Does anyone actually think us being in the EU is a good idea?

[andygardener]

Is there anyone out there that thinks pouring money into a corrupt supra-national dictatorship that is doing such a smashing job of managing the eurozone is a good idea?

[callippo]

TINA

 

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[Rupert_Baehr]

Your poll is flawed because it doesn't poll all (or anywhere near all) the possible answers.

 

Your post blows the biggest hole possible in the poll.

 

The thread title talks about the EU, but you attempt to use the Euro (nothing to do with the EU) as a part of your ill-defined argument.

 

When you posed your question, what were you looking for?

 

Here are a few possible replies (from the bottom up) :

 

1. No, of course we shouldn't be in the @##%$%#&&@^EU! Those !@)@_)!(_!# foreigners should pay their own way (or claim it off benefits like wot we do.) No way should we pay their %*%&&&&&* benefits. (Actually, You don't. - But that's an embarassing fact ... and the facts should never be allowed to get in the way of the fiction.)

 

2. (Following on from 1 above) "If they allow all those bleedin' foreigners to come in, they'll do us out of a job!"

 

Maybe. Think about it. There's nothing new about 'seasonal workers'- they've been here for 65 or more years.

 

What's the difference between 'seasonal workers' (people who were prepared to do a job for piecework rates) and 'EU workers' who are prepared to do the same thing?

 

What about skilled workers? Some years ago an agency (who got it totally wrong) thought I was in a position to employ Polish dentists and offered me 1500 fully-{EU} qualified Polish dentists. At that time, there was a significant shortage of dentists in the UK. ... [is it easy to find an NHS dentist in Sheffield ? Had I hired them and were you a Pole with toothache, then even if you weren't an electrician, a plumber or another sort-after tradesman, if you were polish wiTh a toothache, you'd be better off in the UK

 

Rattle, rattle rattle - even I'm getting bored.

 

What, exactly (and be very specific) do you dislike about the EU Andy?.

[andygardener]

It's massive corruption and inefficiency Rupert.

 

Specific enough for you rupe?

[upinwath]

The pen pushers have taken the job over. The daft Euro, mickey Mouse money was a dog's breakfast to start with and has done nothing but got worse.

A pile of countries are going bust while the other Euro countries are fine. Just how exactly does that inspire confidence in the daft idea?

[Rupert_Baehr]

It's massive corruption and inefficiency Rupert.

 

Specific enough for you rupe?

 

 

Actually, Andy, I found it quite difficult to reply to your post.

 

We probably sing off the same hymn sheet.

 

I do have post-grad degree which includes significant economics courses, so perhaps I am academically qualified to comment. I also know a significant amount (practical, rather than academic) about international economics and I'm certainly qualified to comment there.

 

Let's separate the things which cause confusion:

 

The EU is nothing to do with the Eurozone ... Just as the US dollar has nothing to do with the Bohemian Tolar. There a re many [far too many, IMO] countries aligned to the Euro, just as there are far too many countries reliant on the dollar (but that's another story.)

 

Try this for size:

 

The PIIGS Screw up.

 

The serious Eurozone players get ****** off and rather than expelling the PIIGS, they bail out,

 

Nobody seems anxious to discuss the possibility of one of the major players pulling out.

 

To echo the slogan of one of my favourite hardware stores:

 

'Machbar, Herr Nachbar!"

 

"Merkel" does not translate into English as 'Scargill'. Her popularity is waning.

[Obelix]

As Rupert B says, the EU is not the Eurozone.

 

Me I like the EU. I like being able to travel to many locations almost unhindered thanks to Schengen. I like being able to pitch for business (and also to get tenders) from the entireity of the Eurozone. I like having the largest free labour market in the world to draw my labour from.

 

The Euro? Disaster. I always thought it would be and am surprised at how long it's lasted, but am somewhat impressed by it's robustness. Well, at least until Aunt Angela pulls the rug from under it...

 

Greece, and Italy et al? They either wise up and stop spending like it's free money (and it is to them - until Germany pulls the plug) - or the core countries of the Eruozone will have to act.

 

What to do? Well you cannot get Greece to leave the Eurozone because no-one will take up their currency. They can't inflate their way out, and they probably cannot stop spending or raise taxes enough.

 

So, the best bet if I were driving, and I'm not and that's possibly a good thing because I'm at the four whisky stage is as follows...

 

IF Greece was going to exit - no-one would want Euros. the currency would crash as they know that people will hold a lot of for sure toxic debt demoninated in Euros, that no-one will touch and which a reinstated drachma will never buy.

 

So the best bet is for France, Germany, Benelux et al, Austria, Nederlands, to refloat their currencies. People will buy those, they are good solid currencies, and they can easily afford to buy Euros to service the debt they spin off, because they will force the Eurozone off onto the PIIGS that will tank and the Euro will fall like a stone.

 

That way the core coutries win, the outer peripheries devalue and inflate like they should and the only people withe headaches are those with lots of whisky, or with Euro holdings....

 

...nuts.... I best get rid of those then....

 

Like I say. Never drive an economy whilst drunk....

[ANGELFIRE1]

The EU has never in its existance had its accounts ratified. In other words its books have never balanced. If it was a company it would now be bankrupt.

 

How can this corrupt organisation be a good idea to join, or to stay in.

 

Let's get out quick, before it drags us down with it.

 

Regards

 

Angel.

[Mecky]

Same old questions, same old arguments