There’s a Catch

Northern, WI 5/8/12 (StreetBeat) -- Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach.
“Is Orr crazy?”
“He sure is,” Doc Daneeka said.
“Can you ground him?”
“I sure can. But first he has to ask me. That’s part of the rule.”
“Then why doesn’t he ask you to?”
“Because he’s crazy,” Doc Daneeka said. “He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he’s had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.”
“That’s all he has to do to be grounded?”
“That’s all. Let him ask me.”
“And then you can ground him?” Yossarian asked.
“No. Then I can’t ground him.”
“You mean there’s a catch?”
“Sure there’s a catch,” Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

The European debt situation is crazy. Too much spending, too much debt and too high a probability of a crash landing; it had to be grounded. The Euro Zone powers that be insisted on austerity measures to reduce the debt overhang. Sanity would be restored, they said. But austerity is harsh and if it is imposed the economies would suffer too much, but any country that would pursue this path was certainly sane and trustworthy. This means that more spending will be required says the new President of France, likely fueled by more debt. Too much debt was crazy and had to be stopped. Austerity budgets had to be passed to reduce the debt load. Austerity was sane. But if austerity indicated sanity and trustworthiness, then more spending could be initiated and more debt would likely be issued, by some entity in order to fuel the spending; which is crazy. The argument is circular; after all this time are you dizzy yet? Is Europe?

On May 6, 2010 the Greek parliament approved an austerity bill. The vote was required of them in order to receive the EU110 billion rescue package that had been agreed to a few days earlier.

Among the factors that affected the voting in France and Greece on May 6, 2012 was a popular rejection of austerity as the way out of the debt crisis. There are a lot of people in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, et al that have a keen interest in how this initiative plays out. One can be sure that Germany plans to not only observe but participate in the outcome.

It has taken two years, but in some ways Europe has now arrived back at the starting point.

Is it time to take another lap? Or do the votes in Europe on Sunday indicate a new route is about to be navigated? I think the events of this past weekend were important, but there’s always a catch, isn’t there?

“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

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