Doomsday In Europe

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Darrell Castle discusses his belief that the riots, especially in France but now also spreading across Europe, spell doomsday for the economic state that has been building in Europe since World War II.

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DOOMSDAY IN EUROPE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 30^th day of October in the year of our Lord 2026. The title sounds a little alarmist I know but is it true and  I will endeavor to make my case for my belief that the riots especially in France but now also spreading across Europe spell doomsday for the economic state that has been building in Europe since World War II.

The end of World War II left a devastated world and only the United States was somewhat exempt from the damage to its infrastructure. Vast sums would have to be spent on rebuilding not just the allied nations but Germany and Japan as well. The victorious nations met at Bretton Woods in the U.S. to discuss the post war economy and they decided that the U.S. dollar would have reserve currency status and all trade would be conducted in dollars.

The U.S. as the most powerful surviving nation would provide virtually all defense obligations and Europe would then be able to use its own revenue for rebuilding and caring for their populations. The situation shifted a little with the formation of NATO in 1948 when the Europeans agreed to spend about 3% of GDP on their own defense but almost none of them ever lived up to the agreement.

Until August 15^th, 1971, the dollar was backed at least partially by gold so it was somewhat stable but after the gold standard ended it was backed by nothing but promises and debt. The U.S. and Europe were unable to provide all they had promised economically, but to stay in power those promises had to be kept and exceeded with each election cycle. The only way to keep them was through the accumulation of massive amounts of unpayable debt until finally interest on the debt became the largest or at least close to the largest item in the budget. In the U.S. it became so bad and so embarrassing the congress and the president decided to stop pretending and just refuse to pass a budget at all.

The rest of this background might remind you a little of the Soviet Union in the pre-Gorbachev era. The Soviets had all these Eastern European countries that they conquered at the end of World War ll. They took the countries from Germany at the end of the war but they had no industrial base to pay for it all as the U.S. had. So, they had 16 dependent colonies they could point to and draw military forces from but these colonies produced nothing and were nothing but a drain on the Soviet economy.

Reagan and Gorbachev reached an agreement and the Berlin wall came down and with it the Soviet Empire. These countries were suddenly free to join the west or chart their own course. Today, in Europe there exists a similar problem and in some ways it is even worse because there is no Soviet army to suppress the violence. The worst part, though, is that today we are not concerned about dead weight countries that could no longer be afforded but people by the millions who can no longer be afforded. These people who are essentially dead weights upon the tax paying people of all European countries. There is no longer even close to enough money to pay for it all so the governments have attempted to pay by accumulating debt which each politician shifts to the next generation and with each election cycle the situation gets worse.

Let me give you an example from France where the riots seem to be the most widespread. My argument is that what the rioters are demanding is the actual cause of their anger and their protests and anger makes the problem much worse because the government does not have the courage to confront them with the truth. According to the Molinari Institute which studies and reports economics in France the highest line item in the budget at a whopping 57% of GDP is government.

So, what that means is that 57% of everything produced for sale in France goes to fund the French Government. In fact, it would be fair to say that hardly anything except government id being produced, well, less than 50% anyway. Those who work in France, and obviously most of them work for the government produce nothing, the average Frenchman pays 55.6 % of his wages in tax. So, yes the government certainly does affect the cost of living just not in the way French politicians try to tell us.

The French people aren’t buying it though, and they apparently refuse to accept any responsibility for their growing impoverishment. The protests, if that’s what we are supposed to call riots and anarchy ensure the state remains bloated, and in massive unpayable debt. They insist that younger taxpayers shoulder the burden of caring for an aging population. They demand younger retirement and longer vacations each year and the government either provides those things or goes away. No politicians wants to lose their grip on power so the elections go to those who promise the most.

Their demands continue to burden the young but the young don’t seem to understand that and instead they demand to jump on the gravy train at an ever-younger age. The French people have virtually stopped having babies so the supply of labor at the early end of the Ponzi Scheme is drying up. The government responds by importing millions of unskilled, third world migrants who have no way to support themselves except government largesse so the burden on the indebted state grows bigger each day.

The government, through its captive media constantly reminds all those hostile rioting hordes that whatever jobs they may have had will soon be going away because of AI. Once AI takes all the jobs and leaves the rioters with nothing and a government that has nothing but debt I wonder what will happen to France and virtually every other European country. Even Spain, perhaps the most left-wing country in Europe, is burning and this is a problem without a solution, at least there is no solution that does not involve pain, and military force, and would also require the cooperation of the European people which at this point does not exist.

There are indications that the reported economic issues the rioters mention are in reality just excuses to cover the usual left-Islamist alliance. The rioters virtually always have what they say is the Palestinian cause at the forefront. Palestinian flags adorn virtually every march. With each riot and each looting, burning episode the frustration and anger grows. Hundreds of police have been injured and thousands have been arrested but it goes on.

The rioters seem to feel nothing but contempt for the country they now live in. According to reporters, the city of Paris braces for new assaults each day. This weekend is Halloween and no one seems to know if that will have any effect. My guess is that it will provide an excuse to increase the violence since the mob thinks the government is afraid of them and  is on the defensive. Business owners in Paris have resorted to hiring mercenary contractors to protect their businesses.

The mob burns its way through irreplaceable landmarks and monuments in Paris and the police stand guard but they can’t protect everything at once. The bottom line of the problem is France’s catastrophic financial situation. Government spending accounts for more than half of GDP so all those Frenchmen and migrants produce almost nothing and demand more and more. France spends very little on defense but debt is now 120% of GDP. In other words, everything produced for sale in France for a year would fall short by 20% of paying the debt.

So, the French people shovel 55.6% of everything they earn into social programs and they don’t think they are getting their fair share. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that since most of them work for the French Government all they are doing is moving the same pile of money or debt around and the only benefactors are the banks so same song second verse. The economy and the socialist French Government cannot afford what they promise to provide to the people and it all collapses under the weight of trying.

The debts they have accumulated cannot be paid so they must borrow more to pay the interest and the only solution—drastic cutbacks is one the people will not accept. For that reason I use the term doomsday because it seems to me to be a terminal problem that cannot be solved and the rioters the French have imported will eventually do what Charles Martel prevented them from doing hundreds of years ago and that is destroy France and put an end to Western Civilization.

The problem of government confiscation of wages in the form of taxation and government spending representing most of GDP prevents the private sector from coming to the rescue because it takes up all investment capital and leaves no productive side to the economy.

This appears to be a violent rebellion by groups of angry, discontented people most of whom are from immigrant backgrounds who seem persuaded they are all oppressed much more so than in the hell holes they left for France. That is a situation easily coopted by the alliance between the radical leftists and the Islamists with the Palestinian cause as a driver.

Finally, folks, Europe is far ahead of the U. S. in terms of secularism and the abandonment of religion. They have no God and when that happens the state becomes the god who failed them. This problem is an unsolvable doomsday loop because their politicians are soulless, nihilists who have no answers except for more of what caused the problem. They know nothing and they demand everything. They tell the world up front and openly they are going to take our civilization by force. Will we surrender or fight.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.