If all we cared about what how much things cost, we'd do things the way we currently do them because we have a way of naturally finding the cheapest way.

The CEO is not some masterful person answering all the questions for the company, I would argue that a CEO should be able to disappear for a year and if they had done their job correctly and assembled a good team the company would do just fine without them.

No the purpose of the CEO is to safeguard the Capital that has been invested in the company. That is all. They make sure it doesn't walk our the door in wages or other wasteful spending. They are the Capital's man on the ground.

For what it’s worth I think the US should increase petroleum tax to limit usage - not going to fly here but I’m all for Europe doing it. Especially without domestic oil sources - bring on the EV revolution, makes tons of sense for everywhere in the world especially Europe.

From the top. Nuclear - many people in Europe are anti nuclear

Migration - Europe is going to need migrants and I think most Europeans are in favor of a kinder Migration system

I like European regulation, particularly food regulation - I think it makes for high quality food. Besides, companies always complain about regulation.

Crime has decreased substantially in Europe since 2000 - lots of people are stoking tensions though for their own political ends

Carbon tax is good, the world should adopt one, Europe can lead on this.

Digital Regulation, more problematic for me but people are beginning to see the issues are social media and online porn, something has been needed here for a while

Taxes, lots of countries have taxes. Many countries have exit taxes - seems to be a problem for richer people.

Birth rate - as countries get richer they have less kids... not going to be forcing people to have kids so I'm not sure what the solution is there but I think Migration will play a role. ....

basically all of these sound like a bunch of Fox news soundbites rather than real world issues that Europeans have and I feel most Europeans are in favor of these things so this is how Democracy works.

I like that they are thinking longer term and not doing stupid shit like invading countries and killing people. I think thats a win in and of itself. Also, Europe has been peaceful for several generations now which is also a huge win.

I think leadership is hard. I’m not sure I buy the idea that a group of countries should be “hard” on anyone.

Everywhere has their problems, I think Europe is doing fine.

Where do you think is a model society ?

I do feel that 30 year old me would definitely be in better shape to chase kids around.

Think in the US, the cops wouldn’t survive against a couple of machine guns and a drone strike, but they are still useful for security purposes.

So what could happen, any number of things. An obvious near term issue might be inflation increases dramatically in the US (on account of the oil shock), causing interest rates to increase - maybe dramatically - , which causes the stock market to retract. Also, the housing market is pretty much toast at the moment and an increase in interest rates might finish it off too causing a contraction there. So many ways things can break.

But honestly, I'll tell you after it happens and it will happen. Having lived through a few of these now when everyone tells you it's a sure thing and prices go up for ever you get an inkling you are near the pop.

I'm actually shocked that people could take my comment at face value and not realize it was obviously sarcastic. That is eye opening.