Oops...

I accidentally did not realize that there are 31 days in May rather than 30 - so I guess my project officially starts TOMORROW. Thanks to Lianne for pointing this out to me last night.

The focus of this blog is my European Union Project, but since I'm constantly reading economic news reports and books by economists, I thought I might use this as a forum to talk about that stuff, too.

I've just finished reading a book called, "The Story of B" by Daniel Quinn. It's the final book in what one might call the "Ishmael" Trilogy - his previous two works were "Ishmael" and "My Ishmael". All of the books are fascinating because it seems to be Quinn's belief that our culture - that is to say, the culture of totalitarian agriculture - is inherently flawed. Quinn's theories are too numerous to discuss here, but his ideas about the production of food and the causes of overpopulation are particularly fascinating. He's a darwinist, as am I, so I find that we feel similarly about a lot of topics. If you just want to read one book, read "The Story of B" - if you plan to read all three, start with "Ishmael".

I've just begun reading a book called "Freakonomics" by Stephen Levitt. He's a young economist, and the recent winner of a prize given every two years to an economist under 40 (I forget the name). His book, rather than focusing on econometrics and theory, deals with answering the more stimulating and interesting questions that can be solved by the dismal science. For example, he asks, "How are homeless people able to afford expensive headphones?" His insights are fascinating, and although I'm not deep into the book yet, I think it's going to be a quick read.

I check CNN.com a couple of times a day because they seem to cycle their news stories and I like to stay current. Every once in a while a news story grabs my attention - like this one did this morning. It's horrible that people would do such a thing, but that's not what makes me mad. Isn't it kind of frustrating that no one cared enough about the homeless man to get him off the street, but that we're willing to spend millions to put these two kids in jail? Isn't it kind of frustrating that to prosecute these kids and keep them in jail for 10 years is going to cost us as taxpayers? Imagine the salaries of the police officers, the judge, the jury stipends, the reporters covering the story, the jail guards, the stenographer. How much is it going to cost us once this whole thing is over? 1 million? 10 million? And we couldn't have spared a fraction of that to prevent it in the first place - to save a man's life? I don't care about the money, but the hypocrisy is infuriating. Sometimes, humanity is disgusting.

Here is a list of websites that I find useful for keeping my fingers on the pulse of the EU (thanks dad!):

• http://www.guardian.co.uk
• http://www.dw-world.de
• http://www.euobserver.com
• http://www.euractiv.com
• http://european-union-news.newslib.com
  

It seems like I'm not the only person who cares about this kind of thing!

I'm reading about the recent French rejection of the EU constitution. I'll probably post some thoughts on that later.

While playing with my blog settings, I realized that I had commenting turned off for all but registered users. All parties should now be able to add comments.

Day 0

Starting tomorrow, I will officially begin my Undergraduate Summer Scholars project here at Miami. My project is based on researching the European Union - I want to find out why it was conceived, why European nations want to belong to it, and what its existence means for the future of the global economic arena. One of the reasons I chose to study Economics as an undergraduate was to learn more about the way that people in different areas of the world exchange goods and services. I expect the vast majority of my project to focus on the economies that the European Union promises to affect.

This seems like a daunting task, and it is, but this journal will give me a place to put my thoughts as I read through the enormous amount of literature available on the subject. I plan to use this site as a sounding board for my ideas - and I hope that my ideas become clearer to me (and to others?) as I try to explain them. Thankfully, I have Professor Nick Noble to guide me through concepts that I do not understand.

I encourage all visitors to respond in the comments section. One of the best ways for me to learn is to explain a theory, then have other people poke holes in it. Anyone who has ever had a political discussion with me knows this. Pose tough questions. Try to prove me wrong. Be critical.

And thanks for visiting!