Europe

Europe is slowly sinking into a morass of economic and social quicksand. Over the past 30 plus years Europe has moved to replace fossil fuels with green energy. While doing this most countries, other than France, began the process of closing nuclear power plants. In a dramatic example of not thinking things through, they thought they could replace fossil fuels with wind and solar only to discover that there was not much wind or sun. The push toward EV’s neglected to consider Chinas influence on the market which all too soon produced better EV’s at lower prices. Then the US introduced reciprocal tariffs on EU goods and many European countries, like Germany, were heavily dependent on exports. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the European countries stopped buying Russian natural gas before they had set up adequate replacements. This caused a spike in energy prices which is still adversely affecting countries like Germany. Many countries are reducing production of autos and chemicals and moving plants to the US. Then, many European countries following post WW 2 guest worker programs, backed by compassionate leaders allowed mass migration of Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners to enter Europe. Many of these new people were unable to assimilate due to language and cultural differences and this led to criminal activities. Muslims are facing discrimination and disproportionate numbers are being incarcerated and this is leading to unrest. As the countries find it necessary to cut back on social programs the people are protesting, most notably in France. The US has stopped financing Europe’s defense and they must now spend more on their own military which is putting pressure on the social programs.