Quote:
Originally Posted by Cocoricoco
U.S has a thing that the EEC does not have.
Future.
|
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You hit the NAIL on the head and the baseball out of the park!
I have been an American Expat in Europe for the last 4 years (Germany for 6 months, the rest Italy)
and living here yes I do LOVE the scenery, art, architecture, culture, food, night scene, beaches, weather, languages (the fact many people are multi lingual).
All that being said OMG I could right a book that could be sold in the science fiction section about what I have experienced living here in the last 4 years in Italy!
You can all read my various posts about Italy where I describe it as a paradise yet as I often say "there is always trouble in paradise"
Things here are so awful economically that the fabric that holds society together is unravelling. On TV here everyone talks about the lack of jobs without ever talking about the fact and I KID YOU NOT....There are people here that go to work sometimes for MONTHS on end WITHOUT seeing a paycheck!!! There is NO recourse if your boss doesn't pay you here. However, if you can't pay the rent you will get kicked out of your home, if you go to the supermarket (ya know cause we all have to eat) you clearly cannot pay with an "I owe you" (meaning when my boss pays me I will pay you) if you are caught stealing cause you are hungry they will call the cops.
Meanwhile my generation here the 24-35 year olds used to be called "generation 1,000 euro" cause a thousand euro was all one could hope for now we are called "the LOST generation" as having NO access to jobs, credit, mortgage, at this point it isn't about a DREAM HOME any house even a shack would be a dream now!
As bad as things seem to be back home in the USA we have not (thank GOD) hit this abysmal point and if we did I'd like to think we would bring the GUILLOTINE back to life before our politicians run the country into the ground!
To think NO part of Southern Europe is any better off than Italy now and even Germany, yes Germany I was just there (for more than a month) has 1/4 of its population in difficulty arriving at the end of the month. In Germany they say the unemployment rate is 5%...BULLSH*T! Back when I was there in 2008 anyone could get a job sweeping the floor for 2,000 euro a month now many jobs are staring off with a 400 euro basis (complete joke). So I do not know what Germany did to cook that unemployment number but before you believe that visit
kostenlose Kleinanzeigen - kaufen und verkaufen über private Anzeigen bei Quoka and see the sheer volume of people looking for employment throughout the country. That and I tell you there are YOUNG POEPLE (thousands upon thousands) from all over Europe getting off the trains in Germany each day with the hope of finding a job (the majority of which do not speak German) and most very shortly end up on the train back to where ever it was they came from.
Don't think that England/UK is much better! If you do than go take a look at the "English jobs for English people movement" it's not racism it is chauvinism (which is understandable) as the logic is "why should I hire you from a foreign land when there are PLENTY of (capable) English people unemployed!"
Point is the 2 best off countries (economically) in the EU cannot offer jobs to the massive amount of the rest of the Europeans who need them! Plus Germany does not have enough money to continue to bailout other (Southern) European Countries which cannot stand on their own 2 feet some have already been bailed out by Germany multiple times.
There is now a common and popular belief arising here that European Politicians will not be able to deal with and MUCH LESS SOLVE Europe's MULTIPLE CRISES of unemployment, economic, and social problems through policies and that the EU itself may see a USSR style breakup!
I certainly do not hope that happens but it is the common belief here in Italy that this country has passed the "point of no return" without officially bottoming out yet, SCARY! To think there are many states in Europe like Greece and Spain where their unemployment rate is greater than that of the USA during the GREAT DEPRESSION. Youth unemployment rates in those countries and here in Italy as well is double that number.
Everyone applauded this quarter when Italy caught up with the rest of Europe as officially out of a recession!!!
YIPIE!!!!
OH but wait!!!!!!
Anybody with a BRAIN can deduce that if a countries GDP does not grow at the same rate of inflation (or surpass it) the people of that country will continue to get poorer as their buying power diminishes. In this case the EU is far from being out of trouble!
Anyway, I can go on and on and again I know back home in the USA things sure are not "as they use to be" but I will tell you this if a world wide cataclysmic event did happen there would be no better place to be than the USA. There are a lot a attributes which makes Europe GREAT however simply put NOBODY is better at getting things done than the American People. In times like today the world needs results NOW! Culturally speaking we can all agree who are the masters of the NOW FACTOR!!!!
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
.