This is an extremely important thesis, which shatters the illusion that globalization (as it has been carried out during the New World Order) has been rational, fair, or sustainable. In summary, according to this interview, the greatest example of its failure has been the euro. The proposal for it came from France in late 1969, for very selfish reasons, to eliminate the periodic devaluing of the French franc. The Germans resisted for decades, because it was obvious that a single currency means a single monetary policy across very diverse economies, which is likely to be too tight for some, and too loose for others. An economist, Nicholas Kaldor, said in 1971 that “because the single currency will amplify economic divergences, it will deepen political divisions, and rather than uniting, it’ll divide Europeans, and pull them apart.” Yet, after the Berlin Wall fell, Kohl wanted to be remembered as the one who reunited both Germany and Europe; so he rallied the Germans and Europeans to launch the euro in 1999. Unfortunately, as predicted, the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2013 amplified existing divergences, which deepened political divisions, and today you see those divisions playing out in the rise of ethnic, nationalistic, and populist revolts.

The solution would be to create compensatory mechanisms, like free labor migration (labor mobility) across the union; and/or the free transfer of resources as needed across the union, without onerous repayment or restructuring terms attached. In contrast, the EU resisted migrant workers and gave out loans that had to be repaid under several years of austerity. This poor strategy prolonged the depressed economic conditions across the continent, which will continue to have a ripple effect in the virtual collapse of one global institution after the next.

Osita Iroku
Brooklyn, N.Y.