Economic Nationalism Part II

There has been yet another case of economic nationalism recently in Europe.  Last week the New York Stock Exchange, which is now a publicly traded company, made an offer for a stock exchange in Europe called Euronext.  The bid was accepted by the board of Euronext who agreed that it was superior to the bid that they had received from Deutsche Bourse (the German stock exchange).  Within days of the board's announcement leaders in France and Italy came out and said that they prefer an all European merger for social reasons.

What a crock.

I would agree that there might be social reaons to prefer one deal over another when, say, some strategic asset of one country is being acquired by a foreign country.  But there cannot be any social reasons to prefer one or the other stock exchange merger.

In fact, the only social reason is that Chirac continues to show the long tradition of French insecurity over its place in the world:  they think they're a super power but really they're not even close and they are constantly trying to show that they are.  And Prodi, the newly elected Italian PM, wants to distance himself from Belusconi's trans-atlantic ties.

In stark contrast, the NASDAQ exchange has purchased 26% of the London Stock Exchange and is on its way to acquiring the whole thing.  There is not even muted protest in Britain over this tie up.

If I were President I would announce to the world that until the continental Eruopeans open their markets to American capital then they cannot expect to have open access to American markets.  Unfortunately, Bush even falls short in this conservative idealogical stronghold.  He can't fight wars, he lies and he can't run the economy.  Why do people vote for him?

The Reprehensibles Part X - Was I Dreaming?

I was listening to CNN this morning as I was shaving and I heard a new story about congressional aides who had accepted travel worth about $30 million from various private lobby groups.  These aides had accepted 200 trips to Paris, 150 trips to Hawaii and 140 trips to Italy, all of which are places that are highly deserving of a congressional aides attention.

I have searched Google, CNN, USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! and I can't find any mention of the story.  I know I wasn't dreaming.

The tenth edition of my prize goes to all of these aides.