After a long difficult decision to decide what to listen to on This American Life I finally came to a decision. My decided upon episode 455, Continental Breakup. In this episode, Ira Glass interviews Alex Blumberg, a writer, and attempts to explain the credit crisis in Europe in a simplistic manner, easy enough for the average American to understand. The job was well done. They regress to 100 years prior and bring forth the events that lead up to the current problems in today's society. The controversial relationship between France and Germany is without a doubt, very interesting.
"Germany no longer wanted to dominate Europe. It wanted the opposite, actually. It wanted to be a team player, a peacemaker. Germany wanted to be the nicest guy at the European table."
"Of course, France didn't want Germany to dominate either. Germany would always be bigger, more powerful. So France wanted to link its economy to the German economy. That way Germany's strength would be France's strength."
"And also, a united Europe would be big enough and rich enough to become the world's other superpower and rival the United States, which both countries liked. All this was making a once-poetic dream much more appealing."
All of this shows the immense thought that goes on in society, that every day people don't usually think about. Every single decision made or not made by a country effects every country around it and the people within the country. Every decision is huge, and I have a lot more respect for the people in charge, because they have a lot on their plate. I'm really glad I decided to listen to this episode, it sounded intriguing by the name, because I'm a history fanatic and I find anything worldly related interesting.
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