Why has it seemed like pushing water uphill for so long?

I’m in my mid-60s, having been born six months before the end of WWII.  From the earliest days that I can remember, my parents loved to holiday in France and Spain.  In those days if one was to motor into Europe then it was a case of the car being craned aboard the ferry from England to France.  How things change!

Much later on in life, I did business extensively in many European countries and, for a while, taught sales and marketing at the international school, ISUGA, in Quimper, NW France.  (Indeed, fellow Blog author Chris Snuggs was my Director of Studies at ISUGA – that’s how we came to meet.)  I like to think that I have a reasonable understanding of the variety of cultures that is Europe.

So while acknowledging the convenience of a common currency (sort of) and ease of border transits, the one thing that has remained in my mind is that each country in Europe is very, very different to the other.  These core differences have always struck me as so strong and deep-rooted that any form of real union was a ridiculous concept.  The present deep problems with Greece seem to be the tip of this fundamental issue.  Thus a couple of recently published articles, on Baseline Scenario and The Financial Times seem worthy of being aired on Learning from Dogs.

First, the article by Simon Johnson on Baseline Scenario:
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