> On Jan 1, 2008, at 5:10 PM, dredmond at efn.org wrote:
>
>> Eurostat Yearbook 2006, Table 6.2, page 153, GDP for 2005 at market
>> exchange rates:
>>
>> EU-27 10.82 trillion EUR
>> US 10.04 trillion EUR
>
> Dennis, the 27 are not one country. They're enormously different
> places that don't all even use the same currency. They don't have a
> coherent state, a common foreign policy, a common language, or
> anything really other than a legal convention with limited popular
> legitimacy. You're just playing numbers games.
==============================
Yes, to which I'd just add that the implicit suggestion is this heterogenous
entity called "Europe" wields more global economic power and has more
authority within its own economic sphere than does the US government. Does
Dennis believe this? Otherwise, what is the significance of the "aggregated"
comparison?
When the domestic and foreign policy interests of France, Germany, and the UK are subordinated to the "European state" - ie. to the EU President and Council of Ministers and the European Parliament - in the same way the state interests of New York, California, and Texas are subject to the dictates of the US Congress and the executive branch, then the comparison will be meaningful but, as you note, we're still a very long way from that.