Monday, May 26, 2014
Euro-Election Post-Mortem...
UKIP supporters, along with those of the European right are angry. And nostalgic. Nostalgic for ....ummm .....errrr..... Johnny Halliday? Johnny Rotten ? Sir Lawrence Olivier? Georges Pompidou? Chaban-Delmas? Harold Wilson? Ted Heath? Free parking? No traffic jams? A Ford Cortina or a Renault 4? Ten-pounds-a-week rent? Fifty-P a pint? Greasy chips fried in oil t'aint been changed for weeks? Baked Beans 'n'toast for breakfast? Twiggy? Cliff Richard? A white guy (not a Russian) winning at boxing or sprinting? One-piece swimming costumes? Free university? A job-fer-life? Iconic red pay-phones booths smelling of urine? Phones with an umbilical cord? Single-race marriages? The Cold War? Clean beaches? High-streets free from foreign food? Holidays in Blackpool? Turnips and root veg? Chicory drinks? Maybe. B ut I think that they are nostalgic for rising or stable real wages; a settled feeling that accompanies slower technological change; a stable job that pays a good stable real wage, with an indexed pension, and that is not undermined by someone more educated or qualified or enthusiastic, willing to work harder, for less especially if they are foreign; Oh and lower taxes. All of which are under siege. Regretfully, for sensible public policy, this has little to do with Europe, or immigrants, or the decline of religion and general moral standards. But that won't stop the angry cocks from crowing...like THIS.
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1 comment:
I am an optimist. I think that this is a vote against the current policies of the EU, and not a vote for nationalist/chauvinists/bigots.
The only remotely leftist party that is Euro-skeptic is Syriza, and they won as well.
The structure of the Euro (and arguably the structure of the EU from that point forward) was originally laid out by Robert "The Father of the Euro" Mundell, who is known as the "Father of Reaganomics" stateside.
So the currency's structure is pro-capital, anti-labor, pro-rentier, and pro-finance sector.
It is no surprise that ordinary folks would come to believe that the Euro, and by extension the EU, does not serve their needs, because it doesn't, and was never conceived to do so.
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