T. R. Reid's Occurrency

1054 Words5 Pages
In T. R. Reid's New York Times bestseller, The United States of Europe: the New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy, he essentially illustrates the way that 27 members of the European Union have joined together to create a new economic and political powerhouse. Reid’s book is an easy-to read guide to the historical context of the EU’s recent rise to power, as well as a contemporary look at EU solidarity. He offers insight through anecdotes, which help make his argument more entertaining, and also allow him to emphasize his point. The reader gets the sense that Reid is determined to prove to that today’s Europe is a superpower capable of exerting a great deal of influence on many global issues. With its 27 members, the EU is the world’s…show more content…
His reasoning does not entirely convince the reader of the EU’s threat to US hegemony. It is obvious that the EU’s large sphere of influence comes from its recently enlarged delegation and newfound economic power, primarily through the introduction of the Euro. To EU members to Euro is not only currency, but also a symbol of a more unified Europe than ever before. In Reid’s chapter entitled, “The Mighty Undollar” he points out that unifying currency was an extremely large step towards this goal because of the historical and cultural meaning behind the previous currencies of each country. He also claims that the Euro was created with the intention of creating a sort of counterweight to the US dollar, which was the choice reserve currency and also the world’s standard exchange unit. He places a great deal of emphasis on the fact that it took less than 2 weeks for Europe to switch over to its new…show more content…
This makes his argument that the EU will be disconcerting for the US. Basically, as the GE- Honeywell merger story illustrates, the EU’s power comes from its ability to meticulously regulate all business intending to benefit from the huge regional market. Basically, if any company wants to profit, it has no choice but to comply. It seems that Reid avoids this whole issue because there is little evidence in support of a Europe that has sound economic ideals upon which to build
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