euro (& world?) crisis

[Ian Livingston]

> We live in times that are interesting enough for any chinese
> curse.
>

I stand with Nikos Kazantzakis on this one: it is a good thing to be
born into times of great change.


On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 5:23 AM, Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es> wrote:
> For those interested, Kai brings up a very good point that has been getting
> rolled around for a while now (see The Economist, recent issues, and Paul
> Krugman's blog).
>
>     I'm no economist but I can follow the argument. The Euro had some
> conceptual flaws the architects looked past even as they planned and now
> that the chickens have come home to roost the question seems to be one of
> greater federalization (the "US" of Europe) or collapse of the currency and
> perhaps the EU project. Kai brings up the same point as the Economist, can
> Merkel convinvce Germany? People that I know in Germany are not overly
> optimistic, it is a hard sell. The threat of collapse scares the shit out of
> people for a number of reasons. Of course the temptation for some is to
> close off borders, return to national currencies (nostalgia is very
> powerful, no?), and undo this modern mess. I suppose people would need the
> right leader. Anybody feel a bit of deja vu coming on?
>
>     In Spain, which is poised to take a turn to the right, the situation is
> not pretty: 20% unemployment (supposedly), increasing xenophobia, and the
> feeling that things were better "before". And the bleeding has not stopped
> yet.
>
>     Not to be apocolyptic (there is enough of that already) but if things
> start to spiral, the schlumpfing sound will be heard across the pond until
> people there feel the inicially gentle tug of gravity grabbing them &
> pulling them along on a mad headlong dance toward the edge. We will look at
> the abyss & it will look back at us.
>     Here's hoping the pols and crats can fix this mess without the herd
> running scared. We live in times that are interesting enough for any chinese
> curse.
>
> MC Otis
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant