Merkel puts her foot down with a heavy hand

[joinerjohn]

I see Merkel has told the Greeks they must continue with the EU rescue plan, irrespective of who controls the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975370

What next ?? Invade, Invade, Invade.

Whatever happens, she certainly isn't smiling.

 

[skyboy]

... and she will tell the same to the new Frenchy boss too . . . oh It's all rather exciting here in the cheap seats..

 

[JohnD]

she who pays the piper...

 

[Micilin]

The new EU tax on mixed metaphors is going to be used to rdeuce the deficit

 

[^woody^]

Why shouldn't she?

If a country wants to be reckless, and then needs to be bailed out, then the terms are the terms

 

[joe-90]

The Greeks don't want a bailout - they want out.

 

[joinerjohn]

The Greeks don't want a bailout - they want out.

Not sure they don't want a bailout, they just don't want to pay for the bailout.

 

[enyam]

Not sure they don't want a bailout, they just don't want to pay for the bailout.

They won't even pay for the bail out.

 

[MeterMonkey]

It doesnt really matter what happens in any country that uses the euro.

Somehow the European Union will get there 'banker' to the helm of any country, like they did with greece, but it hasnt really helped them out.

France have come out and said that they are going to start buying oil in the euro rather than the US dollar... Should be fun to see what the yanks do if the french really do starting buying oil in the euro.

 

[joinerjohn]

Yep, even the French are now at it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17979913
Sacre bleu, we want an end to austerity.

 

[joe-90]

The young people that voted for him were only children when a socialist government was last in power. They won't be singing for long.

 

[skyboy]

He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.


In other words he wants to buy votes exactly the same as amy socialist government and exactly why we all ended up in the mess we are now.

 

[joe-90]

And when the ratings agencies downgrade their status and their borrowing costs rise - they'll realise that Santa is best left in childhood.

 

[Micilin]

He wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.


In other words he wants to buy votes exactly the same as amy socialist government and exactly why we all ended up in the mess we are now.

Would you say that there are two other factors in the UK that have left us in a mess?

- Deregulating the financial sector to such an extent
- Spending billions on Iraq and Afghan wars

Also the US seems to be in the same boat, without a socialist govt.

China seems to be on the up with one.

I think there has to be a middle way between unfettered capitalism and old fashioned socialist control.

 

[skyboy]

Chinas emergence was precipitated by a specific set of financial circumstances.

Chinas communist regime did not allow consumerism. ie the average prole could not have bought a car even if he wanted to.

However the inherrent cheap labour meant that China could become the workhouse of the world. This should not have happened as it simply transfered worker abuse that we had erradicated with minimum wage and HR - Health and safety issues to another country and left our manufacturing base uncompetative. With the flow of money now passing out of the country into China (Which could have been managed to our benefit with import taxes!!) suddenly China had a workforce with disposable income.

If you want to know what the last laugh now is China don't even need to export to us anymore as their home market is much bigger now than all of Europe put together.

Ever wondered why the original idea of Chinese companies to bring Chinese cars to our market has suddenly seemed to stall...

because our depleted market just isn't worth their bother anymore.