How bad are things getting in Europe?

[kenneal - lagger]

This article about an EU commissioner saying that the older generation will have to have less in order to "save" the younger generation smacks of a deflection policy to me. The Commission are trying to deflect criticism of their very rich friends away from those friends onto the older generation and from some of the comments about the article seen on Facebook it is working. Things must be looking quite bad in Europe.

The lifestyles enjoyed by the rich with super sized houses, super yachts, excessive travel, private planes and gross over consumption is causing more of a problem than anything that the young or old are doing. Their lobbying for no change or a very slow change in order to protect their income and lifestyles adds to the problem and is even worse than the above list

It just shows what an evil fascist organisation the EU is at heart.

[dustiswhatweare]

The super rich are the super rich - transnationals really. You could say the UK, USA or any 'developed' nation has the same problems.

[BritDownUnder]

There's a good book called Moneyland that sums it all up.

I am not sure about the conclusion that it is all about the super rich though. People who save tend to accumulate wealth and older people have more time to save and probably spend a bit less in general. Thomas Picketty says in his book that now you get more return from your capital, i.e your savings than your labour then the rich will get richer at the expense of the others.

With inheritance taxes the middle people tend to get hit but the rich seem to avoid them somehow. I think that will be the real challenge in the future and what the Moneyland book was all about. Keynes said, "In the end (long run) we are all dead" and Greta said that the world will be dead too.

I think the EU is the acceptable face of what would otherwise be otherwise have to be an overtly fascist, or communist if you prefer, organisation - a single European state. Watch that movie "The International".