates from 1822. BUT all those were based on principles of the kind of liberalism and universalism the Nazis denied. The Nazi problem was that these things already existed, and so they had to provide an alternative.

The EU, for good or ill (depending on view), is the continuator of the 19th c. liberal processes of international coordination. It's political principles are the exact antithetical opposite of what the Nazis wanted — and the Nazis only went there because the Nazis recognized they HAD to confront it, or they would never be able to control Europe.

Check this, if interested:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog....up.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674545748

It's just that some have agendas for which it is convenient to try to pretend the fact that the Nazis needed to fight the kind of principles the EU is founded on means the Nazis and EU share the same principles. Political populism, in other words, even if the purveyors might not quite know themselves which part of the political spectrum they fall inside...

 

[Agent327]

The Nazis and the EU founders shared the same principles. And this principle is called 'populism'. That's just brilliant. Completely inaccurate though - if only because populism is ratHer a new thing, and played no part in the EU formation whatsoever. In fact, populism tends to be anti-EU.

Not to mention you stated right before that the Nazi and EU principles were antithetic.

Yes, yet sometimes when you think you spotted something the other person missed, it was like walking into a hole one dug for you. Some of us actually use irony in a mischievous way.

Well, the thing about irony is, you need to be properly informed to use it effectively. And one can say a lot about all your EU postings, but not that they're well-informed. Opinionated, yes. But opinions are cheap to come by. Which, indeed, is ironic.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Happy new year to you as well - let's be more positive (but not about the EU, sorry, i can't be positive about something ruining my life and i am not viewing it from the safety of orbit) ^_^

 

[EnglishEdward]

Kyriakos:

Happy New Year

 

[Agent327]

^Happy new year to you as well - let's be more positive (but not about the EU, sorry, i can't be positive about something ruining my life and i am not viewing it from the safety of orbit) ^_^

It seems to me you're confusing - like so many others - 'the EU' with your very own country and the politicians that run it. But

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

EU politicians very smart: