EU: banana bureaucracy

Anyone wondering why the European debt crisis is on the verge of sinking the global economy, it’s because there isn’t any matter too inconsequential for it not to be regulated by the cadre of Eurobureaucrats. Understanding that the sovereign debt crisis is primarily about the debt of individual countries, such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, etc. it goes a long way toward explaining why there is a debt crisis in the first place. The cradle-to-grave care lavished by Eurozone nations onto its citizens and the bureaucracies responsible for these programs is the reason there is a sovereign debt crisis.

But the Eurozone is in the process of creating its own debt crisis as its regulatory regime grows like a bacterial epidemic, gobbling up whatever wealth is being created by Europeans that actually work for a living. We’re all familiar with the Eurozone’s banana controversy EC No. 225794, wherein a ban was imposed on bananas that didn’t specifically met certain standards with regard to overall size and curvature (Bill Clinton comes to mind). Albeit bureaucrats at the European Commission never explicitly denied that such regulations were indeed in effect, they attempted to minimize their existence by claiming they were a part of a series of “Euromyths” designed to discredit the EU. Thing is, no one needs to discredit the EU, as that organization is doing a passable of job of discrediting itself.

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Lately other “Euromyths” have come to the fore. In November companies selling bottled water in Europe were forbidden by the Eurobureacracy from claiming that water prevented dehydration, as no specific proof in favor of that claim could be offered. Hint: to hydrate is a verb defined in the dictionary as to “cause to absorb water.” Then the bureaucracy imposed a ban on claims regarding fiber content of certain fruits and vegetables. The latest kerfuffle deals with prunes, which Eurobureaucrats claim, do not aid digestion. Could have fooled me as anecdotal as well as empirical evidence has shown prunes are an effective aid in the completion of the digestive process. But then, it’s obvious that Eurobureaucrats do not as a regular practice eat prunes. Otherwise they would not be so full of s—t. Bailing out the Eurozone and its most irresponsible member nations might stave off a worldwide financial crisis in the short term. But it’s really kicking the ball downfield in hopes someone else will come up with a new source of suckers to stick it to. In the meantime the Eurocrats will do pretty much anything to stop the currency’s collapse. Anything except, reduce the size and scope of government. In Europe that’s forbidden.