World War One was started when an obscure notable in an obscure little European country was assassinated, as that resulted in a larger conflict which then grew and spread and finally engulfed all Europe and the U.S.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has just resigned along with his cabinet. The Netherlands government has collapsed due to the withdrawing of support by Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party.
The Netherlands is a member of the European Union. A rich member, and they’ve been helping to sustain the value of the Euro in the face of failing economies of many EU members, who have been needing constant cash infusions to keep their economies from total collapse.
The EU wants the Netherlands to cut 14 to 16 billion euros from their budget and get the Dutch deficit down to the EU budget deficit target of 3%. Not to bore you, but a quick explanation… that deficit target aim is to keep those teetering EU nations from overspending, which caused the problems in the first place. BUT the Netherlands doesn’t have that problem. Their budget deficit is up over 4% and they’re fine with that. The money just keeps rolling on in and will continue to do so.
That cut of up to 16 billion dollars of spending that the EU wants would chop off Social Security payments to the Dutch elderly, and Mr. Wilders refuses to accept that. What the EU is asking is for the Dutch to reduce their standard of living to meet that of the failing EU nations, and give the money they saved to help out the socialist EU nations that overspent, and what Geert Wilders wants is for the Dutch to tell the EU to go to Hell, dump the Euro and go back to the Dutch Guilder.
So now new elections will have to be held and Mr. Wilders is counting on gaining a great deal more power as a result of them.
What does this mean to you? Maybe a whole lot.
So far, Wilders has steadily gained in popularity and power. He’s a pretty savvy guy and he may be right that by forcing new elections now, his Freedom Party will gain a dominant advantage in a new government. If it does, he can and will take the Netherlands out of the European Union and re-instate the Guilder. If the Netherlands dumps the Euro and leaves the EU, the Euro will probably collapse as a monetary unit. That means the economy of most of Europe would also collapse.
Without going into all the details, if this happens, our economy will also take a dive once again. The Dollar will go up in value if the Euro tanks, but all that commerce we have with Europe will drastically decrease, because we won’t be accepting Euros anymore as payment.
Citigroup predicts global depression and possibly war.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.