The Real Reason for the European Union

 

Brexit is a great thing no matter what those experts on the left and right and in between are telling us. The entire political establishment is furious over the British vote against a unifying of Europe which eventually was to surrender to a unified world order. But that was not the reason the European Union was originally founded and nobody wants to talk about the real reasons behind the European Union (EU).

 

To figure out the real reasoning that formed the EU one needs to go back to the original concept and who were the nations pushing the hardest for an EU and who originally opposed it. The origins of the EU were formed and fashioned between Paris and Berlin, the two main engines to fuel the original EU. Britain was the original opposition and this was to be expected. What the EU was to be was the manner for Germany to finally conquer all of Europe this time instead of militarily to simply take over economically. The Euro was and remains most closely aligned with the German economy. It has little if anything to do with the more agrarian economies and was completely ignored until it became so dire that nobody could endure it any longer as the economic collapses of Spain and Greece and the near collapse of Italy and others signaled the depth the problem had reached. The EU did not take into its planning to any degree the needs of the former Soviet bloc Warsaw Pact nations when they entered the EU in near desperate need of massive infusions of funds to rebuild an infrastructure which was crumbling. Eventually some funding was made available and it was impressed as to how much Germany was sacrificing on their behalf. The assistance to Greece was another expression of German sacrifice and investment. Everything in the EU revolves around German economic power and its influence.

 

The EU really should have been named the Franco-Germanic Economic Empire. This has proven to be the preferred actions for the economic regulators in Brussels which ruled autocratically and approved actions unconscionable by any elected body elsewhere in the world. They overturned laws passed by elected parliaments and approved by the people but opposed by the controllers of this unelected hive mind of bureaucrats who decided they knew what was best more than the elected officials of member governments. The EU controlled trade relations and refused to allow member nations to make any trade deals or negotiate for mutual tariff relief with nations outside the EU. One example which will soon become very evident is now Britain will soon make deals with China, India, Brazil and others where they arrange to conduct free trade agreements, something Britain was barred from doing as a member of the EU because that would not be fair to other nations in the EU. This begs the question of why there was never an effort to have a free trade agreement between China and the EU. The reason is that Germany desired to have the advantage of free trade while blocking any competing nation entry into the German trade block which members of the EU were forced into by the bureaucrats who knew who paid their salaries and supported the main functions of the EU and would do anything and everything demanded to protect German trade relations and to increase the German trade advantage in Europe. With the Euro pegged to the German economy it further gave an advantage to German goods and services as the money used for trade was pegged to their goods and others who may have not quite matched German production paid the price.

 

It is kind of interesting that the EU headquarters was a stone’s throw from both Paris and Berlin, sitting in Brussels, Belgium which is sandwiched between Germany and France and has a history with both. That most nations in the EU were fully vested was in a manner their surrender to the economic drivers of the EU. The fact that the British also were a powerful economic nation, that their acceptance of the EU was conditional, and they kept their currency, the Pound Sterling, independent from the Euro and always available should things turn badly for the EU and Euro crash in value, Britain could fall back on their natural currency to continue to trade and deal with the rest of the world. That fall back will facilitate their departure making it all the easier. Still there are a number of hurdles which could still prevent Brexit from becoming a reality despite the vote by the people. The entire idea could still be presented to the parliament and they could decide that remaining in the EU is the wiser course and the Prime Minister, either Cameron or whoever replaces him after the elections could agree with the Parliament and that would be the end of Brexit so to speak. There is an even bet that the leaving of the EU could be brought before the Parliament as there are many politicians willing to oppose the popular vote and risk their, or enhance depending on their region and its electorate, seat in the coming elections.

 

Pound Sterling

 

