Author: Steven Hill
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OKTOBERFEST: A “STAMMTISCH” OF THOUSANDS
By Steven Hill, Montréal Review, July 2012
The German language has a word, “Stammtisch,” that really has no English equivalent. The closest translation is something like “a table reserved for regulars” or “regular get-together.” Literally speaking, Stammtisch means a table in a bar or restaurant which is reserved for the same guests at the same time every day or every week, and no one else is supposed to sit there, even when the regulars aren’t present.…
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A College of Nations: What Can Europeans and Americans Learn from Each Other?
By Steven Hill, European View, Volume 11, Issue 1, July 2012, Centre for European Studies
The transatlantic relationship has been the most important of the post–Second World War era, a relationship in which both sides have shared and learned many things. In this new era of post–economic collapse, Europeans and Americans still have much to learn from each other.…
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Steven Hill on Fox: “Should U.S. Learn From How European Businesses Operate?”
My recent appearance on Fox Business News again, discussing the eurozone and its challenges, and how US businesses could learn from European businesses . See “Should U.S. Learn From How European Businesses Operate?” http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1712921350001. Always an amusing time on Fox.…
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Youth employment is bad – but not as bad as we’re told
By Steven Hill, Financial Times, June 25, 2012
Hardly a day goes by without a new headline screaming about the scandal of youth unemployment, which has been pinned at the outrageous levels of 50 per cent in Spain and Greece and above 20 per cent in the eurozone.
There’s just one problem – those numbers are derived from a flawed methodology, which misrepresents the true level of unemployment among young people, making it look far worse than it is.…
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Europe’s Rough Seas
by Steven Hill, IP Journal, June 22, 2012
Europe’s latest Y2K has passed. The Greek elections are over with no “Grexit” in sight and Europe did not fall apart. The screaming Cassandras were wrong once again. Indeed, French president François Hollande, the leader of efforts for a new economic strategy in Europe, led his Socialist Party to a solid win in France’s legislative elections on the same day, which further strengthens his hand.…
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Change Tack or Hit the Rocks: Merkel’s Leadership Faces Strong Headwinds
By Steven Hill, Atlantic Times, June 2012
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in danger of being overtaken by a surging tide of events. In the face of the storm known as the euro zone crisis, she has been a cautious yet steady pilot, ably keeping the ship afloat in rough seas.…
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China’s Political Development at a Crossroad
By Steven Hill, China-US Focus, May 25, 2012
This past year has been the worst of times and the best of times for China’s political development. Less than a year before China’s decennial transfer of power among its top leadership, that elite world was rattled by a disturbing episode of scandal, corruption and political murder in Chongqing, one of China’s largest and most important cities.… -
Europe needs a democratic redesign if greater integration is to succeed
By Steven Hill, Guardian, May 24, 2012
The crisis in Europe has made it clear the EU needs more than economic reform. Going forward requires political restructuring
With the election of François Hollande as French president, the left and right in Europe have now entered intense negotiation over the best way to enact economic growth, employment and debt security (possibly eurobonds).…
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ANCIENT TRANSPORTATIONS: Walking and Bicycling to Health
By Steven Hill, Montréal Review, May 2012
During a recent trip across western Europe by train, my frequent companions were the many strangers, visible outside my train window, who could be seen traversing a vast network of bike paths and walking trails that crisscross the cities and countryside. Europeans of all ages, including seniors, can be seen pedaling from home to town and back again with their daily bread in their handlebar baskets.…
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Steven Hill on Fox News discussing French and Greek elections
Steven Hill, Fox News Business Network, Varney & Co., May 9, 2012, www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/varney-co/index.html#/v/1630232526001/hill-eurozone-isnt-broken/?playlist_id=87060.
Steven Hill also on Pacifica’s KPFK in Los Angeles, May 8, 2012, kpfk_120508_080030uprising.MP3 (broadcast begins around the 2:30 mark).…
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Europe 2.0: A Blueprint for Redesigning European-level Parliamentary Democracy
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, April 17, 2012
Europeans, whether they realize it or not, have passed only the first few bends in the road of a years-long journey to overhaul their key economic and political institutions. This redesign will be more profound than the one experienced by Communist member states after the breakup of the Soviet Union; that one was a tumultuous yet straightforward process of picking up the pieces after disintegration.…
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The French Celebrate… Americans?
By Steven Hill, Montréal Review, April 2012
Are the French really so anti-American? The American and French relationship suffered an enormous rupture during the public quarrel at the United Nations over Iraq, and the subsequent U.S. invasion in Spring 2003. The transatlantic rift suddenly was wide and deep, as if some devilish power had sped up plate tectonics and rapidly yanked the two sides of the Atlantic in opposite directions.…
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Germany’s Next Steps: Can you say “transfer union”?
