Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University discusses how the politics in both Germany and France have become more fractious as both economies struggle to grow. He says the prior years of low interest rates helped them temporarily ‘kick the can down the road’.
The only way the EU can break the funk is to break free from being a vassal to the US. Remember the US has to eat first and you will be stuck with leftovers. So keep on blindly following the US policy and you will be poor. This ain’t the 1980s anymore.
How to grow if they only serve the interest of their master across the pond?
lol. How about reducing regulations, ease labor laws and make the place more meritocratic? Instead of playing the victim.
Childish response.
It’s not just these two countries: it’s called secular stagnation: it’s a capitalist problem.
Extreme energy cost for industry and households (compared to the rest of the world) – how should they compete adding to it very high bureaucracy, high taxation on labour, 20%+ VAT and basic living cost that have risen by 50% to 100% in 3 years (because energy is in the apple, in the steel, in the brick, in cement, in wheat, in transport, in production, in bread, in the restaurant, in the fridge, in the ATM machine). Housing cost – be it rental or bank loans to finance the home purchase have risen too. Low and no income migrant crisis. The obvious solution would be to reduce energy cost, lower taxes, lower bureaucracy to stimulate consumption within the EU – and that´s not even on the horizon of EU politics.