I will not be joining in the adulation for this op-piece.
There is no such thing as Europe, not in a sense as a unified economic entity. The unemployment rate in Austria is around 4%. In Spain it’s over 20%. And in Sweden it’s around 8.5%. So where is this Europe that is collapsing? Some countries have serious problems, others are doing well. They all have nationalized health care and government spending at levels far exceeding those in the US. They also have far lower crime rates and higher life expectancy and better overall health statistics. Their economic systems are diverse and so are their problems, no surprise there. I wouldn’t be so blase about calling the people of these countries “crazy”, without understanding their histories and different political and economic systems.
And as to the variance in performance of several European countries, I would remind you of a similar variance (in the 1920's and 1930's), which resulted in a bloody world war.
Those nations who are performing poorly will cause an geocentric destabilizing effect, negatively impacting the nations who are performing better.
I presume you won't disagree with the fact that the solution is inside ourselves, to become a more moral and unselfish people.
The rest will pan out by itself and we will see how accurate I am.
en the countries there tied themselves to the Euro, they gave up considerable sovereignty to do so. So in the sense that there is no ‘one country of Europe’ for lack of a better term, the Euro so intertwines them, financially and by treaties signed to ensure it’s creation, that in a very real sense, they will live or die by it as if they were one country.