Top 10 Richest Families in the World |Can you Believe Our Number 1?|

There is a difference between having money and being rich and making sure that no one in your family will ever have to take public transportation or go to work (unless is one of those obscure and twisted fantasies that only a rich kid could have). Here are the 10 Richest and more powerful families in the world.

10. The Cox Family
(Estimated Net Worth: $41 billion dollars)

Back in 1898, James M. Cox bought "Dayton Evening News" which subsequently expanded to Cable TV, radio, and more, much more. Today, his grandchildren are taking over the family business, and the 41 billion fortune is divided among the 5 of them, 

Jim Kennedy (he is Cox Enterprises' current chairman), Blair Parry-Okeden, James Chambers, Katharine Rayner and Margaretta Taylor.

Besides the media business, the Cox family also takes on the automotive market challenge. Eleven years ago, the family made a $4 billion dollar acquisition of DealerTrack, a marker of software for car dealerships. The family also owns "AutoTrader.com", "Kelly Blue Book", and "Manheim Car Auctions".

9. The Bettencourt Family

(Estimated Family Net Worth: $47.5 billion dollars)

If you have never heard this name before, I bet that you have heard of L'Oreal. Back in 1907, 

Eugène Schueller started this legendary business after he passed away, his daughter Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt took over, who was until she died in September 2017, the richest woman in the world. Now, her only daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers is the richest woman in the world with a net worth by herself of 47.1 billion dollars.

8. Cargill-MacMillan Family

(Estimated worth: $49 billion dollars)

The Cargill-MacMillan family has the most billionaire members compared to any other family in the world (there are 14 of them). Cargill, Inc is one of the largest private companies in America (if not the largest) and their products and services range from bio-industrial, energy, agricultural food, and beverage to pharmaceuticals, however, most of the 108 billion in revenues come from agribusinesses. 

Back in 1865, William W. Cargill started his business empire, founding a small grain storage company, and made his own fortune as the railroad expanded westward at the end of the 19th century in the United States. As his son-in-law, John MacMillan took over the business in 1909, the wealthy family went commonly known as Cargill-MacMillan. The family has not run the company since 1995 when Whitney MacMillan stepped down. The family has agreed that 80% of the company's net income is to stay inside the business for reinvesting activities.

7. Slim Helu Family
(Estimated Net worth: $68.8 billion dollars)

Carlos Slim Helu is, of course, the richest man in Mexico, and is ranked 7 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Carlos alone has a net worth of $65.3 billion dollars (as of April 2018).

He became a billionaire back in 1982 during the currency devaluation and economic crisis of Mexico by investing aggressively and buying companies at very low prices that would soon recover.

In 1990, Carlos had the opportunity to buy Telmex (monopoly telephone company owned by the Mexican government), paying close attention to Telmex's cellular service, offering the public pre-paid phones. The company's customer base exploded, growing at 66% every year, for 15 years.

Besides the telecom companies, Carlos also owns the biggest stake of the New York Times shares. He also bought majority stakes of other big companies in South America such as, "Grupo Carso", among other business in education, media, sports and entertainment, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, airlines, mining hospitality, technology, retail, oil, and financial businesses.

6. The Mars Family

(Estimated Net Worth: $78 billion dollars)

Well, I guess is candy time! I am sure that all of you guys have eaten at least one of the Mars family candies, if Milky Way, Mars, Sneakers, and M&M ring the bells in your head, this means that you know what we are talking about, for this sweet sins are popular not only in the USA but also worldwide.

Franklin Clarence Mars started his candy selling company from a small kitchen back in the year 1911 and 18 years later his son, Forest Mars, joined in. That was the beginning of nougat flavor invention that formerly became the base of sneakers, one of the world's best selling nougat bar.

5. The Koch Family

(Estimated Net Worth: $82 billion dollars)

This family owns America's second-largest private company. They chose oil and gasoline as the market niches to concentrate their efforts in. It all started back in the year 1920 when Fred Chase Koch, an American Chemical Engineer developed a new method for the refinement of heavy crude oil into gasoline and it was groundbreaking. Today the Koch family runs several businesses, from food companies to transportation.

