Author: louisbelmont

We have just learned that America will no longer defend Europe.

Don’t panic, Europe. We can handle it.

First, let’s build a real European defense capability. Let’s build a European army that will protect us from threats from the East and the West.

To finance this, let’s stop wasting money.

Let’s build a strong nuclear power industry in Europe, and stop buying oil and gas from abroad. Our suppliers are often our enemies, and now we are helping them with billions of euros in purchases.

Let’s also shrink the welfare state, because it is a cancer for society. Let people work longer and invest more with less tax and less social spending.

Daddy kicked us out. Now let’s learn independence and sensible living.

Gasoline cars pollute the atmosphere. How can we reduce this pollution?

Let’s take a piece of cloth and stuff it into the exhaust pipe to plug it. The pollution can’t get out anymore. Brilliant!

Obviously, this is a bad idea. The car is a complex system with fuel, an engine, a transmission, etc. Plugging the exhaust will cause problems upstream and probably damage the fine mechanics.

However, in Europe, this is exactly what our politicians are doing.

Are rents too high? Let’s set a maximum legal rent, without worrying about the mechanics that determine rents.

Let’s deliberately ignore the upstream impacts: lower rents discourage investors, who will not build housing, which will inevitably cause a shortage. Today, the majority of European countries are victims of a housing crisis.

Is unemployment too high? Let’s make it harder to lay off people, without worrying about the mechanics of the labor market.

Let’s deliberately ignore the fact that employers will now be much more cautious and slow to hire, because it will be harder to get rid of bad employees. Which will inevitably increase unemployment.

The policy of plugging the exhaust pipe is applied, unfortunately, in many areas in Europe – energy, agriculture, insurance, etc.

Politicians love it. To the detriment of citizens, who are the victims of this simplistic thinking.

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