Not just the financial markets but also democracy seems to be taking a bit of a battering in Europe at the moment.
Here, a referendum was denied to us, even though the political parties had all promised as much on the basis that the timing was wrong and the issues too complex to understand.
In Italy, it is good that Berlusconi has gone but he has been replaced by an unelected Eurocrat.
And now we are all being told by, among others, Tony Blair, that this is not the time for politics and we should just leave the people who know what they are doing to get on with it.
This I find profoundly worrying.
First, many of the people we should now entrust to get on with it are the people who got us in this mess in the first place.
I don’t remember workers demanding the Euro Zone, arguing that sub-prime markets would make a good investment, or setting up derivatives clubs in the local pub.
The idea that our political masters and Eurocrats are highminded leaders with special qualities and great wisdom may hark back to early Greek ideas from the likes of Plato but it does not fit the view of recent history. Many of them have been more Machiavellian than Platonic, in their scheming for advancement or personal gratification.
And the long-term problems are more about vested interests and low growth than huge debt.
Those in charge of our states and our financial institutions may be clever but their judgment does not look that sound and whose side are they on? Which leads to the second point, that the claim is there are no sides and we must accept what is best for all of us in the long run.
But if you look at who is taking the pain, it is mainly the poorer classes, through slashing of services, job cuts, wage freezes and increases in indirect taxation.
But again these people did not cause the mess. Where are higher direct taxes in all this, or even getting the rich to pay the taxes they are supposed to? Or making the banks pay back for some of the grief they caused? And how come businesses can have tax havens to avoid paying tax, where the Inland Revenue would come down like a ton of bricks if ordinary workers tried the same.
The third point concerns democracy itself.
The argument runs that these issues are too complex for people to understand, so best not to have a vote or an election. And as we are all in this together, it is not really political anyway.
When democracy was first mooted there was a suggestion that only the educated working classes should have the vote.
But little could be more political than pensions, taxes, wages, and services.
During the struggle against communism, liberal democracy was one of the west’s best cards along with growing wealth. Now both seem under threat.
The irony of communism was that it provided competition to capitalism, which helped keep it in check.
We are once again seeing the interests of the few being put first at the expense of the many.
Not only does this raise moral issues but also very practical matters.
In recent years it has widely been believed that societies grow and prosper if individuals are allowed to make their own decisions.
The idea that the state knows best certainly predates the communists but it is easy to see how that stunted their economy and their society.
Yet this is what we are being told with regard to Europe.
The other issue is one of consent and participation.
If we the people are not part of the decision making process but just there to feel the pain, we may be tempted to revolt.
Instability of the markets is one thing, instability of the masses quite another. This Government promised inclusion but we are feeling more and more excluded.
I predict a riot.