4. The Arnault Family 

(Estimated Family Net Worth: $83.4 billion dollars)

Mister Arnault has built his massive luxury empire under the LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton umbrella. He just not own one luxury brand, he owns almost every luxury brand that you can think of, here is the list. (Spoiler. includes, Tag-Heuer, Dior, Hublot, Bvlgary...need I say more?). What I find surprising for these days billionaires is that he is not a school drop-out, he graduated with a bachelor degree in Arts and Science, and of course, luxury things can bring the best taste of art.

Mister Bernard has been in the luxury business since 1984 when he bought a company for $15 million dollars, including "Dior", now he is 69 years old and is still the Chairman and CEO of LVMH.

3. The Walton Family

(Estimated Net Worth: $130 billion dollars)

While most of the wealthiest families focus on diversification, running multiple industries at the time, the Walton family only focusses on one...Walmart, yeah, wow, they own the largest retailer in the United States. The retails business revenue reach up to $483 billion dollars in sales. Sam and James "Bud" Walton founded the retail business back in 1962, it grew bigger and bigger until what it is today.

After both of the Walton brothers passed away, Walmart was taken over by their children, Sam's 2 sons and 1 daughter and James'es 2 daughters. Today, the Waltons 3rd generation is in charge o the CEO position and make part of the board members, alongside with Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, and Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo.

Forbes crowned them the richest family in the United States.

2. The Al-Saud Family

(Estimated Net Worth: $1.4 Trillion dollars)

They are also known as the House of Al-Saud rules Saudi Arabia. The first notable Al-Saud member of the family was Mohammed bin Saud al Qasimi, the founder of first Arabia estate emirate of Syria. Now the family has thousands of members, together they form a wealthy family with an entire net worth that doesn't measure in billions, but trillions of dollars. The family members are also listed in Forbes billionaire list, but the highest rank is for Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal who is currently the 41st richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion dollars. He does love the eccentricity that only money can buy, owning the most expensive private jet in the world. Let's take a look.

1. The Rothschild Family

(Estimated Net Worth: $2 Trillion???)

Would you ever guess that they are Jewish? well, they are and it makes you wonder how the heck they survive Hitler? well, the answer is...Hitler is just a small-time punk to this legendary family, and when you are a punk, you know who you can push around and from who you should stay away, and these people was just out of his league, in other words, he was better off taking his chances with the United States of America than with these people.

Some people say that the estimated net worth of the family is nearly $500 trillion, which is absurd at first, since the total wealth of the world is $250 trillion (the year 2016), but once you take a look at their history, you will notice the almost limitless power of this family that has played the low profile card for centuries, and start to realize that perhaps there is not enough money in the world yet to pay what many countries owe to this family. It makes you think that the entire world's wealth is one thing and the Rothschild fortune is from another world.

The family goes back to 1744, when Mayer Rothschild was born and raised in a Frankfurt Jewish ghetto in the German Duchy of Hesse. Back then, Jewish people were prohibited to live near Christians, so he was poor and hungry. He lived with 30 other family members and learned very young the secrets of a good trade from his father Amschel Moses Rothschild, who traded silk, coins, and commodities for a living.

Although his parents wanted him to study to be a Rabbi, that of course never happened, partly because he became an orphan at the age of 12 and mostly because of his financial killer instinct that does not go along very well with a religious way of living. So he was just a child and with his parents out of the picture, he took an apprenticeship with a banking firm in Hanover shortly after he turned 13. This is when he learned the "ins" and "outs" of banking and foreign trade.

Forward into the future and as the family's alpha, he left a strict rule after his death, the fortune stays in the family. According to the publication of the discover magazine of 2003, "Go Ahead, kiss your cousin". if any of the Rothschild's women marries someone outside the family, she would lose all her money, inmediately.

