Paul and the Europeans

Paul Krugman has explained, several times that he is a very reluctant, though thoroughly convinced anti-Brexit kind of guy. Why so reluctant? Because of the “sad reality” that the EU has become:

“The so-called European project began more than 60 years ago, and for many years it was a tremendous force for good. It didn’t only promote trade and help economic growth; it was also a bulwark of peace and democracy in a continent with a terrible history.

“But today’s E.U. is the land of the euro, a major mistake compounded by Germany’s insistence on turning the crisis the single currency wrought into a morality play of sins (by other people, of course) that must be paid for with crippling budget cuts. Britain had the good sense to keep its pound, but it’s not insulated from other problems of European overreach, notably the establishment of free migration without a shared government.

“You can argue that the problems caused by, say, Romanians using the National Health Service are exaggerated, and that the benefits of immigration greatly outweigh these costs. But that’s a hard argument to make to a public frustrated by cuts in public services — especially when the credibility of pro-E.U. experts is so low.

“For that is the most frustrating thing about the E.U.: Nobody ever seems to acknowledge or learn from mistakes. If there’s any soul-searching in Brussels or Berlin about Europe’s terrible economic performance since 2008, it’s very hard to find.”

Well, that’s the thing about elites, Paul. They don’t learn from their mistakes, because they don’t acknowledge them, because they don’t have to. They stay in power no matter what. Being an elite means never having to say you’re sorry, to coin a phrase.¹

Paul’s frustration with European elites is nothing new. In an earlier column, which I can’t quite find, Paul remarked that when the idea of a common European currency was first being put together, he warned, presciently enough, against it, doing so, it seems, right up until the birth of the new coin. What he got for his pains, he says, was an exquisite shower of condescension and contempt whenever and wherever he raised the subject. As, well, a Yank, he just lacked the subtlety and breadth of mind to grasp the subject.

In fact, of course, Paul did get it, and the Europeans didn’t. They were blinded by the will-o-the-wisp of European “greatness”, which had so unfairly been snatched from them by the U.S.—largely, it must be admitted, through their own faults and follies. But they had learned from their mistakes. They would do it “right” this time. Europe would be one, and European civilization would rule the world once more, without assistance from stubby-fingered Americans. In seeking to build a monument to their own greatness, they have plunged a generation of Europeans into needless economic deprivation and political confusion and even despair.

If only Paul could see as clearly the vanity of his own American elite, how we waste tens of billions of dollars in self-righteous environmentalism that robs the working class to gild the 1%’s summer homes. O motes and beams!

Afterwords
Perhaps, in time, Paul’s awareness of the deadheaded European elite will cure him of his longing, like so many on the left, for the U.S. to be “like Europe”, where people “like us” are in charge. But I’m not holding my breath.