The European Union (EU) has been a work in progress for many years. Since its inception there has been tremendous tension between what can be decided at the EU level and what is decided by the individual countries. Despite an expensive European Parliament the vast majority of the power is held by country governments. That’s in stark contrast to the US where thanks to the Federalists, the Federal government has real clout. As we are now experiencing, the European setup makes it difficult to ma...

The European Union (EU) has been a work in progress for many years. Since its inception there has been tremendous tension between what can be decided at the EU level and what is decided by the individual countries. Despite an expensive European Parliament the vast majority of the power is held by country governments. That’s in stark contrast to the US where thanks to the Federalists, the Federal government has real clout. As we are now experiencing, the European setup makes it difficult to ma...

I remember well debating the concept a single European currency with my Dad when I was growing up in Germany long before the Euro was actually introduced. As a teenager I was fervently in favor and he was deeply skeptical. I am now watching with fascination how the very concerns my Dad had at the time are playing themselves out in Greece. A monetary union is not sustainable if it is not accompanied by a deep fiscal and political union. I had, naively, assumed that the political and fiscal par...

I remember well debating the concept a single European currency with my Dad when I was growing up in Germany long before the Euro was actually introduced. As a teenager I was fervently in favor and he was deeply skeptical. I am now watching with fascination how the very concerns my Dad had at the time are playing themselves out in Greece. A monetary union is not sustainable if it is not accompanied by a deep fiscal and political union. I had, naively, assumed that the political and fiscal par...