Saturday 26 May 2012

Greece is Boring and Democratically Irrresponsible

These data, presented in Der Spiegel, say it all.  The sky isn't falling and core Europe - which includes  large and successful parts of nation states considered inappropriately together with their under-developed problem regions, is doing brilliantly despite, or quite possibly because of, its marked political and institutional diversity.

"You've all been reading some very old books," Bernard Crick remarked in a political science class at the School.  We are doing it again, and some very old economics books too, in informing our understanding of inter and intra-state relations, practices, goals, in core Europe.

3 comments:

Nomad said...

I have some good friends who live in Berlin, but travel regularly to Poland to do their monthly bulk shopping. I wonder why that is?

dearieme said...

There was a magnificent analogy in last week's Sunday Telegraph. It answered the point that Greece is only 2% of the EU's economy. Ha!, said Liam Halligan, a bath plug occupies only 2% of a bath tub's surface area.

hatfield girl said...

First rate goods at lower prices efficiently delivered, I should think, Nomad. I found shopping in Warsaw still a bit of a struggle - though that was three years ago. Poland does very well out of the CAP.

Greece as the bath plug of Europe? Thinks. Nope. That may be what they hope is the case as they vote for an advanced capitalist country's social wage but refuse to pay their taxes. But bath plugs can become irrelevant as tubs can be filled by how much is pouring in as well as by putting in the plug (as we all know from those awful arithmetic exercises.)

Greece has been largely left to its own devices now, don't you think Dearieme? Who would you call if you wanted to talk to Greece? Certainly not one of those Greek failed politicians currently touring European capitals who failed so spectacularly to form a government, even after a general election