One can bet that the many areas of Britain will vote their next election along the line of for or against Brexit and that Brexit will be the defining item in the minds of the people. The representatives of the London area and other major metropolises where the voters favored remaining in the EU will elect their parliament members accordingly. The more rural and suburban areas, where the people are somewhat more self-reliant, will vote for representatives who support independence from the EU, as they voted quite overwhelmingly, to the great surprise of almost every pollster and many of those predicting the failure of the Brexit proposition, to politely depart the EU. We are glad we supported Brexit for our British friends as we almost always will fall on the side of independence from bureaucratic dictatorial bodies, a.k.a. the European Union. Our best wishes to the British and we hope that others find their way clear of the overreaching arms of the Brussels Bureaucracy. Perhaps Brussels Bureaucracy, or the Double B, should have been the proper name for the EU as BB is even more simple an abbreviation and rolls off the tongue so much easier. Try it, BB or EU, EU sounds too close to something yucky, you know, ‘ew’ as an expression to an awful smell, rhymes with PU. Britain will hopefully be back dependent solely on the Pound Sterling and will soon arrange free trade with the China, Brazil, India and even United States, after President Obama exits office as he does not particularly like Britain as proven when he discarded the bust of Winston Churchill back to Britain as President Obama believes that the man who saved the world from Hitler was a despicable human being. If the British are seeking an honored place for that particular sculpture, we would love to give it a place of honor and show it off to our many British friends here in our little corner of the world. E-mail us if you are interested as we would be honored to have such a prized possession. To be able to say that we are hosting the bust of Winston Churchill that President Obama so ingloriously returned to Britain as a slap in the face and insult would make us prouder than a peacock in full plumage.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Hate Israel Anti-Semites Boycott Israel Club

 

We all have read about the supposed evils of Israel because the media lists them almost daily. We have the leader of the musicians recently gathering the signatures of numerous British artists all swearing they will never play a concert in Israel simply because Roger Waters says Israel is hateful. How Mr. Waters knows this is beyond any first hand evidence, he just woke up one morning and joined the well-financed and well-organized boycott Israel club. He never bothered to verify any of the charges against Israel, he simply bought the propaganda that Israel hates the Arabs and refuses to allow them to vote. He took the bait that the Arabs living under the semi-autonomous self-rule in areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza are not permitted to vote in Israeli elections. That is absolutely true, as is the fact that Israelis are not permitted to vote in elections for the Palestinian Arab Authority. Oddly enough, Israeli Arabs are not permitted to vote in Palestinian Arab Authority elections so should Mr. Waters also protest the Palestinian Arab Authority, who refuses to allow Israeli Arabs from voting in their elections, making them just as guilty of Apartheid. Perhaps we need to find some example closer to home for Mr. Waters and see if perhaps he can become enlightened.

 

We can use the United Kingdom where there are various semi-autonomous nation states of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each of these four nation states has their own governing boards and other functions which are elected from within their regions. A citizen of Northern Ireland cannot vote in Scotland and a citizen from Scotland cannot vote in Wales and so forth. Does this make each of the nations which make up the United Kingdom apartheid states because they have independent elections within each nation? We have all read that Scotland held a recent vote to remove themselves once again from under the British Crown and return to complete independence. They did not decide to do so in a close election which very well may have hinged on the threats coming from others within the United Kingdom and some of the scare tactics coming from London could have been interpreted as threats against the Scottish should they decide to return to being independent. Does this mean that the rest of the United Kingdom is using their vast influence and power to intimidate the Scottish from complete independence thus acting in a manner of racial hate towards the Scottish for their self-identity as a separate peoples? This could be twisted to show all kinds of reasons to boycott goods, academics and musicians from playing anywhere within the United Kingdom outside of Scotland with whom we the citizens of the world feel a need to unify behind in their quest to return to independence from under the colonial power of the United Kingdom and its British colonial oppressive tactics to continue their rule over what is left of their once mighty empire upon which they used to brag that the sun never set on all of the British Empire. The mighty may have fallen but they still rule with complete control and arrogance from London. After all, did the United Kingdom allow Mr. Waters to vote in the Scottish vote for independence, of course not?

 

A similar example could be made for the separate nations within the European Union who each elect their own governments which in turn make their own policies as long as they do not interfere with each other’s internal affairs. As part of the European Union each nation must accept the Euro coinage for payment of goods making travel between the several nations of the European Union much easier. This facilitates the freedom of movement within the European Union as there are no requirements for passport and visas to travel and the Euro is universally accepted. But then there are the British with their Pound Sterling which the Iron Lady former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to give up and replace with the Euro. I believe her argument was that the British were better served to be in charge of their own monetary policies and their economic and other independent actions required Britain not to accept the Euro as the coin of the Realm. Could this British self-glorification, self-admiration and stubborn egoism not bring upon them the wrath of the rest of the European Union? Currently there are a few little budgetary and economic troubles within the European union of which this British elitism prevents the British Isles from being fully able and responsible to aid Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other struggling nations leaving the burden to be pressed almost entirely on Germany with some lesser assistance from France and others, but the British remain outside the ill effects of this on the Euro as the British refuse to surrender the coin of the Realm, probably one of the most egregious symbols of British colonialism and conquest which spread the world over, the Pound Sterling. Perhaps the rest of the European Union should demand that the British give up their separate and unequal currency and accept the Euro completely and without any further reservations thus truly incorporating themselves within the European Union, after all that English Channel no longer separated you from the rest of Europe, there is the Chunnel connecting you directly to France and the Continent. If the British would just use the Euro it would better enable the European Union in assisting those members in need of a hand up which the Euro is supposed to supply.

