Auf Wiedersehen!

The European Union - the EU - the United States of Europe, the European Superstate. Well, probably not. The financial troubles in Greece have triggered a $1 trillion response from the rest of the EU to hold the euro together. Of course, Greek unions are unhappy and don't care about the fate of the rest of Greece as long as they get theirs, but the greater problem is that Portugal, Spain, Italy and even Britain are already in line for their share of handouts and who is going to pay the freight for them? And therein lies the rub.

Despite the surface veneer of a European Union, it is merely a cosmetic paint over some very different countries. All of them share a welfare state where recipients are simply outstripping the ability of a dwindling number of producers to generate enough wealth to pay for everything, which is the underlying problem. The inevitable result is a succession of increasing deficits and with a dwindling birthrate, no ability to cover them in the years ahead. Those already in line with hands out lack the will to put their economic houses in order and so must look to the more stable countries to underwrite their sloth.

And then there are the Germans. I write as one of German descent and Germany is a great country, a productive country, but one that is not, shall we say, always very empathetic with its neighbors. Germany finds itself in relation to most of the rest of the EU as the U.S. has often been to Europe. There are signs that it doesn't like this role very much and, despite chipping in a chunk to bail out Greece, one has to wonder about how sanguine Allemagne will be when the other states line up for their share of German largesse. I'm going to guess that largesse will quickly begin to run in short supply and, if so, the EU will slowly deflate like a big balloon and sink on to history's dust pile. The ancillary and more interesting question is: where will Germany go and what will it do? Historically Germany has vacillated between East and West. Russia is a basket case itself, in spite of its vast natural resources, but with a little German know-how... Ve shall see, ja?