The family has been involved in trades since the year 1798 that go from acting like the first Central Bank of Europe, brokering purchases for kings, rescuing national banks and funding infrastructure such as, railroads, and almost every single war that was important since 1798.

Among the things that have leaked from the family history, there is one that I think is the most epic of all, I repeat, the known ones. It was the Napoleonic wars. Nathan Rothschild managed and financed several subsidies that the British government sent to different allies and loaned funds to pay the British troops almost single-handed. At the same time, he secretly funded Napoleon too, this way he was growing his own business with the even use of war. The year was 1815 and Nathan was informed that Napoleon appeared to be suffering defeat at Waterloo while the English government believed that they were the ones that were losing the battle. That was a golden opportunity for Rothschild, who began to sell all his bonds, encouraging the rumor that Napoleon had won and that the British papers will soon be worth only the paper they are written on. Soon the English market panicked and followed Rothschild lead. It was then that Rothschild's agents began buying all the bonds he came across at dirt cheap prices. Two days later, when Wellington's envoy confirmed that Napoleon Bonaparte had indeed suffered a crushing defeat, Nathan Rothschild was effectively in control of the English stock exchange. Until this day (April, 2018), England is still paying back money owed to the Rothschild family from this Napoleonic maneuver.

Now, they claim to have prosperous business in the wine industry and other niches (bull crap to me) making an effort to explain their huge estate, but this is useless and perhaps a little insulting. They thought that it might be a good idea to show $2 trillion in assets to get the people off their back, but, I mean, if it was true, Forbes would had it published a long time ago, but to date, there is no mention in regards the Rothschild's fortune.

For this people, the rest of the billionaires in the world are just kids going crazy in a playground they call "the market", but they still won't say anything or seem visible in any way.

Until next time my friends.

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What If the USA stopped Paying Its Debt

This is one difficult topic, but let's try. The USA has more than 20 trillions of dollars in national debt, that is a 2 followed by 12 zeros, so let's break it down. Let's imagine for instance that you are a millionaire, and all your money is represented in 1000 dollar bills, that adds up to one thousand to make up your million, and if you stack your 1000 bills on top of each other, that stack would be about 4 inches tall (10.16 cm). If you have a thousand of those stacks, you'd be a billionaire, the cash stack would rise to be 333.33 feet tall (101.6 m), which is roughly the height of a 35 story building. Now let's say that you have 1000 of those stacks, then you will be a trillionaire and your cash stack would rise would be 63.14 miles high, which or 9 times the height that a commercial airline flies. Now, this is one trillion and if we multiply that by 20, that is 1263 miles from the surface, this means that we are way passed the Exosphere (6,665 miles from the surface of the earth), yeah, a debt out of this world.

Of course, you just don't wake up one day and find out that you owe a stack of money that would stretch out of the planet, it takes lots of spending. Looking back 50 years ago, the US debt was 348 billion dollars (37% of the GDP) and the first trillion dollars was reached in Ronald Reagan's administration back in 1982, counting for 34% of the GDP. When he left office, the US Debt almost triple (2.9 trillion or 50% of the GDP). Clearly, it was not only his fault, since there is still a big jump to today's 20 trillion, With big tax cuts, spending on dumb ass things like war overseas, and then with economic stimulus packages, it all adds up to where we are now. 

The debt rises because the US government spends more than it can collect in taxes, then it needs to make up the shortfall by selling US treasury bonds to investors and other countries (selling the taxes it has not collected yet, but hoping that will be collected sometime in the future, that is if shit doesn't hit the fan first) promising not to default.

So, What is Default?

When a country defaults on its debt, it is called sovereign default, if the USA were to default, it would essentially stop paying the money it owed to the investors of the US Treasury bonds, if this happens, well, I am sorry to say but, the web has not reached a consensus, this means that nobody really knows what would happen. But some things are going to happen for sure, for example, a global market plunge of biblical proportions, followed by a global rise in interest rates. The impact would be felt by the US creditors (other countries) who are owed the money. Let's check out 5 potential knock-on effects, that will occur in the event of the US defaulting on its obligations.

