Maggie's Farm

While I consider myself pro-Germany and anti-EU, I must stand up for some of the things that have worked out quite well. I hope that even if the EU should unravel, these policies will not be discarded.

Standardization - in the USA you have ASME and ISO technical and engineering standards that define how things are made, produced, controlled and regulated. Things from bridge construction to electrical plugs and outlets. Common standard are a good thing, rather than a huge mix of British, German, Swiss standards where each follows it's own rules and fails to harmonize them. If you want a good example of what happens when you don't harmonize, try traveling around Europe without an electrical outlet adapter!

Currency - I hated to see the DM go away, but I must admit the Euro has really made day to day purchases and traveling much easier. The costs and hassle of constantly exchanging currency at the borders was a nightmare. Imagine using one currency in Texas, another in Oklahoma and yet another in Louisiana and living in Dallas and traveling frequently to the other two. That's how things were before the Euro came into being.

Freedom of movement - This is a big deal! Imagine someone from California not being able to move to New York because they are not a "New York" citizen. Under EU regulations, EU member nation citizens can easily move to and work in other EU countries without a work permit or permission of the host country.

English in schools - Most EU countries now require English as the primary second language. English is the international business language, and if countries want to effectively communicate, it has to be with a common language. It's just that simple.

It was clear that the disparity of the member nation economies, plus the outright lies of Greek finances early on, have not helped them and now Germany is perceived as the bad guy. The truth is Greece and Portugal should have never been allowed to join the EU from a currency perspective. But open borders and harmonization of technical standards, freedom of movement and a common language make life much easier.

Unfortunately an established bureaucracy does not have a great history of acknowledging its own bad ideas and tends to cling to even the worst ideas in a "But we've always done it that way!" attitude.

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