 

Needless to point out, but the Lady Thatcher was dead on correct to not place Britain into the European cauldron of troubles by acceding to use the Euro and instead to remain in direct control of the coinage of the Realm and to be economically self-dependent and self-reliant using the Pound Sterling. Yes, I realize it is actually referred to a simply the Pound or ₤. The entire disaster which is the Euro derives from exactly the argument that Lady Thatcher made in her argument to retain the Pound and simply accept the Euro at its rate against the Pound at the time of the transaction. The threats that by retaining the Pound the British would be forever forced to check the going exchange rates of the Euro against the Pound or the € against the ₤. She flat stated, and was pilloried for it, that the Euro was untenable as long as each nation retained their ability to set their own economic policies, their own productivity targets and just about anything linked to their economy, work force policies, guaranteed employee benefits or anything else which would affect their use of the Euro. The sole manner that would make the Euro truly the coinage of the European Union would be a central planner who was responsible for setting all rules of the entirety of the European Union pertaining to the economy in any fashion, form or obligations. Every country would need to require their employees to have identical work weeks, vacation and sick leave, salary structure and economic targets. This would require the European Union to merge virtually every government function into the central authority of the European Union and it was this eventuality which the Lady Thatcher wished most to avoid.

 

So, do we now boycott all of the European Union who are insisting that the government of Greece accept to having their economic and other policies dictated to them from Brussels or possible Berlin as these are the origins of the Euros being loaned to Greece to keep the nation solvent and from economic collapse as their economic engines do not achieve a similar RPMs (Real Productivity per Man-hour) to the German and other economic engines within the European Union. Thus, because the Greeks use the Euro their government is being persuaded to adopt austerity measures which the people are so reluctant to implement after experiencing such restriction that they elected a government which will return them to their former economic policies and should the European Union object or demand further austerity measures, they promise a return to the Drachma, the ₯, the original Greek coinage which is one of the oldest coins in all of Europe and the world. Sitting on the cusp and watching as Greece is the first to actually fall beyond the cusp and become insolvent solely due to using the Euro and thus not being allowed to set their own monetary value which would better represent the economic productivity of Greece instead of accepting the Euro whose unified monetary policy in nonexistent and instead attempts to straddle an all inclusive area, an area which Greece did not quite attain, nor did Spain, Italy, Portugal and others potentially even France. So, Roger Waters, tell me, who do we protest by boycott now, Greece or Germany and Britain? Somebody is forcing the Greek governance how to write their economic policy and how to set their pension plans and everything else and the Greek people are refusing to elect any government which will bow to the central planners in Brussels. Who are the bad guys so I know whether to purchase a German vehicle, a French vehicle, an Italian vehicle (my first choice), or a Greek vehicle?

 

I figure who else should I ask other than Roger Waters who claims to be such an authority on who is acceptable amongst the nations of the world, so where do I spend my money, who do you approve as I would hate to get any bad social media attention because I did not do my civic duty and check to see if my purchases pass Roger Waters’s approved list of nations which qualify as politically acceptable. I mean, after all, with all the tours with Pink Floyd he must have full and first-hand knowledge which nations are kosher, if I can use that term or is it also too Israeli or too Jewish, please let me know on that one too while we are at it. What other words might be too supportive of the only nation thus far worldwide you have decided deserves our ire, which is correct Mr. Waters, just Israel deserves out boycott. Just to make sure, Russia is fine or the Ukraine, which one is righteous among the nations as judged by Roger Waters? Then do we not purchase anything made in China until they end their occupation of Tibet where they have also forced many Tibetans to be relocated in other far removed provinces and have replaced these native Tibetans with Chinese people who were mostly homeless and extremely poor and were bussed into Tibet and given the homes of the Tibetans who had been forced to leave. So, what about China and their subjugation of Tibet, a nation which never in recent history attacked or even bothered anybody but China just swallowed up Tibet. So, boycott China as well or just Israel Mr. Waters? What about the United States which swallowed up all of the Native American nations, do we demand that the United States return all the lands they did not legally purchase to their original Native American nations or just boycott Israel? What about Iran which sponsors the most terrorist actions and groups worldwide or Saudi Arabia which denies women of equality before the law or in society, or Australia which still has not returned the lands to the Aborigines from whom they stole it by force, or just Israel, which Mr. Waters?

