The Broker Online
The Broker Online

Author

Frans Bieckmann

Frans Bieckmann

Frans Bieckmann is former executive director and editor in chief at The Broker. He left The Broker in december 2017. He is currently employed as Strategic Advisor at the Gemeente Amsterdam. Frans has a degree in international relations at the University of Amsterdam and has 30 years’ experience as a researcher, journalist and advisor on issues in development and globalization. In August 2012, Frans published the book Soedan – Het sinistere spel om macht, rijkdom en olie, a detailed analysis of international involvement with Sudan and the conflict in Darfur.

Capital above labour

Profits are reinvested less in productive sectors, where labour can benefit, and more in capital markets.

Clash of economic classes, not of nations

The argument that pits the lazy Greek or Spaniard against the hard-working Dutchman or Fin is clearly too simplistic. It is not a clash of nations, but of economic classes.

Ideals versus reality

15 years after the introduction of the euro, the reality is quite different. Instead of more, we see less solidarity among European member states. At the same time, there are rising trends in inequality, unemployment and low paid jobs – trends caused by the financial crisis, some might say, but such analysis overlooks several important details.

Concerns about the European middle class - part 4

While inequality is the flipside of the ‘squeezed-out middle’, the trends affecting the middle class and inequality are inextricably bound up with changes in the labour market in Europe.

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