Not sayonara, France, Germany, Spain, Italy... sayonara, Europe. Europeans like to brag about their history while saying that Americans have none. (Europe has castles and old houses!) But with that history comes some serious baggage, and the baggage is being released after it's been hidden away the past 10 years.What's going on in Europe right now is akin to Texas lawmakers requiring that purchases be made only from Texas companies, or Californians requiring that jobs be "protected and preserved" only for workers who currently live in California. This doesn't seem like the foundation for a sound currency to me.
4 comments:
Hi Lou! It seems America is getting into the protectionist act as well, with its "Buy American" provision (now being slightly watered down in the senate). As Evans-Pritchard informs us though (see his article on Davos) everyone is still lining up for T-bills, and that's pissing everyone off!
Buy American is nothing new. 23 years ago I was a project engineer on a federal construction project climbing piles of steel, lumber, cement, boxes of hardware, etc. etc. verifying the origin of manufacturer - just as young engineers still do today.
Everything is relative and context is always key - T's are still the safest haven for coin and likely will be for the entire life of anyone alive today.
I've said before - there is a slight chance 2009 will see the break up of the EU.
Chris, I know that America is witnessing protectionism. What I am saying is it's a different flavor in Europe, pitting countries against each other despite them sharing the same currency.
Analogy: The Feds hands out $100 billion to Texas for... dunno... hurricane relief. Then the state passes a law that says that money can only go to Texas companies. That is what these countries are proposing, even though many of them suckle off other European countries via Brussels.
For now, it's really just rhetoric. EU law bans discriminating against other European companies. If countries actually start flaunting EU law, and the probability for this is small but real, then I'll start worrying
Post a Comment