Goodbye, Mother

Uncrowned Queen of Europe, Newsday, November 4, 2018. "German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to surrender her leadership of the Christian Democratic Union is a surprise, though not a shock. The causes of her departure reveal the folly of the course that Germany followed under her leadership."

It's Expired and Gone to Meet Its Maker

Will Italy Be The Next European Domino?, Newsday, June 10, 2018. "Eight years ago, the euro and the European Union were rocked by the near-collapse of Greek finances. Since then, migrants and Russia have crowded Europe’s banks from the headlines. But as events in Italy over the past two weeks have shown, the European peril is not dead. It is only resting."

Depression's Not the Cure for Greece

European Union Not the Answer to Greek Extremism, Newsday, July 11, 2015. "After 1945, the U.S. promoted economic freedom and growth in Europe to keep Communism at bay. Today, by backing the European Union in Greece, the Obama administration is driving Greece deeper into a depression that already has brought the far left to power."

The Hour of Europe (Again)

Germany Falters in Ukraine and Greece, Newsday, February 22, "German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently negotiated a cease-fire in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Within days, Ukrainian troops lost the city of Debaltseve to a new Russian-backed rebel offensive. At the same time, European negotiations on the Greek financial crisis broke down in acrimony. This is the hour of Europe, and it's a disaster."

A Case for Public, Not Private, Austerity

As Spain and Greece Burn, Estonia Offers a Lesson, with Ryan Bourne, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 28, 2012. "Usefully, the Eurozone crisis has provided a natural experiment in how to deal with a severe downturn. The results of that experiment have not favored the unsophisticated Keynesian view that more borrowing is the answer. The highly indebted Southern European states decided to run big fiscal deficits in the aftermath of the crisis, and now face suffocating debt burdens and still-uncompetitive labour markets. On the other side of the spectrum, the Baltic nations (especially Estonia and Latvia) cut government spending and liberalized their economies. While the short term effects were painful, these two countries grew by 8.3 percent and 5.5 percent last year—remarkable when you consider that Greece, Spain, and Italy are in recession."

Fog In Channel, Commentators Cut Off

Britain's 'Isolation', Contentions, December 18, 2011. "To me, the funniest – and most revealing – part of the entire affair is the argument that Britain will suffer for its ‘isolation.’ The nicer version of the argument holds that the EU is about to make a lot of rules – or, to be more exact, about to make even more rules – that will be bad for Britain, and Britain needs to be at the table to mitigate the damage they’ll do. The less nice version of the argument is that the EU, long generous and forbearing towards an ever-wayward Britain, will now lose patience and wreak a mighty vengeance upon it. Given the EU’s current difficulties, this makes me chuckle. No matter which version of the argument is proffered, though, it comes down to the underlying assumption that the EU is akin to a hostage-taker who punishes disobedience by his captives. That may be so. But if it is so, why stick around at all?"

The Euro Deal: Building A Better Titanic

Why the Euro is Fighting a Losing Battle, with Sally McNamara, Foxnews.com, December 10, 2011. "The entire Eurozone economy hardly grew at all in the third quarter. This is not just a symptom of the crisis: it is a fundamental cause. Even if Greece abandons its fiscal sovereignty, it will still be 30 percent less competitive than Germany. A new European treaty might buck up the markets for a bit, but it won’t resolve the underlying issue. The EU’s effort comes down to promising to build a better Titanic next time: it does nothing to help the current passengers."

American Geographic and Electoral Mobility

Americans Move, But Will the Result Change?, Centre for Policy Studies, December 8, 2011. "The political effects of this shift are equally stark: in 2012, the Republicans will gain a net total of six electoral votes, if the states vote as they did in 2008. Of course it is unlikely that the state votes will remain unchanged, but the fact remains that President Obama will have to run harder in 2012 just to stay in place. The long-run trends of American geographical mobility are telling, slowly, against him."

How Much Do European Move Around?

European Mobility and the Euro, Contentions, October 6, 2011. "One regular criticism of the Euro has long been that Euroland is made up of, as Milton Friedman put it, “different countries [with] different languages, limited mobility among them, and they’re affected differently by external events.” A recent column by Jay Cost brings home just how low that mobility actually is."

Competence Matters

Obama’s Leadership is Devaluing the West, and We Will All Pay the Penalty, Yorkshire Post, October 3, 2011. "If governments want to succeed on big matters, they need to get the small ones right. So much of the everyday work of governing is tiring and dull, but it is important. Managing programs, proposing bills, and dealing with the legislature is the price of winning last time, and the stuff of victory next time. President Barack Obama is failing on the small stuff, and it is dragging his administration down in a big way."

Not Money, But Democracy

The Soft Underbelly of Europe, Contentions, September 23, 2011. "The underlying problem in Europe is not financial, or even economic. It is that we are no longer in the historical era of nation-making, and the entire raison d’etre of the EU is, indeed, to oppose nationalism. As former Europhile Max Hastings has recently confessed, that itself is a kind of narrow-mindedness. But it is madness to try to build an economic and political super-state on a base of contempt for the popular will and regular condemnations of nationalism, which historically is the force that has created unified body politics. Europe is not paying the price for too much borrowing. It is paying the price for too little democracy."

Will Ireland Go Bankrupt?

President Obama Visits the Irish Financial Crisis, with J.D. Foster, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #3266, May 20, 2011. "When President Obama visits Ireland on May 23–24, he is expected to visit Moneygall, in County Offaly, the ancestral home of his mother’s family. While finding Irish ancestors is a favorite electoral sport of American leaders, the President would be better advised to spend his time studying the Irish financial crisis, which has important lessons for America. If this crisis continues to deepen, the U.S. may be compelled to consider the implications of an Irish default. If default becomes inevitable, then the U.S. should not simply take the side of European institutions if doing so would uselessly prolong the crisis."

What the Euro Crisis Means for State Legitimacy

The Euro and Euro-Legitimacy, Contentions, May 28, 2010. "Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph and Francis Cianfrocca in the New Ledger have must-read analyses of the Euro crisis. Evans-Pritchard’s essay resists easy summary, but it makes the broad and depressing point that, in Europe, the left has offered a more persuasive analysis of the crisis than the center-right."

Lessons from Churchill to Cameron on May 10

In Britain, Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man?, FoxNews.com, May 10, 2010. "May is a momentous month in British political history. By virtue of the respite it offers from Britain’s legendarily gloomy weather, it has witnessed more than its fair share of elections. And by virtue of the fact that good campaigning weather is also good fighting weather, May marks the most historic handover of power in modern British political history. Today is the seventieth anniversary of the beginning of France’s defeat at the hands of the German Army, of Winston Churchill’s entry into Number 10 Downing Street, and of Britain’s salvation."