> The EU is poor. It has been mismanaging itself for years: they should be doing better than they are. Is this caused by outside vectors or the leadership, or maybe the structure (too many cooks in EU kitchen)?
> Is the vision of the world the EU wants 15-25 years out strong?
> Is the world the EU would create good for the EU - 30 years out? I’d argue it’d be a comfortable one. But a poor and weaker one.
The EU vision isn't just about economy and making money. This is something that the US will never understand because money and unrestricted capitalism is the only thing that counts there. The US truly doesn't understand that any other model can work, because the only way they measure success is $$$.
Whereas we in Europe care more about quality of life, a safety net etc. Our bank accounts are a means to that end but not a goal in themselves.
Of course Europe is quite different depending on the area with Netherlands and the UK also very neoliberal but most of the other countries are way more moderate.
I often get this disconnect even with my Dutch friends. They don't understand why I won't move back to Holland as I could make twice as much there in the same role. But the cost of living is also higher and more importantly the quality of life is much lower. People in Spain truly enjoy life much more.
For example during lunch a Dutch person would have a quick sandwich at the canteen so they can head off home early and beat the traffic jam. They always want to have the prettiest house and the fanciest car and work hard for it. So hard they lose time to enjoy those things. In Spain we go for lunch to a restaurant to have a three course meal with a glass of wine and after work we often grab a beer or two and sit in the sun. Most of my colleagues don't even own a car.
I don't think "Spanish people get to be alcoholics" is enough proof that a system works where you need to have the same currency as a poorly run country like Greece or, at this point, Germany.
(Germans are psychotically high trust and seem to just believe anything anyone tells them, like "you should shut off all your nuke plants" or "Russians are really nice and it's fine to buy all your energy from them" or "you should sell your robotics companies to China" or "you should never ever run a budget deficit".)
It's not really about the drinks and many people don't have the wine or beer. I just included them as a way to describe the informal nature. At lunch we only ever have one (in France even the canteens serve wine, it's quite normal). And we don't do it every day :)
It's just about enjoying life being the primary goal, not amassment of material goods.
> Is the vision of the world the EU wants 15-25 years out strong?
> Is the world the EU would create good for the EU - 30 years out? I’d argue it’d be a comfortable one. But a poor and weaker one.
The EU vision isn't just about economy and making money. This is something that the US will never understand because money and unrestricted capitalism is the only thing that counts there. The US truly doesn't understand that any other model can work, because the only way they measure success is $$$.
Whereas we in Europe care more about quality of life, a safety net etc. Our bank accounts are a means to that end but not a goal in themselves.
Of course Europe is quite different depending on the area with Netherlands and the UK also very neoliberal but most of the other countries are way more moderate.
I often get this disconnect even with my Dutch friends. They don't understand why I won't move back to Holland as I could make twice as much there in the same role. But the cost of living is also higher and more importantly the quality of life is much lower. People in Spain truly enjoy life much more.
For example during lunch a Dutch person would have a quick sandwich at the canteen so they can head off home early and beat the traffic jam. They always want to have the prettiest house and the fanciest car and work hard for it. So hard they lose time to enjoy those things. In Spain we go for lunch to a restaurant to have a three course meal with a glass of wine and after work we often grab a beer or two and sit in the sun. Most of my colleagues don't even own a car.
Life feels way more real to me here.