Depression and Unemployment

The Treasury and the federal reserve, would make their way through banks and eventually blow a hole to the Main Street economy. The unemployment rate would rise and a ton of uncertainty would take center stage. The stock market would suffer, with the stock prices on a free fall as investors fled to other countries for safer investments like gold. The recession would be on the economic horizon, public services disruption since there would be no money to pay salaries or benefits of any kind to federal or military personnel and retirees, social security recipients, Medicare bills, student loans, tax refunds and payments to keep government facilities open. This, of course, would lead to a lot of disruptions and unrest across the American public.

Affect on Business

A US default would significantly raise the cost of doing business since the companies would have to pay higher interest rates on loans and bonds to compete with the higher interest rates of the US Treasury. There would be price increases on goods and services and rising inflation. Business would suffer and as a result, there would be higher unemployment.

US-Dollar Impact

There would be a massive sell of U.S Dollars, an event that would threaten the greenback's status as the world's reserve currency. Prices for everyday commodities and services would go up, and we would be saying goodbye to low mortgage rates. All of the above would affect negatively the buying patterns of the American population, which again would further impact the economy.

Global Market Impacted

The US economy has a far-reaching impact so it would not only be the homeland where the effects would be felt. As you can see (I hope in the image above), foreign nations hold over 40% of the US debt, as you can see, the list is long but China and Japan stand out with over 67% of the 40% (2.24 trillion) and putting this some other way, what we owe Japan (1.17 trillion) is equivalent to 20% of its annual economic output and would shake the Japanese economy for sure.

This specualation is all fascinating, I hear you say, but on what grounds is all this based on?. Well, let's take a real example in another country. Remember Greece?.

Debt Crisis in Greece-Short Discussion

The most recent debt crisis took place there, back in 2015, the country formally defaulted on 1.7 billion payment to the on the IMF in Athens. I know, this is not even close to 1 trillion, but it was still, hugely disruptive. There is a great article about Greece Debt Default that you must read, It will clear this up for you, so click here to read the article from "The Balance".

Let's check out some numbers.

Extreme Poverty Threshold

Back in 2015, 15% of Greeks (about 1.61 million people) earned below 50% of the extreme poverty threshold, when 6 years early, did not exceed 2.2%.

Cost of Goods

The high cost of goods lead to a drop on the net Greece households close to 40% in the same period of time.

Although unemployment has fallen in a substatially, it remains the highest in the EU at 22%.

This is a hard topic to write and read, because at the end, to answer the question: "How realistic is the prospect of the US defaulting on its obligations?. The answer is "Not likely to happen" and the reason for that is that all the US government Debt is denominated in US dollars or US dollar assets, and the US dollar is the underlying asset of almost all currencies in the world, this means for example that, the Mexican Peso is only worth the dollars someone else is willing to pay for it, and the dollar underlies on the American capacity to generate wealth. This was not always like this, money used to be backed up by precious metals like gold and silver but with the "Breton Woods Agreement" of 1944, all major currencies around the world were forced to change its precious-metal based-value system to one of fixed exchange rates. By 1971 there was no turning back and the gold standard was abandoned.

So, we live in a bubble, the mother of all bubbles, the currency bubble, a bubble that will explode someday and will have consecuences of biblical proportions and the whole world knows that, this is why that in the event of the US defaulting on its debt, the world will cut its obligations with the USA to the very zero if necesary, or will grant a time extention of 1000 years if that is what it takes for the USA not to break apart, because if the USA breaks, the whole world will follow.

Now, allow me to quote the world's greatest dumb ass ever, the former Chairman of the FED since 1987 to 2006. 

"The United States can pay any debt it has because it can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default"

Alan Greenspan

Thanks for reading and if you are Alan Greenspan, kindly click away, this blog is not for you. There is an special place in hell for people that does the type of shit that you have done.

