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September 29, 2008
Cows to the Abattoir
A comment from a BBC ``Have Your Say'' discussion about the failure of the bailout (available here:
As an aside I can't help but contrast the american process with what's happened here in Britain. Gordon Brown's pledged around £50 billion to bail out the british banks and there wasn't even a vote in parliament let alone a veto. We're just dairy cattle I guess, here to be milked. At least the yanks have some say left in their affairs. We certainly don't.
Well put. I don't know which is worse. On the one hand, you have our completely paralyzed political process, which in some ultimate sense reflects a kind of hyper-democracy. On the other you have Europe. There, if the people reject a treaty, no problem: the powers that be will just keep putting sham re-packagings to a vote until they "get it right". If you can't get some expenditure passed democratically, no problem: you just bypass the democratic mechanisms. If you can't get some regulation passed, no problem: you just get Brussels bureaucrats to do it by fiat. Etc. etc.
I'm really astonished by today's events, but can't figure out whether, in some very long term sense, this represents strength or weakness. In the short run, it has left us in even more interesting times.
Posted by dag at September 29, 2008 9:11 PM