 

Perhaps you should visit Israel and look around. You would be amazed as you would find a nation that is as free of racial afflictions as any I have ever witnessed. Israel, who went to rescue the Jews in Ethiopia who were being herded into a camp, you know what a camp means when you herd the Jews there, right Mr. Waters? They have arranged to bring the Bnei Menashe from India home as they are also of the house of Jacob. Many of the tribes who were scattered throughout the globe are being brought home to Eretz Yisroel. Not all were oppressed at this time but all have faced desperate periods where they were set upon by the other native populations, expelled from their homes and businesses, murdered outright, pogroms, made to pay an additional tax because they were Jews, and worst of, mass slaughter. Mr. Waters, the Jewish People are perhaps the most persecuted race of all time. When Israel was formed she received numerous Jews from Europe, as you are aware. Did you realize that they were prevented from simply coming to live in Israel by the British because the British had signed an agreement with the Arabs to never allow the Jews to become of a sufficient number as to be capable of forming a nation. Once Israel was barely recognized by a very tight vote in the United Nations, the Arab nations evicted approximately 850,000 Jews often with just one suitcase per family member and some with even less. Many Jews around the Arab world and across Europe were dispossessed of their homes and often Jews who survived the Nazi camps returned to their former homes only to find another family residing there, and their former neighbors joining together to force them out of their hamlet or village and then when they attempted to make their way to Israel they were prevented and placed in camps. Some Jews were taken from one Nazi concentration camp and when there was little room in the camps on Cyprus, they were shipped to Germany and placed back into one of the Nazi concentration camps. Read the story about the ship the St. Louis Mr. Waters and tell me who were persecuted. There were many Jews, millions of them, who had an even bigger problem than British making their return to Zion near impossible, these Jews found themselves behind the Iron Curtain, as Winston Churchill referred to Soviet domination. Many face years in the gulags simply for wanting to go to Israel, some just because they were a Jew and their loving neighbors complained to the authorities that they were unpatriotic and not a real member of the society and needed special treatment. Do you understand special treatment Mr. Waters?

 

On another note, did you know that Arabs serve in the Israeli Knesset Mr. Waters? Did you know that Arab Israelis do vote in Israel as do Druze and Bedouins as well as Christians, Buddhists, and every other religion which an Israeli may practice? There has been an Arab who sat and I believe one currently sitting on the bench of the Supreme Court of Israel. Arab doctors and nurses work side-by-side with Jews as both are Israeli citizens and fully incorporated in Israeli society and we would not have it any different way. Look around the Muslim controlled world and tell me how many of these nations allow Jews equal rights? Are there more than four or five out of the fifty-seven Muslim nations Mr. Waters? Why do people seeking a job and a better way of life who leave places such as Somalia, South Sudan, Eretria and others walk through numerous nations and cross Egypt which might simply shoot them on the spot if they were caught and across the Sinai Peninsula which is fraught with danger from terrorist gangs and still the increased possibility to be seen and shot by Egyptian border guards and finally make it to Israel. These are not political refugees but people seeking employment who are in Israel illegally and will end up returned to their homelands as soon as it is possible, but why would they come to Israel if it were such a horrid place as you claim it is? You probably know nothing about Israel. You probably believe the security fence which is over three-quarters fence and the rest wall usually within urban areas, and you call it an Apartheid Wall. Before that fencing was put in place it was impossible to prevent terrorists from entering Israel and thousands of Israelis were blown up simply living their lives, riding buses, eating in a pizzeria, shopping in a mall or just about anything else you could imagine. One such incident was the Passover Bombing of the Park Hotel Seder where a Hamas assassination bomber exploded its bomb murdering thirty mostly elderly Jews who had no family with whom to share their Passover Seder so they joined each other for this potentially joyous occasion turned tragedy. There were an additional almost 150 severely injured and amongst the victims were numerous Holocaust (Shoah) survivors. This was the sort of action the fence was erected to prevent and it was a total success as it decreased bombings and other terrorist acts significantly within the Green Line, the false armistice line which you mistakenly claim is the end of the lands granted Israel and the Jews by international law. Regarding that, simply read the notes from the San Remo Conference for the truth. As to the original claim to the lands of Israel, allow me to direct you to a book you know about but likely believe it is just a bunch of fairy tales, the book is called the Old Testament, and to make it simple so as not to tax you too much, just read Genesis and Exodus and if you still have questions, read Deuteronomy. Within you might see a few promises made and as was the way of the times, yes, we took the land by force, much like Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, Babylonia, the Mongols and the Arabs have done since. And just so you do not get confused, the Canaanites were not the Arabs who are claiming their ancestral origins to have been, their ancestral origins were from Saudi Arabia and Yemen of today, not anywhere near the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. Then, Mr. Waters, visit Israel and even go to Ramallah and witness that there is an Arab Palestinian Authority government there, the government the Arabs do vote for, providing Mahmoud Abbas ever allows elections, elections which he has postponed since 2006 for his position and for the Parliament he has, they were not all elected, some were appointed and others reside in Gaza which is mostly controlled by Hamas and Abbas is pretty much unwelcomed there. These feuds have nothing at all to do with Israel other than the fact that both Fatah and Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad and the rest of the alphabet terror entities desire all of Israel destroyed and every Jew dead, which is where they claim separate ideas, Fatah just wants the Israeli Jews dead for now, Hamas and friends want every Jew dead worldwide. There is your truth Mr. Waters.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Britain Should Ignore United States and Quit the European Union

