Hehe...

I re-read Ryan's last... and I think I finally got the title reference and how it relates to what he was saying. Nice.

I also like the comic. Time was, more than a decade ago now, when Jambo and I had a couple of very good friends living in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was about the time of the introduction of the "eurozone"... and our friends, Peter and Lars, were adamantly opposed to such a venture. Cried from the mountaintops about the impossible nature of tying that many separate, sovereign states and economies to one currency. This must have been the prevailing opinion in Denmark, because it is one of the few EU member states that have opted out of the Maastricht Treaty and retained the krone as its national currency... although the krone is tied to the value of the euro on a one-to-one exchange. I guess that is why you don't see the caricature of a Dane in that cartoon, because even if the euro would collapse completely, the krone could simply be tied to another, more stable currency from another nation (as it has been in the past with the US dollar, the British pound, and the German mark).

Watching an economy as vibrant and vital as the Irish was in the late 90s succumb to the whims of liberal elites who determined that, while a 12% rate of GDP growth was excellent for the Irish, it was too fast for the EU and offered too much disparity in wealth distribution amongst the lowest income bracket of the Irish wage earners. Never mind that even in 2005, the unemployment rate in Ireland was less than 2%... or that it is now more than 18%... or that the nation had the third highest standard of living for ALL levels of income on earth... the poor were still poor, and the rich were getting richer. All the liberals in Berlin, Paris or Brussels saw was an opportunity to expand liberal agendas via the EU where they hadn't already taken root.

It's not too late for the EU. If they can simply recognize that a planned, centralized economic engine will not work (there or anywhere) the way they want it to... and allow the member states to operate their economies as the voting public sees fit, then the union may stand a while longer.

I'm not holding my breath, though... and should the union dissolve, the impact on the global economy could be every bit as devastating as what happened in 1929.