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What if Coke was the Only Thing to Drink, and Nothing More?

Ok, I know, everyone knows that great loads of sugar are bad for your health (especially if you are a woman), but the sad truth is that we all humans have a sweet tooth. Back in the XVIII century, the British started to refined very large quantities of sugar but back then, it was still considered a luxury item. They had a name for sugar, they called it the "White Gold", as it was so precious and expensive that only the very rich could afford to eat it. 

Nowadays, the sugar industry is huge (enormous, holy cow!! really big) and while our daily intake of this sweet delight should be only about 37.5 grams for men (that would be something between 8 to 9 teaspoons. This is a little more than 150 calories) and 25 grams for women (approximately 6 teaspoons, which is a little over 100 calories), it is thought that American sugar consumption was at its peak (1990), the average citizen was consuming 111 grams a day on daily basis. Things are getting better now since today we have a national average of 94 grams/person, which is mostly attributed to soft drinks. Now, let's talk about the one that by far is the most important soft drinks manufacturer in the world. Let me present you Coca-Cola.

History of Coca-Cola

The history of Coca-Cola starts in 1886 when an American pharmacist called Dr. John Stith Pemberton started messing around with carbonated water and syrup, and he was so pleased with the results that within a year, he was selling 9 servings a day, 5 cents each.

Today, around 1.7 billions of coke servings are sold every day, that is 42.8% of the U.S Carbonated drinks market. 

It's believed that half of the U.S.A population drinks at least half a glass of soda every day of their lives. So I think the question is Is it any good for them?.

First, let's take a look what is actually in Coke. Is there really a secret ingredient that nobody can fathom except its creators?. Well, the secret formula was actually created as a marketing stunt back in 1891, but until today, Coke says that only a few people on the inside know what that is.

Coke actually labels each ingredient as a merchandise, and they numbered from 1 to 9. One of them is of course sugar, or other sweeteners, caffeine, caramel coloring, and phosphoric acid. From here, the rest of the formula is a mystery, although there might be orange, lime, vanilla, cinnamon, and even nutmeg in the syrup. To add a little more mystery, one of the ingredients is called "7X". In a book on the subject, writer Mark Pendergast mentions that he has found the secret ingredients and they were a mix of oils containing extract of orange, Lemmon, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Coriander, Neroli and some alcohol. I'll leave you an Amazon link in case you want to check out this book.

In case that you wonder if the rumor that accuses Coca-Cola of containing coke?. Well, yeah, it used to contain Coke, but in those days the coca leaf was promoted as a health benefit. All we know is that by the year 1902, it contained 1/400 of a gram of cocaine per ounce of syrup, not enough to make you high but enough to get you a little hooked. Cocaine was finally removed from Coke back in 1929 (cocaine was made illegal in the USA in 1914 with the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act).

Prior to that, it was the drink's selling point, with its creator, a morphine addict himself, saying that Coke was "a most wonderful invigorating of sexual organs".

Much has changed, but Coke's marketing strategy is still often related to having a lust for life, youth, spirit, and sexiness. But, let's get to the point now, the sugar.

Sugar In Coca-Cola

There are 9 grams of sugar in every 100 grams of the drink, this means that in a 12 oz. can of coke (340.19 grams) there is 1.08 oz. of sugar (30.61 grams) or 2.16 tablespoons. But of course, we all know how people like to overdose on Coke, so in a 7-Eleven Big Gulp (30 oz. of Coke), there are 2.7 oz. of sugar (76.54 grams), more than 2 times the recommended daily sugar intake for men and more than 3 times the recommended daily dose for women, and a Super Gulp (44 oz. of Coke) contains 3.96 oz. of sugar (112.26 grams), and a Double Gulp (64 oz. Coke), 5.76 oz. of sugar (163.29 grams) or 11.52 tablespoons.

You can do the math by yourself, just multiply the serving size by 0.09 (or 9%) and you get the sugar ounces that you are eating, in tablespoons, you take this last result and multiply by 2.