By Steven Hill, IP Journal (Berlin), April 3, 2012
Europe and Greece are out of the immediate headlines for the first time in months, the financial markets apparently soothed. While the calm is likely only temporary, it’s a good time to take stock of where Europe is heading.
At this point, there seems little doubt that some sort of United States of Europe is slowly emerging.…
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Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is Still the Best Hope in an Insecure Age
By Steven Hill, Robert Schuman Foundation Report on Europe, State of the Union, 2012, March 31, 2012
The 21st century world is facing two immense challenges: how do we enact a desirable quality of life for a burgeoning global population of 7 billion people? And how do we accomplish that in a way that does not burn up the planet in a Venus-like atmosphere of our own creation, due to excess carbon emissions, pollution, and other downsides of development?…
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K-I-S-S Rule for Europe
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, March 23, 2012
In the United States, political strategists have an expression called the “K-I-S-S Rule,” which is short for “keep it simple, stupid.” As European leaders confront the twin challenges of erecting a United States of Europe and retaining the support of its many peoples who are naturally anxious over such a major change, the K-I-S-S Rule should be invoked whenever possible.…
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What will a United States of Europe look like?
By Steven Hill, Guardian and Vienna Review (Austria), March 21, 2012
Europe must move towards a transfer union and central financial authority – but the US’s experience hints its path may be bumpy
Europe and Greece are out of the immediate headlines for the first time in months, the financial markets apparently soothed.…
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My new book released: “10 Steps to Repair American Democracy, 2012 Election Edition”
Just in time for the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, my new book has been published, 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy, 2012 Election Edition. Find out more info at www.10Steps.net.
10 Steps features a provocative foreword by the New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg. As 10 Steps shows, America’s recent economic collapse was preceded by a longstanding political collapse.…
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Double Trouble: The Political Collapse that Preceded the Economic Collapse
By Steven Hill, Montréal Review, March 2012
Excerpt from the Introduction to “10 Steps to Repair American Democracy: A More Perfect Union, 2012 Election Edition ” (www.10Steps.net)
“We are fortunate to have Steven Hill’s latest book, Ten Steps to Repair American Democracy, to help us find our political compass.…
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Ready or not, Transfer Union here we come
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, February 21, 2012
The tension of the interregnum is nearly unbearable. A United States of Europe is slowly evolving, like a new planet condensing from the clouds and dust of the cosmos. Yet its final form will take years to consolidate. Once a critical number of member states have ratified stricter fiscal and budget rules — becoming more like America’s member states, which are all charged with balancing their state’s budgets — then comes the next step.…
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Stimulus vs. Austerity: An Unsettled Debate
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, January 27, 2012
Many nations try both: “Aust-imulus?”
Few subjects have so bitterly divided our insecure times than the double-edged saber of stimulus vs. austerity. Consensus over which course will lift the current economic malaise has eluded the dueling experts. Without clearer signals of success, many nations have tried a confused mix of both – let’s call it “aust-imulus.”…
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A Marshall plan wouldn’t fix Europe’s woes
By Steven Hill, The Guardian, January 22, 2012
Between Paul Krugman’s call for massive stimulus and the demands of the austerity hawks lies a third way: ‘aust-imulus’
Few subjects have so bitterly divided our insecure times than the double-edged sword of stimulus versus austerity. Consensus over which course will end the current economic malaise has eluded the duelling experts.…
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Rebuilding a New European House
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, December 21, 2011
A United States of Europe takes a giant step forward… yet the Euroskeptics still see the glass as half empty
I was surprised at the chorus of carping that greeted the recent European agreement to launch greater fiscal integration and union.…
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Sustainable Good Society: Why the European Way is Still the Best Hope in an Insecure Age
by Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, November 21, 2011
In the post-collapse era, economic and ecological sustainability increasingly will take center stage. Despite the eurozone crisis, Europe’s social capitalism, steady state economy, pluralistic democracies and environmental policies still provide the best foundation for comprehensive sustainability.
The 21st century world is facing two immense challenges: how do we enact a desirable quality of life for a burgeoning global population of 7 billion people? …
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Steven Hill on Fox News Business Network
Steven Hill, “Is There a Bright Side to the EU’s Policies?”
Fox Business Network, Varney & Co., November 7, 2011
www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/varney-co/index.html#/v/1262967618001/is-there-a-bright-side-to-the-eus-policies
Fox Business Network, Varney & Co., October 27, 2011
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1241548371001/can-us-learn-from-europes-economic-practices… -
YouTube video: Steven Hill lecture at Georgia Institute of Technology
The IMPACT Speaker Series presents
Steven Hill, Author of Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope for an Insecure Age
Click here for a YouTube video of his lecture
This presentation is first in the series of three talks held in collaboration with the EU Center of Excellence on the topic of Transatlantic Leadership.…