Hi everyone. Here is an interesting video I came across on David MacGregor’s blog (from Global Freedom Strategies) that is related to the Euro. In this video you’ll get to listen to a very feisty talk on the future of the EU project by UKIP (UK Independence Party) EU representative Nigel Farage:
[youtube Fyq7WRr_GPg]
Enjoy!
Oh and if you have any comments or you’d like to discuss this issue in a forum environment I’d like to invite you to the Forex Nirvana forum where I hang out:
Cheers,
Alan
I think most Uk citizens Nigel Farage to be little more than a joke. He’s charismatic enough (he appears on Have I Got News For You sometimes) but I wouldn’t take his comments as at all representative of anything happening inside the EU. Just enjoy the rant and then ignore him. : P
He definitely is a good rabble rouser, and no doubt quite charismatic and well spoken.
I’m not extremely familiarized with EU and UK politics but I do worry about the EU project sometimes. I fear it will turn into an increasingly authoritarian system – all in the name of the EU dream. The fact that so many people voted down the EU constitution on many attempts is a clear message that the EU as it stands is not what many people want. I dunno, maybe people are just confused and do not know what they really want or have no real grasp of the issues involved and what they must give up in order to gain the full proposed benefits of the ideal EU state.
Peter would you say that most UK citizens support tighter integration with the EU?
Heheh..if one wants more enjoyable rants a simple search on Youtube (like I just did the last 20 minutes) for Nigel Farage yield some good entertainment!
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Nigel+Farage&aq=f
I think the euro zone project has been bad news for most ordinary people. Look at Ireland for example: in order to spare investors bondholder haircuts EU officials have imposed the tax burden on the Irish population instead. That’s terrible behaviour! And it looks likely to happen in other periphery nations too.
I have no doubt that most UK citizens oppose closer integration with the EU. In this case it’s been a blessing for the UK – if not for our currency independence we’d be in the same situation as Ireland etc.
That said I think the euro project has incredible potential. It could give Europe as an economic bloc similar and even greater clout than the US and China. The trouble is that the euro as it stands is a half-way house solution. Euro members favoured closer integration but feared the backlash from ordinary people of giving up their fiscal independence. Hence they chose the worst possible solution: currency union without fiscal union.
This is exactly why Ireland and Portugal are in such dire straits now: tied to EMU policies they’re unable to do what’s necessary to improve their economies. Unlike the UK they can’t intentionally deflate the value of sterling to encourage exports etc. In short they’re ham-strung by their own political short-sightedness!
For me I think improving the economic clout of the EU as a collective bloc can only be good for ordinary people. Ultimately I think it means higher living standards, and giving up political independence (especially when that independence amounts to nothing in situations like today’s) is a small price.
Yep, it will happen in Spain and Portugal too. I also think countries like Romania will go down the financial EU toilet too!
I think they should have had the guts to do this properly and as such they should have pushed for both currency union as well as fiscal unity/union. What I have in mind is more along the lines of how the United States of America is structured.
Btw, here is an interesting article that I found in relation to this subject. I wonder if Milton Freedman was indeed right about the Euro:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2009/03/12/was-milton-friedman-right-about-the-euro.aspx