Sandra Neish
Jack Manhattan
Harvey Wallbanger
This week we watched as the EU’s banking practices are being tested. The crisis in Greece, an EU member state, has highlighted the consequences of a unified European economy. Each member state fights tooth and nail to keep as much sovereignty as possible, while pointing the finger at other member states about their lack of international cooperation. I am particularly prejudiced against the Germans, just because they have proven themselves to be mass murdering fuckheads. But I like Angela Merkle. She is a hardcore bitch (in every good sense of the word, and if you do not know what that means, find you a fag quickly and he will explain it), and takes no shit from anyone.
One cannot be mad at the British for abstaining from the Euro and retaining the Pound Sterling. After all, £ is cool as hell. € is just gay (in every bad sense of the word, and if you do not understand this find you a fag quickly, and think about a fanny pack. “Gay” really is the only word to describe that.).
That aside, it seems that the EU needs to save Greece as quickly as possible. With the second largest economy in the world, after the United States, and more actual currency in circulation than the U.S. dollar, they need the collective banking and economic EU community to work. This is the first real test of the EU as a solid economic block. As they say, a butterfly flaps its wings and a hurricane hits the other side of the planet. If the EU is to save face as an actual entity, it has to bail Greece out and it has to do it fast.
The problem? They have to now disclose how they have been concealing their own national debts and problems within their own financial systems in order to do this. Financial Crisis aside, this is a huge thing for the European Union to do in any event. The fight between national identity, European identity, and a collective economy is finally coming to a head. Since the early 1990s, economists, historians and sociologists have been waiting for this moment. When things get rough, how will this collective economy respond?
I think we should wait to pass judgement. The EU may actually rise to the challenge and spread the wealth. Or, there may be more outspoken protest against bailing out one country at the time when the most resources are needed at home. What we must remember is that economic downturns happen all the time in history. This is not the first, will not be the last, and the “Great Depression” was simply a prolonged event. There have been too many bubbles burst, and too many economic depressions to panic. We will weather this storm, and we will emerge just fine.
