The reality of this supra-state is far from its putative promise. Based upon the premise that peace and prosperity flow from increased size and regulatory conformity, what is left of economically viable Europe is threatened by the social and regulatory policies required by the Eurocrats upon entrance to the EU. [Full article]
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/2130/the-trouble-with-the-eu/
The Trouble With the EU
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This just came to my attention, and it illustrates quite well the threat the EU is to Europeans:
“1. NEW EU PROPOSAL TO STORE TELECOM DATA 450 MILLION CITIZENS
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France, Ireland, the UK and Sweden have made a joint proposal to the Council of the European Union to store the telecommunication data of all 450 million EU citizens for a period of 12 to 36 months, for law enforcement purposes.
If the ministers of the member states accept the proposal for a framework decision, all traces of telephony of internet usage of all EU citizens will be stored for a long time. These so-called traffic data reveal who has been calling and e-mailing whom, which websites they have visited, and even where people were with their mobile phones.
The draft framework decision addresses providers of telephony and internet, both networks and services. They will have to store the traffic data of all their users, not just those of suspects. Since there are only few people in Europe without a telephone, gsm or internet, in the newly enlarged Europe this decision would affect the privacy and freedom of
expression of 450 million citizens.
The traffic data will be accessible for law enforcement authorities and intelligence services, not just nationally, but across all EU-borders. The member states decide themselves on the powers they grant to obtain access nationally.”
More here: http://www.edri.org/cgi-bin/index?id=000100000149
That is really scary!
link
This is really frightening indeed. I wonder if there are any such plans in the US, or has it already happened?
Of course, the BIG EU PLAN (and raison d’etre) is “harmonization” of tax, Social Security and Labor legislation. The intention being to create a “level playing field”. In practice, this will mean that ultimately, all states will have to match the highest tax rates, the most comprehensive Social Security programs and the most restrictive labor laws – if they want to avoid severe punishment from EU authorities.
The only encouraging news is that the participation rate for the EU parliament election last Sunday was below 40%, however the eurocrats somehow don’t seem to worry: although it is true that few EU citizens are really interested in the European construction, few are actually willing to fight it.
(note: being based in Europe, I plan to participate in the Mises blog for as long as the European “law enforcement” authorities don’t catch me…it may be too late after the “telecoms spying plan” described by Steven is implemented!)
Good morning Jude,
Again, I enjoyed your essay this morning: The Trouble With The EU. But I would not blame Erhard for their present problems which of course will worsen.
I attach my remarks after your August essay which I repeat. The bad mistakes were made by Erhard’s successors. Again, he warned them, see his essay attached from his book, Prosperity Through Competition.
During his reign, Germany accumulated gold reserves second only in quantity to the tonnage of gold held by the U. S.
The European civilisation, like the American one has deteriorated, and finally must fail, basically because of the abandonment of hard money.
I think that this is what you should be writing about. Given the times, I am of the view that Erhard was the standout excellent economist after WW2, when compared with all of the others in his position everywhere. Similar economic reforms were carried out in Japan and Tiawan.
Sadly all the other wise excellent reforms must eventually fail however, because of the deterioration of monetary standards.
See my notes attached.
Regards,
Ronald Kitching
P.O. Box 9809
Frenchville QLD 4701.
Australia.
Street Address : 174 Wooster Street
North Rockhampton. QLD 4701. Australia.
Phone 61 – 7 – 4926 4681
Fax 61 – 7 – 4926 4682
E-mail
RAHCO Web Site
———-
From: Ron Kitching
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 06:04:52 +1000
To:
Subject: Ludwig Erhard And The Failure Of The Social Market.
Good morning Jude,
Congratulations on your excellent essay published this morning in The Mises Daily.
I have always been an avid admirer of Erhard. I have the feeling that had his original intentions been adhered to things may not have turned out so badly.
He warns of things getting out of hand in his great book “Prosperity through Competition”. An entire chapter titled “The Welfare state the Modern Delusion” says it all.
I’ll attach that chapter of the book in case you have not read it. I am hopeful that you have the entire book as it is an excellent publication and “From The Horse’s Mouth”, as they say.
However, I really liked your essay. Did you know that Ropke had socialist leanings until he found Mises?
You can also see some of these leanings expressed in his wonderful book “A Humane Economy”.
Again, sincere congratulations on a great essay.
Regards,
The US does have a similar program called TIA (Terrorist Information Awareness, previously known as Total Information Awareness). TIA records data on plane and hotel reservations, cell phone conversations, credit card purchases, and who knows what else. Of course, they cannot collect much data on me because as a good libertarian, I pay for all my goods with pure gold. Well, not really.
I live in Canada and the EU was in the news here
recently over their decision to ban the sale of
Saskatoon berry products.(Saskatoons are a sweet
juicy berry a bit like a blueberry.)The reason:
this berry had no history as a food.(People have
been safely eating them for thousands of years.)
And so on the whim of a beaurocrat, producers
have been denied a major market and consumers the right to eat perfectly good food.
The biggest challenge for a career beaurocrat is
usually justifying his job.
Mikey,
Could you please link to an article?
I’d like to read more about that.
No history as a food? How about letting the consumers decide what is food.
That’s sort of the problem with the EU, looking to the past rather than the future.
Andrew
Google “eu ban saskatoons” fourth link(saskatoon
star phoenix)click “cached” for a good article
thanks for your interest
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