If Germans are being hit in their pockets, then will they want to keep bankrolling the EU’s Southern block by things like TARGET2:
Target2 has become a giant credit card for Eurozone members that import more than they export to other members. But with two differences compared with a normal credit card: the interest rate is zero and the loan never needs to be repaid.
The USA has close to the same “open credit card” policy of economic creditor states eternally financing debtor states, but all on the “down low”, not spoken of much if ever.
We do it by, for instance, building a lot more forts and training facilities in the debtor states. Perhpas Europe ought to do the same, and finance the building of Mediterranean coast guard stations and fleets and do military training for all European soldiers in Slovakia and Balkan mountains or whatever…
The EU has this problem where the USA doesn’t because we had the brilliant economically pioneering Alexander Hamilton spin his magic on the Constitutional Convention and first three administrations.
Yes to Hamilton but he just copied the British banking to the imperial management model.
We see some fault in our military spending but in reality, it propagates the dollar as the reserve currency a global interest-free loan. The US is very wealthy with the reserve currency that is overwhelming.
The Euro is a budding reserve currency. Building the central European military-industrial complex would strongly compliment it.
Anti-refugee seems problematic. Germany does have declining birthrate and has relied on imported labor for decades.
They lost so many men in WWII women had trouble finding husbands. It has to be as bad as China’s one child policy. But older and more time to recover.
They seem to be advocating the “Netherlands is full” concept. More about protecting culture than economics. Will they import their culture or work to become Germans? Will they be an asset or a liability?
All over Europe people are voicing concerns about migrants but their leaders can’t or won’t do anything about it. Germany, like here in the UK, keeps making bold statements like this, but they just keep coming:
Ireland has gone from 4 million people to 5 million people. It is not the system that is the central problem although there are not enough hospitals in Dublin now. The worst problem is housing. A generation of Irish young people can not afford a starter home. This is unheard of for the Irish and it is resented.