Twenty Years of Blindness.. Economists are terrified

Europe will be social, environmental, and united, or it will cease to exist.

Dear European citizens, the policies we have pursued since monetary union have brought us to the brink. Today, it is time to take a giant leap forward.

This is the message European leaders are sending to their people. The Stability Pact has proven ineffective and harmful. But the Euro Pact, which succeeded it, exacerbates the logic of wage and budget suppression. The financial sector caused the economic crisis and ballooned public debt, yet the Eurozone governments and the European Commission insist on making further concessions to the markets. Like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, all European countries must submit to harsh austerity policies. In each country, these policies fuel nationalism and xenophobia.

The economists, alarmed by the situation, have shown in their statement that other policies are possible in Europe. And they stand by their position. While Ireland, to an extreme degree, exemplifies how the public bears the cost of bank excesses, Iceland is trying a different path and has achieved some success. Issuing Eurobonds, new sources of tax revenue, coordinating economic policies for different growth scenarios, reforming the central bank, and restructuring public debt are all paths economists are discussing with concern.

Europe must be social, environmental, and united, or it will cease to exist.