34 replies to this topic

[Yamato]

questionmark, on 18 June 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:

Does not work as long as each has only his own interest in his mind, there is no need for free trade then. There is just receivers and givers. The rules must be the same for all or it just leads to reshuffling of capital, like NAFTA.

And as to the sentiment to unite to be somebody independent from the superpowers just read the speeches at occasions of the awarding of the Chalemagne prize (awarded to those helping to unify Europe). And the people getting the prize are not some radicalinskies but leading European politicians. BTW, can't remember any Briton who ever got it...

Your first statement doesn't make sense to me.  If you have free competition, you don't need free trade?  

Rules should be fair aye, but also fiscally realistic and harsh if you're not.    If solvency can't be achieved with unification in Europe then I believe it's a sign one has unified too far.

[questionmark]

Yamato, on 18 June 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

Your first statement doesn't make sense to me.  If you have free competition, you don't need free trade?  

Rules should be fair aye, but also fiscally realistic and harsh if you're not. If solvency can't be achieved with unification in Europe then I believe it's a sign one has unified too far.

If you have free trade you need common rules. If you need common rules you need common institutions to make those rules and a common executive to enforce those rules. Else it just shifts money from one to the other. and benefits nobody.

[Yamato]

questionmark, on 18 June 2012 - 06:43 PM, said:

If you have free trade you need common rules. If you need common rules you need common institutions to make those rules and a common executive to enforce those rules. Else it just shifts money from one to the other. and benefits nobody.

We've been shifting money from one to the other and benefiting nobody in the wake of all that commonness.   The solution to too much debt and overspending isn't more debt and more spending.  You sound like a preferred bondholder who's making money hand over fist while Athens burns, cheering on the guarantors to keep bilking the rotten system.  

52.4% unemployment in the 15-24 age group?   Talk about this status quo benefiting nobody!  

If there are entrances into the EU there should be exits as well.

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

questionmark, on 18 June 2012 - 06:43 PM, said:

If you have free trade you need common rules. If you need common rules you need common institutions to make those rules and a common executive to enforce those rules. Else it just shifts money from one to the other. and benefits nobody.

That's certainly the Global economy in a nutshell there.
oh, beg your pardon; no, it doesn't benefit nobody, does it; it benefits the bloated capitalists, to be sure. It doesn't benefit the great huddled Masses, though, does it.

[skookum]

My parents go to mainland Greece every year. Partly they go to see my nephew and the rest for holiday.  They are not going this year and have no plans for next.  The reasons they give are the rioting and the increasing costs of flights and hotels.  An Easyjet flight to Athens can be well over £300 now, they use to fly BA for about £200 but that flight is no longer available.

I have been with them a few times, I find the hotels substandard for the money and the hire cars death traps.  The last car I hired the clutch blew up on the way back to the airport and I spent two weeks with no handbrake and spongy driving brakes.  Being an ex-technician I can confirm the car was completely unsafe.

As for the islands they have been totally taken over by the lager louts and hard drinkers (mainly from the UK).  Such a shame as the beaches are some of the nicest I have seen in the world, far nicer than anything I have seen in the Caribbean.  However with the cost of flights and accommodation the price of two weeks thousands of miles further away is not significantly higher.