No Money

Oh money money money.  What would the world be without this universal medium of exchange?  Well maybe better, but I don't think we'll get everyone to go along with that.  The truth is not just the American economy but the European as well are in crisis.  They problem: too much spending.  Now as third grader I couldn't figure out how our nation could function with money.  Because that's what it means a national debt= no money.  The out of control budget is to blame, I don't know what the personal budgets of the people in charge of the budgets look like, but I dare to say much better, because if they were to have so much debt they would be bankrupt or worse in jail for purposely over drafting or checks bouncing.  The worst thing to happen to the U.S. economy in the last decades was the war on "Terrorism."  Which wasted trillions on a war whose popularity reminds us of Vietnam.  Here are some quotes form a recent article I read on CNN the link to the whole article is below.

"Is $14.6 trillion too much to handle? The real problem is not that the country owes $14.6 trillion today. It's that the number could grow to $23 trillion by 2021 and keep rising thereafter.
In short, if nothing is done to change its trajectory, the debt is on track to grow faster than the economy indefinitely."

"How did the debt problem get to be so big? By habit and circumstance.
The federal government has typically spent more than it collects in taxes. In fact, it has run deficits for all but 12 years since 1934."

"Why did Congress let things get so bad? Political self-interest is perhaps the biggest culprit."

"Won't the debt ceiling deal help? Yes and no. If everything goes as legislated it would cut deficits over the next 10 years by at least $2.1 trillion. But that's only half the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts -- which many lawmakers want to do.
What's more, fiscal experts say, the deal does more to solve a political crisis rather than address the country's biggest fiscal problems."

 

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/05/news/economy/national_debt_faq/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

I'm afraid the European system is suffering from a mixture of this over spending and a non stable economy.  Think of all the countries with the Euro as tectonic plates.  Each has it's own sovereign and separate economies and this is mirrored by the hardness of the plates.  Now the Euro that is the molten mantle of the earth and as such is fluid.  Now the lesson from all this: tectonic plates are the reason for earthquakes and tsunamis!  But unfortunately there might be a darker plot to all this.  As the better economies help the struggling ones, they will want to have more say in the spending of the country they help, but this leaves the country with less sovereign power.  Each time the E.U. makes new polices that's what happens too until all of Europe is one state like the U.S.  Here are some interesting quotes from another article I read on CNN. Link to full article is below. 

"The goal is to contain the crisis by limiting volatility in the sovereign debt markets, where nervous investors have driven borrowing costs for several struggling EU nations to record highs. "

"The eurozone nations have enjoyed the benefits of a shared currency and uniform monetary policy since about 1999. However, aside from certain unenforced budget targets, the group has never had a common approach to fiscal policy. 
 
The lack of coordination has resulted in a situation where stronger members of the union are now being forced to help support less competitive members that have spent beyond their means. 
 
If they don't, many analysts say the union could break up, with one or more nations abandoning the euro. "

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/08/markets/europe_debt_crisis_/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2