Europe

In the past those who did not believe Obama was a socialist, and I am one of them, said he wants us to be more like the European Democratic Socialist form of government. This is about to change with the upcoming French election. The European countries have, since the post war era, drifted toward more government control of their economies and recently they have had to cut back on government benefits, much to the dismay of the populous. We have seen the riots and demonstrations in Greece, Spain and Italy and the people revolting against the attempts to reduce their benefits and this combined with the elimination of many government jobs has sent their economies into decline. Now France is on the verge of electing a full blown Socialist Francois Hollande as President. He has promised to reverse the trend toward reducing government benefits and reinstating many that have been reduced or eliminated. This puts France in direct conflict with the German position of continuing the austerity programs instituted in the past two years. Since all the money to keep these countries afloat comes from Germany the whole concept of the Euro is at stake. Germany will be forced to return to the Deutsch Mark and that will be the end of the Euro and many of these countries will go into default. This is referred to in the news as a contagion meaning it will act like a disease and infect the rest of the world including the US who relies heavily on exports to Europe.