Since drinks got so big, New York created the "Sugary Portion Cap Rule", but that had no effect on 7-Eleven monstrous portions since it only applies to restaurants, which were prohibited from serving sugary drinks bigger than 16 ounces (23% smaller than a large Mc Donald's soda). No surprise that the sugar drinks conglomerate opposed the bill, stating that the poor income families will lose out those great deals. You could splurge and purchase 3 separated drinks.

So, if you just drink Coke and nothing else, you will be putting yourself in a lot of danger, although it might be acceptable if you are in a Zombie-Apocalypse scenario, and you are locked up in a Coke warehouse, and there is nothing but stock. As you can imagine, your teeth will start to root, since the phosphoric acid on Coke gets in touch with your teeth, therefore destroying the enamel and the sugar will soon lead to cavities. The calories you consumed would be less than the recommended 2000, if you drink 14 cans of Coke at 140 calories per can, you will get near the daily recommended caloric intake, but still, the contents will hurt you.

Remember that all that high fructose corn syrup you are consuming would start to increase fat in your liver and will put you at risk of getting a cardiovascular disease. 

What is it like to Drink Coke Every day? Let's Ask John.

Meet John Prior, a super fit 50-year-old guy from L.A that actually drank nothing but Coke, every day, for a month, that is, 10 cans (1400 cal.) a day for 30 days. He ate other things too though. After his binge, the British press said that he put on 28 pounds (12.7 Kg). So in a month, from being slim, he developed "love handles", a "pot" belly, and man boobs. He also said that his blood pressure went u from 129/77 to 145/96, his conclusion was that "I think there are a lot of  people suffering health problems like diabetes and heart disease, who aren't aware they could help themselves by just stopping sugar." He also admitted that big corporations and their lobbying arm would be hard to stop.

According to some experts at Yale University, we'd start aging rapidly, as well as putting on pounds and losing teeth. The same study says that we'd feel very hungry all the time as sweet tastes increase appetite. We might even start gnawing at the crates in the warehouse and weight gain would be definite. Studies have shown that 1/5 of America's famous obesity epidemic is from people just drinking sugary products compulsively.

Another article about Natasha Harris, a woman who drank 18 pints of Coke every day (a little less than 8.5 liters) and no water for 16 years, died at the age of 30 from a cardiac arrest. At the time of her death, this woman, mother of 8 children had "hypocalemia, or the lack of potassium in the blood, did not have any teeth and one of her 8 children was born without enamel. 

Natasha Harris from New Zeland, downed nearly 9 liters of Coke every day otherwise she'd go crazy

Research has shown that only by reducing the amount of sugar in drinks could prevent over 1 million cases of obesity.

"We have solid evidence that keeping intake of free sugars to less than 10% of the total energy  intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay"

WHO's Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, 2015

I know things could change, but sugar politics is a big deal and in the end, the bottom line is more important than your health, says most critics.

The sugar industry has spent over 54 million dollars lobbying in the last 8 years and well, in the UK, politicians knew this and tried to come up with a way to reduce obesity in the country by taxing sugar higher. This hasn't come in yet, but already drinks manufacturers have begun reducing the sugar in their drinks in the UK by almost 50% because of this. Coke was one of those companies, but the 30% sugar reduction will only happen in the UK, according to CNN. Let's check out what the Euro News are saying these days.

What Happens when you Drink Coke?

In a 1-hour period of time, after drinking a standard can of Coke, this is what happens.

Start Counting

The phosphoric acid that Coca-Cola contains gets in touch with the enamel on your teeth, provoking dental erosion. This type, unlike the localized erosion that gives you cavities in a certain tooth, affects all your teeth at the same time.

In 10 Minutes

A little more than 2 tablespoons of sugar strike your system (about 80% of the recommended daily intake of sugar). You won't be able to vomit due to the overwhelming sweetness because of the large quantity of phosphoric acid that cuts the flavor. Still, almost all the sugar that you were supposed to intake in a day, is punched at once in a short period of time (sounds pretty bad, huh?)

