Trouble in Europe
The past two weeks of dismal economic news has been impossible to ignore. Europe is in serious trouble. It is at the center of global financial problems. Volatile markets and angry demonstrations are manifestations of the desperate scramble by European politicians to contain the euro-zone debt crisis. The monetary union was supposed to bring about economic stability and remove barriers to growth such as tariffs and regulations. Europe’s weaker economies such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy have been forced into higher borrowing costs. Richer countries such as Germany and France are not committed to the monetary union as they have no way to stop weaker states from undermining the viability of their shared currency. The euro is the only alternative to the dollar as a global reserve currency. However, the euro may not possibly survive the debt crisis that has engulfed Europe given that it is subject to a monetary system that is at the mercy of multiple political systems.
Trouble in London
After a Londoner named Mark Duggan was killed by the police, hundreds of stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham among others were torched and ransacked for four nights by hooded arsonists, looters and brick heavers. It was not considered a race riot although Mark Duggan was a black man. The discontent is in part due to the fact that Britain fares badly in a statistic known as the Gini coefficient which measures inequality in a nation’s income distribution. The last recorded figures indicate that 30% of income in the U.K. goes to the top 5% of earners. Unemployment rates for those aged 16 to 24 is at 20%. In London, there are 25 applicants for every job. The riots have been called class warfare inasmuch as David Cameron’s government is filled with British elite at a time when Britain is more culturally diverse than ever before. The trouble has also been blamed on police inefficiency. Unlike the U. S., British police are unarmed. However, water hoses and rubber bullets have been used. Disaffection with the police is what turned law abiders into lawbreakers and contributed to the escalation of the riots.
Rick Perry – 11th Hour Candidate for the Republican Nomination for President
Rick Perry’s main focus is on jobs and indicates that one-third of all new jobs in the country in the past two years happened in Texas. He points to President Obama’s job record which he calls “abysmal.” And Perry fits the picture of the Tea Party’s ideal conservative candidate. As a sitting governor, he has the executive credentials that are needed in a candidate. He succeeded George W. Bush as Governor of Texas in 2001. He is bound to remind the citizenry of George Bush who shares many of his characteristics although the two men are not close friends. His adversaries are not bashful about pointing out his weaknesses, and yet Rick Perry has never lost a political race.
Source: Time Magazine’s Issue of August 22, 2011