Ever since Britain tied their fates with that of the Continent joining originally the Common Market and later its mutated big brother, the European Union, they have had a rocky relationship with Britain considering breaking off numerous times. Every single time Britain considered going off on their own the United States hit their panic button and rallied to keep Britain economically and financially tied into the Continent. Once again Britain is having second thoughts especially with the European Union once again complaining and blaming many of their ills on the British membership. Many British Parliament Ministers and a plurality if not an outright significant percentage of the population have basically come to their wit’s ends with their animosity further aggravated by consistent attempts by the Brussels bureaucracy to marginalize the City of London through hostile regulations. Add to that the economic perils now threatening the European Union are simply another reason to depart before Britain becomes dragged down because of their ties to the European Union. Add to that the ultimate insult the European union pushed upon the loyal British subjects when they instituted fines for anybody utilizing standards weights and measures requiring all transactions and weights, distances and all other measures in metric weights and measures laying steep fines for anybody caught utilizing the English Standard Measures.

The British have one great advantage over almost every other member of the European Union in going their own way in that they never adopted the Euro and retained their own currency, the Pound Sterling. They would not be required to go through a massive inconvenience of having to print and reissue their native currency and change out the Euros as they never quite got all the way into the morass that is the European Union, especially tying one’s economy and monetary system to the unified monetary Euro system which is what has been at the base of the financial failures of many European Union members. For everybody in the European Union who chose to replace their native currency with the Euro, which is almost all of the older members on the Continent, they no longer had complete control over fluctuating monetary difficulties and the rates of inflation and deflation of their currency was now tied to the European Union’s consolidated financial health. This was doomed from the beginning to run into a very basic and simple problem, if every nations GDP, productivity, production, cost of living and virtually every other macroeconomic indicator did not closely match the general average of the European Union, then their economy would drift away from the worth of their currency as the Euro was valued equal in every nation. A country like Germany where they had an industrial growth curve ahead of the rest of the European Union simply because when the two halves of Germany, the East and West, merged together Germany experienced a great opportunity for economic growth as they modernized and rebuilt much of the communist neglected infrastructure and modernized East German industry. This allowed Germany to have a higher cost of living increase than was reflected in the Euro’s value thus allowing Germans to live with an overly-valued economy to currency ratio, an envious position to be sure. Take any of the nations whose GDP and economy are heavily based on tourism such as Italy or Greece and you find the opposite situation. When the United States led the world into economic near oblivion in 2008, it had a disastrous effect upon the tourist industry which drove the economies of nations such as Greece and Italy to fall way behind the worth of the euro which followed the average of the European Union. This problem would have eventually come to bear and have slowly torn the European Union supposedly common economy and currency apart but the economic ailments from the 2008 real estate crash in the United States which was felt worldwide quickened and accentuated this effect. Without being able to allow their currencies to slide with respect to other currencies of the world because of being tied in using the Euro, those nations who were most affected by the downturn experienced overvalued monetary situation which magnified their potential for inflation which resulted in increased unemployment which in turn pushed inflation higher as they spiraled unable to adjust their currency and balance their troubled economic situation allowing for increased demand for items and manufacturing in their country because of lower cost of business. Keeping their own currency, the Pound Sterling, allowed Britain to adjust the worth and exchange rates against the rest of the world, including those other countries in the European union who were utilizing the Euro, and keep a balance between their economic growth and health and their currency worth against the rest of the world.

