Comments about ‘Timothy R. Clark: The broken European Union’

I think the union was and is a good idea. The common currency was way too over ambitious and should have been rolled out after years of making the union work.

The European Union is not "broken," as the author asserts. Proof is in the fact that all but one nation - the UK - joined in the recent plan put forth primarily by Germany and France (and the UK is not one of the Euro 17 countries).

Yes, the EU is going through a learning process, and the hard way at that, but their unity shows through in their current efforts to tamp down the damage caused by too much social spending.

If the EU countries don't start budgeting and spending wisely, then their organization might brake, but it's too early to tell, and their current unity in the face of financial troubles shows just the opposite.

My wife and 4 of our 7 children were born in England (I was born in Alaska). We live in Utah now, but with most of my wife's family living in France, we watch the Eurozone carefully.

Dr. Clark's is correct; the European Union is broken. David Cameron's recent veto may have been unpopular, but it was the right thing to do.

The long dissolution of the Soviet Union was formalized on December 26, 1991, giving 26 states their independence. Just weeks later, on February 7, 1992, the Maastricht Treaty created the European Union which has now grown to 27 states.

It was as if the USSR had vacated its position as the "other" superpower in the world, and Europe excitedly (and naively) filled out a single page job application hoping to hurriedly take its place.

However, just as the mismanagement of the Soviet Union led to its demise, the European Union is following suit -- and the United States are not far behind. Why can't presumably intelligent people see the folly of debt?

Interestingly, former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, once said, that it is "absolutely conceivable that the Euro will replace the U.S. dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency" (Reuters, Sept. 17, 2007).

Two years later, in September 2009, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the replacement of the US dollar by the euro in the country's foreign exchange accounts.

Good call, guys.

When will the world, meaning each and every one of us as decision makers, wake up to the idiocy of debt?

"Occupy" rails against corporate greed, but what about themselves? Are they carrying credit card balances?

Our own greed is our biggest threat to national security.

A friend recently said, "Didn't we fight two world wars to keep Germany from taking over Europe? Hitler should have just created the Euro, because with Germany bailing out Europe, they are all now beholden to Germany anyway."

But the existence or non-existence of a Euro or European Union is the the problem here.

The problem is sovereign states' decisions about debt, and how they affect those in the boat with them.

And if the United States doesn't wise up soon and stop buying votes with our grandkids' money, their grandkids will be reading about the fall of the two superpowers: the USSR and the USA...

And they'll be reading about it in Chinese.

Thanks for pointing out that the collective wisdom of Europe's financial intelligentsia is not more powerful than crushing sovereign debt. The US needs to learn that lesson.