Hi EP,
Europeans are locked out of this on several levels. They don't have the military capability to intervene in the Persian Gulf area. Widepsread unemployment due to strong unions and structual issues limits the increasing conusmption of imported consumer goods.
Structual problems and failure of leadership (Wim Duesingberg) to reduce rates quickly has lead the heart of Europe (also known as Weasel-land) into a recesion while creating booms in peripehral countries like Ireland and Spain
For some time now, the Europeans have been complaining about being shut out of the global economic trade policies decision making processes; that their importance to world trade is diminishing; and that as a result of not continuing to be in the forefront of world trade, that European products and services are lagging the sales of comparable goods and services obtainable via other countries, in particular the countries of eastern Asia.
But if one examines the flow of trade, one finds that the Europeans themselves are at the very roots of those problems where they seek to shift the blame to other nations.
As you noted, Europe (taken as a whole) has allowed their military capabilities to diminish, largely because military funding has undergone slow (but quite large) cuts in government funding, where those same monies have been re-appropriated into large and unsustainable social welfare programs.
Strong labor unions, and repeated labor strife, has created a situation where, strictly on a cost of manufacturing basis, European manufactured goods are no longer competitive in price (or quality) with similar goods manufactured in Asia, and in some instances, South and Central America. Innovations and inventions, mass manufacturing and marketing, and finally consumption are almost totally centered in the USA, and by extension, those countries where low labor costs have served to foster an explosion of economic growth (mostly Asia, South America and Mexico).
As the European consumer finds himself/herself unable (and largely unwilling) to purchase imports, Europe (sans Ireland, Spain and a few eastern European countries) finds itself in a vicious downward spiral, where the currency is escalating in value relative to other global currencies. European manufactured goods are becoming more expensive and certainly lack the innovation of foreign goods. And the European consumer continues to buy European goods, partly as a "patriotic" concession to European interests and unions, and partly as an effort at preserving their own employment prospects in an otherwise dubious economy.
So, lacking spending on imports, lacking any competitive edge in manufacturing and manufacturing costs, and lacking any competitive edge in relative currency valuation, one must ask the question as to why European interests are so mystified as to the cause of their diminishing importance to global trade...
KJC |
