Once again European Union leaders have firmly decided to re-decide everything decided shortly before without taking any action, even the sort of goofy action you expect from statists and Keynesians and socialists. They can only make up their minds to consider and re-consider.
This equates to pure strychnine for markets, for all markets hate uncertainty. Thus even US stocks were kneecapped, the euro made no headway for the week, and the dollar begins to look not so bad after all. After all, it's late, and the bar is closing.
Let us stand back and take a long term view -- really long term, about 350 years or since 1650 when the centralizing trend really took hold in creating national states. Yes, there is a "primary trend" in society as well as markets.
That trend has been rolling over since about 1980. Conventional war's cost has made armies like those of the 1940s impossible -- witness the 4th generation guerilla warfare of the last 45 years. Viet Nam, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan -- armor and paratroops won't work. Now the national state's economic system has begun irretrievably faltering. Worse yet, the ultimate centralization -- the empires into which the national states have been fondued -- are stumbling. Soviet Union's gone, USA is overstretched in 130 countries around the world and dead broke, European Union is flying apart of its own volition.
National states and empires have passed their prime. The process of decentralization in human affairs, including the economic, began with the Viet Nam era and is proceeding rapidly. Even if growing popular opinion weren't (was?) on its side, centralization can no longer keeps its promises and will alienate even more. Ask anybody under 30 whether he believes centralized power is better than decentralized. They young have already decided. The future will be decentralized. Power will flow away from centers to the periphery, and not a moment too soon.
We are now in the worst turmoil, that change where the old is fighting not to give way to the new, and the new is not yet strong enough to take control. The future belongs not to empires, but to secession, to affinity tribes, to small nations. The giant national state is dead for another 300 years.
Originally Posted by elZorro
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