The British are going to once again hold a popular referendum on whether to remain or pull out from the European Union. Once before when they tried to hold such a referendum the people voted by a slight but more than negligible margin to withdraw and go off on their own. Of course as soon as the results were announce the United States had a complete hissy fit and demanded they redo the vote. There were debates on both sides of the pond, heated phone calls and meetings, everything short of politicians jumping off the Washington Monument or the Tower Bridge with the British claiming the people had spoken and the United States claiming they did not realize what they had done. In the end they held another vote which was reported to have a different result where the people by the smallest of margins voted to remain in the European Union. Well, wasn’t that convenient for Washington and less so for London as London was struck immediately with a number of days of less than normal British stoicism in the form of agitated demonstrations against the European Union in particular and the continent in general. The polls and predictions for any ballot should one be taken is for overwhelming margin for those who wish the European Union and Britain to go their separate ways. The margin will hopefully be so lopsided that the United States simply resigns and accepts the dictates of the British people. Such might actually have a better than average chance this time since President Obama appears to make most of his decisions by inspecting what all the other United States Presidents have done in the past and then proceeding to do exactly the opposite. So, congratulations Britain, you may actually be allowed to do what is best for Britain and not so much what makes the United States and European Union happiest.

Now for a few notes on the European Union which will likely prove the British wisdom for picking this moment to finally depart the European Union. As Discussed earlier, the Euro as the unifying currency cannot work as long as each nation retains their independent financial policies. The European Union cannot act as if it was the United States of Europe unless it can find some manner of providing a unified overriding economic policy which is uniformly applied to all member states. One of the measures for nations is GDP which can be determined as straight GDP or GDP per capita which measures it against population. Looking at European Union nations in straight GDP for 2012 we find a disparity with Germany rated at the top with a GDP of $3,400,579 and at the bottom is Malta with a GDP of $8,689. Using the more balanced GDP per capita removes the bias against smaller nations and our 2012 results in this measure are, at the top Luxemburg with $107,206 followed by Denmark with $56,202 while at the bottom we have Bulgaria with $7,033 and just above them come Romania with $7,935. With such a disparity of GDP having the same currency which disallows independent adjustments to allow for these disparities the Euro as the uniting currency for the European Union was a guarantee of unavoidable difficulties. With these predictable stresses due to a unified currency and disparate economic outputs and productivities the European Union eventually had to come to depend upon the nations with the most powerful economic engines to uphold those who were destined to fall behind. This has led to high levels of distrust, resentment, dependency, and misgivings between the stronger nations and those who they prop up. Germany and France had been carrying the brunt of this burden and as long as these two were able to cooperate neither was overly resentful of their being put upon to prop up the weaker European Union economies such as Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland to name a few. The problem is of late acrimony and mud-slinging has replaced Franco-German friendship. At one end, nations such as Greece have been heavily resentful of the demands put upon them by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for all the financial sacrifices and belt tightening she has demanded as the price for bailing them out over their previous profligacy. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Merkel is fed up and furious at French President Francois Hollande over the French government’s internal problems, particularly the evidence of corruption and rule-breaking by its members. While French President Hollande believes that government investment and increased spending is the solution to the European Union and its individual nations’ economic woes, German Chancellor Merkel is resolved to stick to her formula of spending cuts and austerity. These two have an animus that goes far beyond their opposite approach to solve the economic woes of the European Union but has apparently evolved into a personal dislike that guarantees to produce great levels of stress, smoke and noise and little else. As stated earlier. Britain has chosen a very opportune time to reconsider their membership in the sinking ship known as the European Union.

Beyond the Cusp