Earlier this week, Chris was invited to appear on Talk Radio Europe, the largest English-speaking radio station in continental Europe. A podcast of the interview has just been made available, which you can listen to by clicking here or on the image below:
The discussion focused heavily on the looming Peak Oil crisis, with a particular slant on implications for the European countries. The subject matter resonated with the host, Richie Allen, particularly because he’s now beginning to hear related sentiment echoed by a small but growing number of concerned European economists.
As future economic growth is threatened by Peak Oil, entitlement-rich countries in Europe face real challenges. Chris puts it extremely directly:
- Current levels of entitlement promises are unsustainable.
- Current levels of government expenditures are unsustainable.
- What is unsustainable, by definition, will end.
In fairness, Chris admits this predicament is not a PIIGS- or even Europe-specific one. The most probable action that governments will need to take will include cutting benefits and raising taxes – an “enormous amount of trimming.”
Chris and Richie agreed that such belt-tightening is sure to create a lot of political and social controversy, as the UK’s and France’s austerity measures are already encountering. The big question remains: Will governments leverage the remaining time they have before Peak Oil to take prudent steps in preparation? Or will it take the arrival of the crisis to spur real action?
At this point, Europe seems to have the edge over the US in moving ahead with at least some degree of planned austerity. But neither is even close to focusing on Peak Oil with the seriousness that the problem merits.
by travlin