The EU goes Global

The feeling in the EU is that the term global is a US term. The resistance to the term arises that the workers fear that globalization means that their wages will go down because others regions of the world have workers that will work for less. There productivity is almost as high as the US, and they have generous benefits, such as days off work, and a shorter work week.

Europeans look at integration into the EU as a positive step. Integration into the Global network will be easier. They generally look at integration into the world market as a positive thing, with benefits to their large EU market in global competition.

China and Poland and Security.

While not much has been said about Poland's relationship with China, Poland's relationship between Russia and Germany is always discussed. Missile defense sites were abandoned by President Obama. Relationships between Poland and the US were improved since then. The EU members advocate soft power. But to have a concept like defense requires financial backing. The missile defense was to be funded by the US, not the EU.

The glaring example of the US having so much interest in the defense of Poland, at any time, shows how soft the power the EU has in preserving the internal system of Poland.

The EU is like China - Not much of a schema has been established to protecting individual countries from international threats. Potential threats, such a terrorism, are met by the action of diplomatic bureaucrats. China is skeptical about the solaridity of the bureaucrats of the EU. Perhaps the Chinese are not interested in Poland. As the EU, the Chinese are interested in Russia.

Social net.

The EU has been touted as a progress continent, providing the workers a safety net during economic slowdowns. It has also been prone to have a risk aversion. The average household in the US has a larger income from the stock market than in other types of savings. The result is that the US can be expected to recover from a downturn more quickly than their European competitors.

Many say that the US should become like the EU. They advocate that the US should adopt the labor and health policies that are in place in the EU. Private industry should be supplemented by national bureaucrats. The tax rates in the US should catch up with the tax rates in the EU. But would this hasten a world wide recovery?

This strategy seems to be the old European strategy of risk aversion. Risk taking is needed to develop new products and to provide new jobs. This process is not accomplished by government, except in new research. New research by government can be adopted by private business and put into a new business. But business should be rewarded for risk taking and marketing efforts, not taxed.

Polar World

Should the world be polar? The US is unquestionably a power in the world. With the fall of the Berlin wall, the question arises about who will balance the US in the world stage.

Brazil, China, and India come up, but what about Russia and the EU?.

A survey of people around th world shows few people are happy with the US leadership since the Iraq war. Many distrust Russia, and Iran is an unlikely candidate.

The countries of South America do not gather around a regional union such as the Mercosur countries, nor do the countries of Asia have an effective regional group.

The European Union is not trusted because of its policy of expansion and growing in size. The snub of the summer meeting between President Obama and the EU, brought about a realization that the EU needs to become more cohesive. The European Union had many wars in the past, but recently has enjoyed peace, except for the Balkans. It should have resolved the conflict, but did not.

The question is "can the European nations get together without being encouraged by the US?".