20 Minutes

You will experience a spike in your blood sugar, followed by an insulin burst. Now your liver gets to work (like when your boss makes you work until you break) turning all the sugar at its reach into fat. It accumulates very fast.

40 Minutes

Your pupils dilate due to all the caffeine absorbed, and as your blood pressure raises, your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. At this point, the adenosine receptors in your brain are blocked preventing drowsiness.

45 Minutes

Your dopamine production increases, stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. In case you have not figured it out yet, this is just how heroin works.

60 Minutes

1) The phosphoric acid binds the calcium, zinc, and magnesium in your lower intestine, generating a further boost in your metabolism. The result is an increase in the urinary excretion of calcium, zinc, and magnesium. (Now you know why Coke is especially bad for women.)

2) Now we experience the caffeine diuretic properties in all its extension. At this point, you will pee all the calcium, magnesium, and zinc previously bonded, that were supposed to go to your bones (teeth included). Sodium, electrolyte and of course water get flushed at this point too.

3) As the rave party in your body dies down, you will start to have a sugar crash. It is possible that you get irritable and/or sluggish. Since you pissed away all the water of the Coke that you just had, not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used to build strong bones and teeth or hydrating your system, you will get thirsty again, only this time, you also get hungry, since you need to replace all the valuable minerals you have just pissed away.

So you take another Coke and there we go again.

There are several health issues involving Coke, and the one that I think is the true and silent-slow killer is the progressive damage to your kidneys. So eat well, drink more water, and try not to drink Coke...so you can "Enjoy".

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Was the European Union a Good Idea or Should all take the GB path?

This is the question nowadays, and part of the reason is that some people feel strongly disconnected to the E.U, while others praise its achievements. All things considered. Is its existence good or bad for Europeans?.

Remember that the U.K is leaving the E.U, so I think we better treat it like if it's no longer part of the club (well, I think it was always like that, remember that they kept the Pound as national currency). The E.U is the combination of 27 countries and has a population of a little more than 508 million people, making it the third most populous country in the world and in case that you wonder, followed by the United States in 4th place (327 million people). It's the world's second-largest economy by GDP (approx. 17 trillion dollars) and has the biggest single market in the world. But this was not the original idea of the creation of the E.U, the original purpose was "peace". Europeans are really good at war, so they have been involved in bloody conflicts for basically all their history (the list is huge but, click this link to check out the most important since 1450). From all that hate, it is remarkable the one-century long rivalry between Germany and France that has cost millions of lives and ran so deeply that the Germans invented a word for that, that is "Erbfeindschaft" which can be translated as "enmity". So, after WWII, Europeans decided that they wanted lasting peace that is not based on a balance of military power, instead, the economies, the politics and all the people of Europe should become so closely integrated and interconnected, that war would become unthinkable and unpractical, and it worked, between Euro members we'd had over seventy years of peace.

Yeah, peace is great but, is that all? is peace the only achievement of the European Union?, clearly not, look, today, many citizens benefit from several individual freedoms, treaties, and regulations to ensure easy traveling between countries, cheap phone communications, an awesome variety of food and services, as well as very strong health and safety standards.

Europe is not afraid to pick a fight with any industrial giant, (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and much more) in regards tax evasion, data protection or fair competition.

Talking about the E.U science program, the European Union became a collaborative engine that works as a hub of science in the wider world, unrestricted travel and the possibility to work anywhere in the continent, makes it easy to apply for funds and to set up an international team of experts with the best equipment possible. In turn, the European Union became the world's leader in terms of its global share of science, that makes more than 34% of the world's research output, that is very impressive especially if you think that all that knowledge comes from only 5% of its population.

