[...] the most important effect of the hypermobility of capital on labor movements is not so much its direct impact on workers, but its indirect impact. In this view, the hypermobility of capital has weakened de facto state sovereignty . And as states become incapable of effectively controlling flows of capital, their capacity to protect their citizens' livelihoods and other workers' rights; including the welfare state and substantive democracy, also declines (Tilly 1995; Castells 1997: 252-4, 354-5). States that insist on maintaining expensive social compacts with their citizens, including their working classes, risk being abandoned en masse by investors scouring the world for the highest possible returns. From this perspective, the most consequential aspect of the "race to the bottom" takes the form of pressure on states to repeal social welfare provisions and other fetters on profit maximization within their borders. The rocky debut of the new European currency (the Euro) has been taken as one example of this process, with European countries being "punished" for failing to dismantle social protection schemes at a sufficiently rapid pace to suit a hypermobile capital.