Euro-zone red alert

[dunno what to put here]

Originally Posted by Neuling

- It's not about bailing out the Euro, but the EU as a whole, which is closely connected to the Euro
- Yes, since Britain is in the EU, it should also benefit in good times and suffer in bad times, just like all the other countries. Maybe they should change the rule so that one cannot be part of the EU without using the Euro. So Britain could have a similar status as Switzerland. But of course they would no longer have a voice in EU politics.
- Britain's contribution is not that big anyway, its economy not exactly the strongest. The EU can easily live without Britain, but not vice versa. Maybe they should apply to become the 51st state of the US
- I don't like the EU, but as long as we have it, it can't afford to have rotting apples in it. Sure, it is not a pleasure to have foreigners review and check your finances, but had that happened in Greece, they would have noticed the monetary black holes there much earlier and intervened accordingly.

There's so much Anti-British comments circulating around the internet in recent days..

Britain is the second biggest net contributor to the EU, we lose about 56 billion a year due to EU membership while countries like Greece and Poland gain billions each year. We basically pay for poor eastern European nations to develop their countries. If we left, then we take our 50 million a day with us.

Britain's economy is not great, obviously, but it is now growing at a faster pace then France and is on par with Germany. Our unemployment, even at its peak, will still be lower then that of France. Our exports are growing while in France they are shrinking, oh, and we can print money, France cannot.

Britain imports more European goods then it exports to Europe. We both need one another for trade, but even so, Britain could easily exit the EU and still trade with Europe, like every other nation does. But we're not going to leave the EU.

One of the biggest aspects of this treaty was a financial transcation tax. Considering 80% of all financial transactions in Europe pass through London, it was an obvious choice to veto, now two other nations have joined us because they knew they would not benefit from signing up, and Sweden is still on the fence, while Ireland may have to have a referendum. People who thought this useless, pointless treaty would go ahead smoothly are silly.

Considering all the anti-British remarks being made by French politicians in recent days, Britain must have more influence then some people think it does. It's actually quite funny to see leading French politicians throwing their toys out of the pram. Hehe

Besides, polls show the majority of Brits supported the veto.

Oh, and just to clarify, most Brits would rather be the 51st state of the United States then the 27th state of a United Europe.

[dunno what to put here]

Originally Posted by Neuling

This crisis shows how little Europeans really like each other and care about each other. At the end of the day, it is still just an economic union.

Quite. Britain has never felt European, never will. Britain and Europe have constantly been at each others throats, been at war god knows how many times..

During hte late 19th century, Britain was isolated in Europe and refused to get involved with European affairs, and at that time, we ruled half the world!

Sure enough those days are over, but my point is, each European nation has different cultures, histories and ways of life. We nave never gotten along, and Europe has been at war so many times, one wonders when the next one will come along (apparently British military officials are preparing for a military fallout because of the Eurozone crisis while the US has named the Eurozone an area to watch for conflict the at the US might need to intervene in)

[erasure]

Originally Posted by kevxu

Russia holds a huge chunk of EU debt, it clearly has no interest in seeing it turn into toilet paper.

Wait a minute - don't they hold a big chunk of American debt ( or used to hold? ) I am thinking "stabilization fund" that used to be mostly in dollars. So what happened there, why they care more about Euro at this point? ( I didn't follow follow that for a while)))

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

There's so much Anti-British comments circulating around the internet in recent days...

I think a lot of this has to do with the knee-jerk hostility that Brits spew out daily about continental Europeans, even when they live here.

As for the economic comparison, Richard Quest on CNN did a run through on his financial show, with some financial expert whose name I don't remember. They went through four main indicators of financial health...France excelled the UK on two of them, and they were equal on the other two.

I wouldn't place a bet on either one, quite frankly.

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by erasure

Wait a minute - don't they hold a big chunk of American debt ( or used to hold? ) I am thinking "stabilization fund" that used to be mostly in dollars. So what happened there, why they care more about Euro at this point? ( I didn't follow follow that for a while)))

Because the U.S. is not experiencing the basic chaos, which seems to be engulfing the eurozone. However lackluster the U.S. economy may be at the moment, it is much farther back from any brink. Therefore, their concern is where the fire is.

[miticoman]

The conclusion seems to be that the European Union exists only in theory, too many contradictions and hate spirits stagnate in some populations convictions, but the progress of humanity is a linear path and not without difficulties