The sun isn’t up yet on the East Coast of the U.S. as I am writing this, but the prospects of the national strike in France has led me to an early check of the  news to see what is happening (to the degree I can access it – shame on the mainstream American news media for totally missing this story!).

Early indications point to a significant protest in France today, which I have signaled as an important event in several previous posts.  My greatest concern is whether this march continues to establish a pattern that would place the protest in an escalating evolution (in numbers, frequency and intensity) of a middle/worker class movement around the world.

When searching for news this morning, I found an interesting Bloomberg article that talks about the mood of some of the key European leaders as the 27 leaders of the European Union begin meeting in Brussels for a two-day summit starting today (March 19) at 4:00 PM and ending the at 1:00 PM Friday.  Perfect timing – the eyes of the protestors in France can be set on Brussels to look for indications as to whether their governments will do what the protestors want.  I don’t think they are going to be happy.

Bloomberg reports the following:

“The bloc’s 27 chiefs gathering in Brussels are set to stand by a planned 400 billion-euro ($525 billion) stimulus package while haggling over which infrastructure projects are eligible for the final 5 billion euros.”

“‘Significant additional fiscal stimulus does not seem to be in the cards in Europe,’ said Nick Kounis, chief European economist at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam. “Not many countries actually have much further room.”

In the meantime, the economic conditions in Europe continue to decline.  As the Bloomberg article chronicled it:

“Data in the past week showed industrial production in Germany posting its largest recorded drop in January and unemployment in Britain jumping at the fastest pace since at least 1971 in February.”

I understand that there are legitimate debates about whether more stimulus packages would be beneficial or not, and whether it would be the correct step based on any particular political philosophy.  However, people around the world are taking to the streets in protest – to this point mostly (but far from entirely) non-violent.  The question that concerns me is:  If very angry and disillusioned people continue to feel exploited by the class “above” them and ignored by their own governments even as the quality of their life devolves as a result of the economic crisis, will this be able to stay just an economic crisis or will it morph into a global social/cultural/political crisis? Then, the question that becomes relevant will change from “How does this global economic crisis compare to the Depression?” to “How does this global economic crisis compare to the period prior to the French Revolution?”

What impact would such a shift in headlines exert on the couple thinking about whether now is the right time to buy a new house or car or invest in equities?  Such decisions become increasingly difficult as political unrest mounts.  Thus, political unrest will extend the depth and length of the crisis.  So, if the goal of government leaders when they look at stimulus packages is to lessen the impact and shorten the duration of the crisis, should (will) that goal drive their political actions as well?  Or will political philosophical issues (including the transformation or even end of capitalism as we have known it) preempt that from happening?  Or will it simply be a matter of resources (including the economic impossibility for even more levels of public debt) that preempt the more aggressive government responses the protestors want?

We will have to watch the news and events to see what happens.  And what we see happen today and over the next few days may be critical in setting the course of world history going forward.  The G20 meetings start in a few days in London.  Protests are planned there.  That will be followed by a planned multi-city protest in the U.S. the first few days of April when the theme will be “Bail Out The People, Not The Banks” (the protest is also known as “The March on Wall Street”).  Are we in for a new momentum that will change the headlines around the world?  And if so, what will be the consequences?

This would be riveting if it was a movie.  As real life, it is well beyond simply “riveting.”