It is ironic that Germany, having learned from the horrors of racism, is now leading the EU down the extreme opposite path that enabled racism and Nazism to begin with.- Soren K.
Update: Priest Killed by likely ISIS attackers
Two men claiming allegiance to Islamic State killed an 84 yr old priest and gravely injured another person Tuesday during morning Mass at a church in a northern French town, authorities said, the latest in a string of attacks that have shocked Western Europe over the last two weeks.
It seems 2 knife wielding attackers entered a French church during mass and killed a priest. The attackers also took 5 hostages wounding one to critical condition. The men were shot and killed by police as they exited the church. Europe has undergone a series of consecutive attacks in the last 2 weeks. The weapons used have varied. In some, guns were the preferred tool. In others, knives; and in yet others, explosives. It all started with a truck barreling over people in Nice, France on Bastille day.
h/t zerohedge for pics
Terror Kills Economies
The style of these attacks are extremely similar to the knife attacks in Israel last year. Seemingly random in timing, disruptive of commerce and tourism, and during celebratory times when convenient. The long term effect is detrimental to local economies. Tourism will fade, children will be kept home from school, and productivity in business will slip as workers are distracted and corporations spend more money on security measures. While the immediate effects of these attacks are tragic from a human perspective, the economic effects will be felt from the behavioral changes people make to accommodate their fear of attack. Imagine Europe as a whole slipping into a fight or flight mentality. In addition to the mass influx of refugees who need financial assistance, a portion of them are hell-bent on the destruction of the hosting country. This is dangerous and could precipitate a quicker dissolution of the EU. This was the root reason for the Brexit vote: a fear of illegal or forced immigration quotas and terrorist attacks. Nationality and religion have nothing to do with it economically. This is bad news for the EU in business terms. It is ironic that Germany, having learned its lesson from the horrors of racism is now leading the EU down the overly tolerant path that enables the mentality that created Nazism- A full recount of the last 2 weeks terror attacks in Europe later
Effects of Terrorism Short and long term
The immediate effect is a chilling loss of human life. The chronic effects of terrorism will be paralysis of economies. If survival replaces prosperity as the driving force behind behavior, then productivity shrinks. Acute terrorist attacks are recoverable, like 9/11. But chronic terrorist action is a cancer on mood, tourism, and domestic business. We feel it may also spur a "white-flight" out of the western EU to nations not encumbered by forced immigration quotas. LIKE THE UK IF THEY SECEDE
GRI agrees: "There are other less obvious economic costs that are difficult to measure. Terrorist attacks can result in greater spending on unproductive activities such as heightened counterterrorism measures, expanding military and police forces, and stricter border controls. The money diverted to extra surveillance and policing rather than investment and trade balancing may eventually pose a drag on growth.
Overtime this friction in the economic system can have visible effects. In Israel, a nation that is constantly threatened by the fear of violence, experts say that the country’s per-capita GDP would have been 8.6% higher between 1994 and 2003 had there been no violence. Likewise, the Paris attacks could inspire more complex economic challenges for the European Union, particularly if border controls in the Schengen area become more strict. Tougher laws and regulations cross-borders could affect the cost of trade and operations of manufacturing industries.
Overall, while the physical and emotional impact of terrorism is evident, the longer-term economic costs of terrorist attacks on national economies are more obscure. A growing complex security environment, however, is likely to have negative effects on national economies moving forward, hindering substantial economic growth as unproductive costs are endured.
1960's USA as template
What do you think will happen if the UK secedes from the EU? Illegal or forced immigration will stop. That will be an enticement for other EU nationals to move to the UK. To what extent we do not know. But in the long term, irrational fear was enough to spur white migration to the suburbs in the USA, and it destroyed cities in its wake. Rational fear for one's life would be a far more potent reason to relocate than racial bias would it not? As urban decay spread in 1960's USA, so also may the EU economy decay from this terror borne cancer unless it is stopped. As products of the inner city, we witnessed first hand the decay of neglected cities. As witness to 9/11, two of us moved out of NYC within 6 months. And that was a 1 time event ...so far.
Philly circa1975 or Paris 2022?
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