<leavingwt is busy trawling for another article - he will be right back>
Be nice. I saw the word "Europe" and that caught my eye. Do they use the Pound or the Euro?
Is Britain on the brink of financial armageddon?
by Hopscotch 65 Replies latest social current
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leavingwt
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llbh
Wow that was powerful stuff LWT, where to start?
Well lets see California has big problems yet is part if the USA, and who will bail it out?
Next free movement of labour does occur in the EU, and cheap labour has flowed throughout Europe, from the states such as Poland to the UK and Spain; just like the US
Next, yes Spain has experienced a housing boom, this has been fuelled by the a number things, such as shady land deals there, and profligate lenders here in the UK. Another major problem has been supply far exceeded demand, just like Florida.
What Europe needs is for those states within it to be honest about their finances, rather than allowing investment banks like Goldman Sachs, who embark in a sleight of hand with the markets and the people. Investment banks like Goldmans want it both ways, they profit from the fees received from the Governments like Greece for ( rather poor and self serving) advice given, then when they see the markets turning, bet against the currency and the Government bonds on the way down, easy eh?
Oh, and should the banks fail, market forces being what they are and prevail what happens? a. They fail, or b. take largess from the governments they do so not want to regulate them too tightly. They took option b, oh surprise
To be sure some governments have behaved injudiciously, the rules however were there to prevent this, they were in some cases, by some governments ignored, thinking like Dr Pangloss in Candide, that "something will always turn up" it did the time of reckoning.
The hubris is the selective amnesia of those who forget time lines and History involved. Spain has only in recent, living memory emerged from under the of boot fascism, ditto Germany. The Euro and EU is there to meld nations and prevent destructive wars, guess what, it has? By means of 'an ever closer Union'
We in Britain are way too small in economic terms to be masters of our own destiny, just as California is ( despite being #5 in terms of world GDP).
I have provided a link below showing that there are lessons that can be learned.
A single currency can and will work, and we in the The UK could and should be part of it, but only if we are willing to be responsible in good times, so we can be in better shape when the bad times arrive, like Germany and Canada for instance
David
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llbh
We use the pound Lwt, and are like Switzerland (that retains the Swiss Franc), in that we have a reduced influence in our economic destiny, without the input.
Now i need a choccie bar made by Nestle'!
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leavingwt
David,
Interesting analysis. As you probably know, even though Krugman is a Nobel prize winner, plenty of folks over here think he's full of it.
-LWT
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llbh
Me too now LWT, i was unimpressed with his analysis, even the Eurosceptics here would not ( hopefully) use such arguments. I am not very impressedvwith hiscritique of the situation in the US either.
David
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besty
Be nice. I saw the word "Europe" and that caught my eye
No harm intended :-)
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slimboyfat
Will the UK face a currency crisis and capital flight in the next year?
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besty
Seems that once the UK banks start repaying their stimulus funds in January 2011 there will be a knock-on negative effect in the housing market.
Good times to have cash.
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slimboyfat
Seems that once the UK banks start repaying their stimulus funds in January 2011 there will be a knock-on negative effect in the housing market.
Good times to have cash.
Well that's what I was hoping for a couple of years ago. But it may be a bit beyond that stage now, what with a government that will do anything rather than let the bubble deflate. Good time to have cash in the UK? Not if the currency becomes worthless. More like a good time to bail out while we still can and move abroad.
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llbh
The bubble has deflated about 20-30% depending on area and type of property, some in the North are down 50%, and there is a shortage of property here in large parts of the South East. As for the currency it is already considerably weaker against the Euro and Dollar.
If you are holding dollars besty, you are about 25% better off then 2 years ago
David