Despite all of the above, more than a few citizens feel distrust toward the E.U, Brussels seems far away, untransparent and technocratic and somehow difficult to understand. To make things even worse, the E.U is terrible at outreach and explaining what it actually does. This is leading to an ever-shrinking voter turnout over the decades. The E.U is in desperate need of more transparency and accountability, that is if it wants more institutional trust on behalf of their citizens.

Currently, the EU is still shaking from the refugee crisis of 2015, some countries have accepted far greater numbers of asylum seekers than others, while the border countries are overwhelmed and feel like they were left alone in this terrible situation. Other countries a shocked by the initially unregulated mass migration, therefore closing their borders, effectively shutting down the largest route into Europe.

Due to E.U's freedom and wealth, people think of it as an attractive destination and this is not about to change, but the population is split on how to react to that. Some people argue that Europe is letting in too many immigrants with different culture without strictly demanding integration, while others think that immigration is not the problem, but the racism and discrimination of immigrants are preventing integration.

To strike a balance between helping refugees turning illegal immigrants away and integrating the ones that stay is nowadays the most difficult challenge that the Union faces. 

Immigration aside, several more challenges lie in the future, such as defense. It is a tradition that the European countries had relied strongly on the protection of the United States of America through NATO. But in today's political climate, Europe has to ask itself if it really wants to depend in such a great manner on the USA for its safety. 

If combined today, militaries of the European Union could form an effective defensive force and be the third largest military in the world. I know this is a sexy topic, let's take a moment to check the E.U military forces and the top 4 most powerful military forces on the planet.

What About Money?

Well, as you could probably think, this is a very complicated issue. The E.U created the largest single market in the world, inside of it, you can trade border and customs free, countries that entered the European Union got a massive boost on their economies, even between neighbors, trade increased by one hundred percent, and there was a steady creation of new jobs. Research has suggested that joining the European Union has left most of its members with an average of a 12% higher GDP than if they had remained outside and for those regions with weaker economies and poor infrastructure, E.E institutions provide billions of Euros every year helping economic investments, infrastructure, and social development.

But there is a negative side, that is because the E.U tries to hold together countries that with vastly different economies and laws regarding labor, social security, taxes, etc. The cost of one hour work in an E.U country ranges from 4 Euros to 40 Euros, some countries have large industries and strong exports, while others focus on services, tourism, or natural resources. On top of this, the Euro is the common currency of most but not all these countries.

As the Greek crisis shows, this can be a recipe for disaster because you can't unify vastly different economies under one currency, but keep their economy policies separated, that is because if something really bad happens (2008 world economic crisis) weaker economies cannot depreciate their currencies and make their products and services be perceived as cheaper to the eyes of other stronger countries (potential buyers), this way, getting their economies into the path of economic recovery. This among other irresponsible decisions got the Greek economy broke in a few months.

I think the question is: Should all European Union countries unite under the common currency, or not?. Should the weakest links of the chain be thrown out of the Euro, or should countries be made to adopt common policies on taxes, healthcare, and social security?. This question has been brewing for years now and it is nowhere near a suitable solution.

So all things considered. Is the European Union a good idea, or should every country follow the UK path?. Well, I think that the E.U is very flawed, and still needs a lot of work and refinement, but it is very fair to say that the E.U makes Europeans a solid and powerful figure in the world, remember that they lead the path of science, through extensive investments in research and development, plus they are one of the strongest economic and military power in the world, but more importantly, the European Union gives Europeans peace, security, and a sense of shared identity, and something very important to humans in theses turbulent times, stability. I think that if Europeans want to protect the values that they are so proud of, a strong European Union is the way to go so they can make sure that their voices are heard throughout the world. If the E.U breaks apart, all its countries as small states will hardly stand a chance in a world of shifting superpowers (USA, China, Russia or even India).

If you don't agree with me, that's fine, you just have a different opinion, in the words of Evelyn Beatrice Hall (English writer-Voltaire's Biographer, Known as S. G. Tallentyre): "I do not agree with what you have said, but I'd defend to the death your right to say it" 

Cheers Friends,

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