Richard D. Wolff & Michael Hudson: The EU Just Crossed the Line — There’s No Coming Back

French President Macron faces unprecedented public alienation due to his persistent efforts to undermine and reduce France's highly developed social welfare system. This includes attacks on five weeks of paid vacation, free university, universal medical insurance from birth to death, and public daycare. These services, established for decades, are now seen as under threat, fueling widespread discontent and protests.

Richard Wolff, having recently visited France, observed 'eager excitement for him to be gone from the scene' and widespread mockery. He detailed Macron's repeated attempts to 'undermine, reduce, attack the social welfare system of France,' citing examples like the five weeks of paid vacation, free university, and universal medical coverage. (0:45, 3:04, 5:17)

The European Union's attempt to seize 200-300 billion euros of Russian assets to fund Ukraine failed due to a lack of unanimous consent from member states like Belgium and the Czech Republic. This failure, following the earlier seizure of interest on these assets, demonstrated the vulnerability of Western financial systems to weaponization, causing global central banks to lose trust in the Euro and Dollar as safe reserve currencies.

Wolff states that Macron and Germany's Mertz decided to 'put the inviability of private property out the window and to go after the Russian money.' He explains that Belgium and other countries 'publicly refused to go along with what would have to be a unanimous decision.' The defeat in seizing assets had 'enormous historical significance' because 'every central bank in the world watched this theater' and now knows their money 'may be weaponized against you.' (08:00, 10:30, 11:17)

As a direct consequence of the perceived weaponization of Western currencies, central banks globally are actively diversifying their holdings. This shift involves moving away from the Euro and US Dollar and increasing investments in alternative currencies like the Japanese Yen and Chinese Yuan, as well as physical assets such as gold and silver.

Wolff notes that 'the central banks of the world are going to continue to diversify out of the euro, out of the dollar.' He points to the 'spectacular rise in the value of gold and silver over the last year, which is where the central banks are moving their holdings to.' (11:53, 12:36)

Michael Hudson argues that the US has implemented a 'one-two punch' strategy against Europe. First, it isolated European allies from rapidly growing Asian markets (Russia, China) under the ideological umbrella of the Cold War. Second, it imposed tariffs and demanded 'givebacks,' forcing European industries to consider relocating to the United States, thereby de-industrializing Europe and boosting US manufacturing.

Hudson explains the US strategy: 'The first punch was to isolate Europe... from trading with the most rapidly growing parts of the world economy, which are China and East Asia.' He adds that Trump then said, 'Now I'm going to pass my April 2nd Liberation Day tariffs and cut off all your trade with the United States' unless Europe agrees to 'deindustrialize your economy because now that I've closed the US market to you... you have to relocate your major industries to the United States.' (21:33, 23:52, 28:50)

The speakers apply a Hegelian concept, suggesting that the very global economy created by Western colonialism has now made the West dependent on its former dependents. This dynamic means that actions taken by Western powers (like seizing assets) can now trigger counter-actions from non-Western allies or adversaries, leading to a 'biting back' effect that undermines Western dominance and accelerates its decline.

Wolff states, 'the dialectic of creating a world economy comes back to bite the United States and Western Europe right in the rear end.' He elaborates, 'you become dependent on those you made dependent on you... the master becomes dependent on the relationship to the slave.' He concludes that 'the days of the European center of the world are over' and this extends to 'where the Europeans settled. North America, Australia, New Zealand.' (40:12, 44:50, 48:43)