durnedwolf
Posts: 885
Joined: 5/23/2005 From: USA Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: RFalvo69 quote:
ORIGINAL: Olorin OK, I'll try to get back on topic by asking RFalvo69 (who appears to be online) for his prediction about the possibility of Italians demanding that Italy leaves the EU and how soon he sees it happening. Well, I actually went to sleep with my computer on I don't see Italy leaving the EU. Even returning to our old money, the Lira, would simply cause a Weimar Republic-level inflation. What about aid? Yes, the BCE bought tons of Government Bonds from the hardest hit counties during the Coronavirus crisis. This move enjoyed universal acclaim: the interests on borrowed money were strongly reduced, thus allowing these countries to spend more in the fight against the virus. But there is an elephant in the room. There is a strong resistance by the "rich" countries (Germany, France, Austria, the Scandinavia’s countries etc) to issue Eurobonds. The fear is that the "Second Division" members of the EU (Italy, Spain, Greece...) will not be able to repay the investment. This would force these countries to cover the deficit by taxing their population, and no politician will ever want that. No German citizen will ever pay taxes to cover, let's say, Italy's inability to fight our gigantor level of tax evasion. Truth is: Italy has lost her credibility. The EU is factually demonstrating how some key members have no more faith in us. So, right now the EU is weakening Italy's social tissue and increasing internal political polarization. Even worse, this emergency brought to light another inconvenient truth: there is no EU. What we call European Union only the sum of the internal interests of a group of very different countries - whose politicians care about the wellbeing of their own country, not of the whole Union. Thus the EU is doing its best to show the endemic problems in the Eurozone, and, by doing so, they are actually promoting the nationalist/populist sentiments ("Make Italy Great Again!", "Let's Take Back Our Country!"... You know the gist). Any nationalist, right now, can appear on TV and say "See? The EU is not the source of help that they promised, for these reasons". And he would be right. It is not even a political view: it is a fact. However, fun fact: Italy is too big to fail. If Italy fails the Eurozone will crumble. So, is the EU stupid? No, this fact is well known. But this is where the ugly head of modern politics appears: the inability to plan, to prepare for the far future. A saying says "A good politician is a man who plants a tree knowing that he will never enjoy its shadow". Today's politicians show you the missing tree and blame (feel free to choose: the EU, the immigrants, those who don't pay their taxes, the opposition, various but not you of course). This pandemic was totally predicted. In 2015 it was a disaster bound to happen in a span of two decades. Did someone do something to prepare for it? No. No one in the World. "Who cares about what could happen in two decades? We could be already dead anyway! Right now we must find a solution to give brioches to our population". Ah well, in two decades we could really be in even worse dire straits: after all, we are deriding a kid who is saying: "Here... Listen... The Planet is becoming a teeny bit warmer... And... I'm a bit worried". Will we learn the importance of long plans from COVID-19? What about the EU "experiment"? And the Italian debt? I truly don't know. But I do know one thing: we are not planning for our sons and daughters' future. What this makes of us? Thanks for sharing, RFalvo69. I really enjoy reading your posts and thoughts. We don't all have to agree with every sentence you write. If I don't agree with your view on a specific topic I can politely move on. Many people have differing views on a variety of subjects. I'd rather look at the areas we have in common, take the opportunity to self-question different opinions than mine, and attempt to grow as a person rather than try to shout you down or attempt to force you to self-edit yourself. My 2-cents is to keep posting your thoughts and views.
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DW I try to live by two words - tenacity and gratitude. Tenacity gets me where I want to go and gratitude ensures I'm not angry along the way. - Henry Winkler. The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. - Herbert Spencer
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