… Europe Is Crumbling Into Collapse

Written on October 3rd, 2014 in politics Comments Off

Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Oct 2, 2014.

… Yves here. The word “collapse” may seem overwrought when applied to Europe, but cold-blooded, clear eyed colleagues who have good connections and have spent a bit of time there recently say things that are broadly similar to Ilargi’s take. Despite the conventional wisdom that the cost of a Eurozone breakup is catastrophically and thus will never take place, that confidence may prove to be the currency union’s undoing. Ideological rigidity about austerity is leading to policies that are crushing large swathes of the population. And Europe, unlike the US, had enough of a tradition of popular revolt that that uprisings, either on the street or in the ballot box, are real possibilities, as the sudden rise of the anti-EU right shows.  

My sources, who also read the foreign language press, say that political fracture is underway and the Eurozone leadership is not taking anything remotely resembling adequate measures to halt its progress. That does not mean upheaval is imminent. But the flip side is this sort of unraveling tends to progress not via an clearly discernible decay path, but through sudden state changes.

By Raúl Ilargi Meijer, editor-in-chief of The Automatic Earth. Originally published at Automatic Earth.

For me, the quote of the day is this one: “If there’s a periphery of the eurozone’s periphery, that’s Naples.” The city of Napoli hosts ECB boss Mario Draghi and the heads of Europe’s central banks this week in some very posh former Bourbon family royal palace, and the contradictions involved couldn’t be more striking … //

… (full text).

Economic Related Links:

Other Links:

U.S. Alliance with FSA and ISIL in Six Photographs, on Global Research.ca (first on Dissident Voice), by Rick Sterling, Oct 2, 2014;

F**k Earth!: Elon Musk wants to send million people to Mars to ensure humanity’s survival, on Russia Today, Oct 1, 2014;
(on en.wikipedia: Elon Musk; SpaceX; Tesla Motors; Solar City; Hyperloop); /External Links; /Interviews;

Bridge to Nowhere: Are EU Subsidies for Andalusia Well Spent? on Spiegel Online International, by Christoph Pauly, Okt 1, 2014: No other region in Spain receives as much European Union funding as Andalusia. But do the projects being funded make sense? Questions are mounting about the efficacy of the subsidies – and about their potential for feeding corruption …;

US warns Israel against building new settlements in E. Jerusalem, on Russia Today, Oct 1, 2014;

Cameron vows to scrap Human Rights Act, civil liberties groups outraged, on Russia Today, Oct 1, 2014;

(US-)Government Logic (an oxymoron), on Outsider Club, by Nick Hodge, Oct 1, 2014;

Coalition of the not-so-willing, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Salah Nasrawi, Sept 25, 2014: Washington and its Arab allies have launched air strikes on IS targets in Syria. But the coalition remains as divided as ever about what to do next;

Who has the right to this city? Proposal to tax empty condos in Vancouver is part of an overdue debate, on The Source, Volume 15, Issue 5, by Derrick O’Keefe, September 23 – October 7, 2014;

… and this – The Dubliners:

… und noch das:

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