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2010-05-17 Europe

Reawakening Germany's Nationalism: What Could Go Wrong?

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Posted by tipper 2010-05-17 10:25|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ] Top

#1 Greece, the Caliphornia of EUrope. Only proportionately smaller.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2010-05-17 11:45|| 2010-05-17 11:45|| Front Page Top

#2 The socialist impulse seems to be failing them over there. Could we please be next?

Posted by M. Murcek 2010-05-17 12:03|| 2010-05-17 12:03|| Front Page Top

#3 A "volcano"? Please, enough of the Pajama-idiocy about the faraway countinent about which they know next to nothing.

There's utterly no risk of political violence or civil strife in Germany. The Germans, the nordics, the Swiss and for that matter the Czechs and the Balts will do fine.

Especially if these nations follow the lead of the editorial board of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper and create their own DM-based currency union. (The editorialists specifically mentioned all the Germanic countries + Poland, Czech and Finland).

Posted by lex 2010-05-17 12:44|| 2010-05-17 12:44|| Front Page Top

#4 They would have to include the Baltic states if only to keep the Russians from gobbling them up again. With this sort of currency union they could recreate the old Hanseatic League ...

Posted by Steve White 2010-05-17 12:50|| 2010-05-17 12:50|| Front Page Top

#5 We have a lot more in common with the Hanseatic nations than we do with southern Europe. Here's hoping they secede from EMU, in which case we should get cracking on a US-NHU (New Hanseatic Union) Free Trade Agreement.

Also, note that expansive government in northern Europe is nowhere near so corrosive and damaging as it is outside of northern Europe. The main reasons are cultural: the Swedes, Germans etc may not believe in God anymore but they retain the old Protestant work ethic, they're frugal, they've resisted the importation of huge numbers of dole-seeking non-Europeans, and perhaps most importantly, their pols and unions have nowhere near the levels of corruption that you see outside of the north. Unlike the UK, they rein in their banksters and focus on producing real stuff they can export rather than living off of serial asset bubbles stoked by their central banks. Sweden and other nordics reformed their banking sectors about 15 years ago, and they've had decent-- and sustainable-- real growth since then, with low inflation.

Germany and Sweden are governed better, have less corruption, than CA, NJ, NY, MA, IL or MI. We should strive to make our country more, not less, like northern Europe. Splitting it off from corrupt, incompetent southern Europe and bankster-ridden Britain would make this outcome more likely.

Posted by lex 2010-05-17 14:28|| 2010-05-17 14:28|| Front Page Top

#6 Greece, the Caliphornia of EUrope. Only proportionately smaller.

Dang, you people, as a Californian I get tired of being the Rantburg whipping boy. I understand that California is run by crooked morons who have bankrupted the state. But then, this whole country is run by crooked morons who have bankrupted all of us. And not all of the crooked morons in Congress are from California, either. There is a pretty good representation from all across the country. Not only that but the illegal aliens who have grabbed control of California's legislature are here because of federal government corruption and irresponsibility. That is a problem for all of us, not just those of us who happen to live in California.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-05-17 16:05|| 2010-05-17 16:05|| Front Page Top

#7 PS. I'm not looking for a bailout. I just wanna say I voted against it and it's not my fault.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-05-17 16:08|| 2010-05-17 16:08|| Front Page Top

#8 Nothing personal to you. I lived there 25 years. But when the people of Caliphornia voted down Arnold's five proposed referenda at the instruction of the teacher's union, they sealed their fate.

The politicians in Caliphornia seem less crooked than the politicians in much of the country, based on what I see. It's the voters who have been rolled by the state employee unions. Once you get to that point, it doesn't make any difference how honest the pols are. That's why Chris Christie is in office in New Jersey but could never be elected in Caliphornia.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2010-05-17 16:21|| 2010-05-17 16:21|| Front Page Top

#9 Ahnuld's predecessor, Gray "Pay for Play" Davis, was unquestionably corrupt.

As former CA Assembly Speaker Willie Brown recently admitted in a signed editorial, the California politicians' practice securing union contributions in exchange for allowing these same public sector unions to scam huge pension increases for themselves, while not illegal, has been a massive abuse of the public trust. This is the biggest factor behind CA's fiscal debacle, and it's fair to label it a corrupt practice.

Posted by lex 2010-05-17 17:39|| 2010-05-17 17:39|| Front Page Top

#10 I voted for all five of Arnold's ballot propositions. I read them and they all made sense. I got the feeling that Arnold was making a serious effort to get a grip on California's problems. The unions beat the crap out of him and I think he kind of gave up after that. The worrisome thing is that if Arnold couldn't do it, who can?

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-05-17 17:44|| 2010-05-17 17:44|| Front Page Top

#11 IIRC "COLBERT REPORT" segment > [paraph]"We Americans like our Germans to be UNHAPPY ...When Germans are HAPPY, THEY START GETTING 'TOUCHY/
GRABBY' E.G. START MARCHING + INVADING POLAND, FRANCE, + SOVIET UNION, WW1 + WW2, ETC".

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-05-17 18:58|| 2010-05-17 18:58|| Front Page Top

#12 Please, enough of the Pajama-idiocy about the faraway countinent about which they know next to nothing.

'Theodore Dalrymple', the author of this article, is a Brit who has lived and worked in several African countries and who splits his time between the UK and a home in France.

Posted by lotp 2010-05-17 19:45|| 2010-05-17 19:45|| Front Page Top

#13 EU6305 said in #10 "I voted for all five of Arnold's ballot propositions. I read them and they all made sense. I got the feeling that Arnold was making a serious effort to get a grip on California's problems. The unions beat the crap out of him and I think he kind of gave up after that. The worrisome thing is that if Arnold couldn't do it, who can?"

I agree completely!! The voters of this state (CA) volunteered to be fu@ked in perpetuity by the unions. The product of our failed educational system, logic is dead.

Posted by Rob06 2010-05-17 19:53|| 2010-05-17 19:53|| Front Page Top

#14 I see the next German PM telling the other Eurozone countries that they are opting out of the Euro and returning to the DM.

Posted by DMFD 2010-05-17 21:19|| 2010-05-17 21:19|| Front Page Top

#15 Dang, you people, as a Californian I get tired of being the Rantburg whipping boy

Sending Nancy Pelosi to Congress is almost unforgivable.

Posted by DMFD 2010-05-17 21:23|| 2010-05-17 21:23|| Front Page Top

#16 Dang, you people, as a Californian I get tired of being the Rantburg whipping boy.

Then do what I did: leave. By working there and contributing to that society, you are helping to prop up something that should be allowed to collapse.

Posted by Secret Master 2010-05-17 21:35|| 2010-05-17 21:35|| Front Page Top

#17 WMF > DECLASSIFIED GERMAN ARCHIVES REVEAL ADOLF HITLER IN 1937 DESIRED TO FORM A GERMAN-BRITISH-CHINESE MIL ALLIANCE ["Far East Plan"] AGZ JAPAN, + TO SEND GERMAN TROOPS TO FIGHT AGZ JAPAN IN CHINA. HITLER'S DESIRE TO USE NEW TRILATERAL ALLIANCE TO RECOVER GERMANY'S LOST FORMER COLONIES IN MICRONESIA/PACIFIC FROM JAPANESE CONTROL, FORCE JAPANESE WITHDRAWAL FROM CHINA, MANCHUKO [Manchuria], + KOREAS. ALLIANCE-LED JOINT MILITARY OCCUPATION OF JAPAN FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS, CONVERSION OF JAPAN INTO NEW ALLIANCE ALLY-MEMBER.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-05-17 22:22|| 2010-05-17 22:22|| Front Page Top

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