Late to the Ponzi Party
Growth has slowed...cradles are empty...and the cost of accumulated debt has gone up. Younger generations, late to the Ponzi party, miss dessert; they only get to wash the dishes.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2026
Bill Bonner, from Poitou, France
‘What they’re doing with immigration is a disaster.’
—Donald Trump on the Old World
What’s wrong with Europe?
The Conversation:
In recent local elections in the United Kingdom and Australia, right-wing populism has appeared to be on the march. The most successful transformation of far-right populism in a large European country has been Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy. It won the most votes in the 2022 election and leads a right-wing coalition government.
The success of the ‘right wing’ can be largely attributed to the failure of the ‘left wing.’ In preview, we believe both wings flap in dreadful harmony...both headed for the same municipal dump.
People look to government to give them something they couldn’t get on their own. The feds can enforce reasonable rules at home and provide a reasonable level of protection from foreigners. But despite claims to the contrary, they can’t make people wealthier. That was where the Europeans seem to have gone wrong. Military protection seemed unnecessary. It was either provided by the US...or not worth having. That left European politicians managing what was, in effect, a vast, compulsory insurance pool. People pay into the system. The government takes a cut and then returns the rest, according to its view of who should get what. Public housing, medical care, college educations — all are given, ‘free,’ to the people who pay for them.
One way to deliver what appears to be a good return to voters is to borrow it from them. Investors regard government bonds as assets, not liabilities. And taxpayers do not see government borrowing as what it really is – a delayed form of taxation. Thus can the feds afford to offer ‘benefits’ beyond what taxpayers believe they pay for.
That is why, led by the US, they switched to a fake money system in 1971; it permits them to borrow and ‘print’ more money. When the European Union was set up, member states agreed to a limit on deficits — a maximum of 3% of GDP. But the Euro area has exceeded the limit for many years. And the US too. America’s deficit is approaching 6% of GDP.
As long as GDP, productivity, debt and populations were growing, the program seemed to work tolerably well. People paid in one dollar, drew out two, and voted for more.
But now, growth has slowed...cradles are empty...and the cost of accumulated debt has gone up. Younger generations, late to the Ponzi party, miss dessert; they only get to wash the dishes. Their tax payments must cover current expenses...pensions and medical care for their elders...and interest on debt used to give those same geezers more ‘benefits’ than they deserved.
It is a swindle, pretending to be social contract. People don’t necessarily understand what is going on, but they feel it. And they don’t like it...so they look for alternatives, and for someone to blame. The ‘hard right’ and the ‘looney left’ both offer targets.
The two choices are similar, in the US as in Europe. Neither are honest. Neither are effective. Both transfer more and more power and money to the political authorities. Voters choose their poison. It’s Mamdani or Trump. Welfare or war. Or, both!
One of the most combustible elements of this ‘conversation’ is immigration. It condenses the fumes of material failure into a heady brew of distilled resentment. The ‘left,’ generally, wants more newcomers. They believe the new arrivals will vote for their giveaways and help keep their Ponzi health and pension programs in business. The ‘right’ wants to get rid of immigrants, believing that they steal our jobs, drain our tax revenues, and degrade our quality of life.
We thought the ‘right’ may be onto something on Sunday when three ‘immigrants’ approached as we made our way through Evreux. One folded his hand into a pistol and pretended to shoot us. It was not a serious threat, but it was unsettling. ‘Who are these people,’ we wondered; ‘What are they doing here?’
Pete Hegseth spoke to the questions when he attended this year’s 82nd anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.
The iPINIONS:
On Saturday, at the ceremony marking the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, Hegseth warned that European beaches are being “stormed by different dangerous ideologies.” He conjured images of men arriving by boat on the shores of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria, then challenged Europeans to do something about that “invasion.”
Recent events have too – where immigrants have committed crimes, often on video – have gotten native mobs, in Belfast and Dublin, riled up to the point of attacking anyone who looked like he didn’t belong there. And many people think there is something at stake that goes far beyond crime or money. They believe their culture...or ‘western civilization’ itself...teeters on the edge.
This is, of course, familiar ground to US audiences. Team Trump referred to immigrants as ‘rapists and murderers.’ Politicians and influencers paint an ancient, but still lurid, picture...the dark beast, blood dripping from his teeth, the poor white maiden swooning in his arms as he intends to ravish her.
They are the ‘worst of the worst,’ says Trump.
Statistically, there is little proof of it. But statistics don’t stop a mob when its blood is up.
More to come...including, yes, the ‘r’ word. Stay tuned.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
