I only scanned through this article, sorry for the light touch.
I don't know that much about current Europe, UK, France or Italy, but Macron just ordered snap elections. I guess his government just fell. Here's what they wrote, true of false: "The period ahead for France is one of chaos. Three political forces seem to be battling it out, but none of them offers any analysis of the situation. France is at a standstill."
✓It’s better to live on benefits than to work for a small salary.
✓Public debt stood at 3,101 billion euros at the end of 2023, or 110.6% of GDP. Administrations are very expensive, and deliver very poor-quality services.
✓The armed forces would not last three days against Russia. The police are outdated in the colonies of New Caledonia and Mayotte, and refrain from entering certain neighborhoods even in metropolitan France.
✓The justice system takes years to judge a crime, and
✓The prisons are overcrowded, sometimes by more than 250%.
✓A very large number of students with B.A.s can decipher a text, but cannot read a book.
✓The hospital staff spends one third of their time filling out forms, and no longer have time to look after their patients.
✓Fraud, particularly in social security and tax, seems to be reaching new records.
✓Illegal drug sales play such an important economic role (around 3 billion euros) that it is included in the calculation of GDP.
✓The inequalities are such that while nearly 3 million French people (4.25% of the of the population) are millionaires in dollars.
✓Nearly a third of French people (23 million,) live on less than 100 euros on the 10th of each month.
I suppose that I could say all these things about America too, but without backing it up, there would be no new believers. Something else has to drop before a change of perceptions.
[I will also share this, I lived in Italy for a long time, and I often asked my Italian friend what he thought of the precarious situation, each year seemingly more wobbly. He always said the same thing with the same confidence, {"We'll muddle through it somehow", no worry.} WOW, for how long will that slogan hold water?]
You got the gist of it. We’ve split our responsibilities to the point nobody feels responsible for anything. The prerequisites of the things we want and need are not being care for and we are suffering for it.
I only scanned through this article, sorry for the light touch.
I don't know that much about current Europe, UK, France or Italy, but Macron just ordered snap elections. I guess his government just fell. Here's what they wrote, true of false: "The period ahead for France is one of chaos. Three political forces seem to be battling it out, but none of them offers any analysis of the situation. France is at a standstill."
✓It’s better to live on benefits than to work for a small salary.
✓Public debt stood at 3,101 billion euros at the end of 2023, or 110.6% of GDP. Administrations are very expensive, and deliver very poor-quality services.
✓The armed forces would not last three days against Russia. The police are outdated in the colonies of New Caledonia and Mayotte, and refrain from entering certain neighborhoods even in metropolitan France.
✓The justice system takes years to judge a crime, and
✓The prisons are overcrowded, sometimes by more than 250%.
✓A very large number of students with B.A.s can decipher a text, but cannot read a book.
✓The hospital staff spends one third of their time filling out forms, and no longer have time to look after their patients.
✓Fraud, particularly in social security and tax, seems to be reaching new records.
✓Illegal drug sales play such an important economic role (around 3 billion euros) that it is included in the calculation of GDP.
✓The inequalities are such that while nearly 3 million French people (4.25% of the of the population) are millionaires in dollars.
✓Nearly a third of French people (23 million,) live on less than 100 euros on the 10th of each month.
I suppose that I could say all these things about America too, but without backing it up, there would be no new believers. Something else has to drop before a change of perceptions.
[I will also share this, I lived in Italy for a long time, and I often asked my Italian friend what he thought of the precarious situation, each year seemingly more wobbly. He always said the same thing with the same confidence, {"We'll muddle through it somehow", no worry.} WOW, for how long will that slogan hold water?]
.
You got the gist of it. We’ve split our responsibilities to the point nobody feels responsible for anything. The prerequisites of the things we want and need are not being care for and we are suffering for it.
Howdy, "now we're cooking with gas." As the American saying goes.
Great piece. Thanks for thinking out loud.
ORION
Don’t let New York or the Feds find out! They wouldn’t like that!
LNG? Oh, right. You didn't hear that from me...it was Putin.
Gas stoves? Banned! LNG pipelines? Stopped! Nord Stream? Conveniently exploded!