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General politics discussion thread


David

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I've never really understood why these extreme Muslims live in the UK if they hate it so much.

Because they were born here?

No ones forcing them to stay

You think it's as easy as just packing up your shit and leaving?

You think you can have a real conversational with a troll?

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Duane and KrAzY should speak to each other more often on here. It reminds me of this video.

 

I've never really understood why these extreme Muslims live in the UK if they hate it so much.

Perhaps they are pissed off at seeing what's happening back in their mother-lands? The post 9/11 wars help fan the fire of extremism.

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I'm bored of talking about the far-right now. Everybody apart from mickey understands what they are, so what more is there to say?

 

Let's talk instead about EUROPE!

 

Is this huge economic crisis

 

a) a moment to draw Europe closer together into a firmer union (ala Angela Merkel)

b) a time to reasses the whole European project (ala Cameron)

 

or

 

c) Is the Euro basically dead in the water and it's time to knock it on the head and throw it into the bin?

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Let's talk instead about EUROPE!

 

Is this huge economic crisis

 

a) a moment to draw Europe closer together into a firmer union (ala Angela Merkel)

b) a time to reasses the whole European project (ala Cameron)

 

or

 

c) Is the Euro basically dead in the water and it's time to knock it on the head and throw it into the bin?

I think it's b), which should really lead to c) anyway for many countries.

 

Eurozone membership seems to have been considered the equivalent of the must-have toy for many of the member states without it actually being appropriate for them.

 

For the euro to work there was a need for the economies to be relatively in sync, since membership postulated a surrendering of monetary policy to the ECB. If an individual state's economy happens to be the average European one than this isn't so much of a cost, since the behaviour of the ECB would mirror the actions of one's central bank anyway. But that's clearly not the case for the Greeks and Italians (and others too); their economies weren't appropriate, not naturally meeting the convergence criteria for accession to the eurozone, which caused a raft of book-cooking to get overall debt showing as under 60% of GDP (or at least moving in the right direction).

 

It's the equivalent of a child standing on tip-toes when trying out for a role in a pantomime; once the one-size-for-all costumes are distributed they don't fit and never would have.

 

If monetary policy is tied then the only other way that I can think of for a currency union to hold are if there is a strong potential for transfer payments to be made readily. Think of the USA; despite the independence of the states the Federal Government can take taxes from New Yorkers and redistribute them in Nebraska easily, just as our own government can redistribute taxes from wealthier areas to poorer ones without protest. But I don't think this holds so well in Europe. It's simply not possible to envisage the British Government handing over a tonne of money to profligate cousins.

 

And the ECB doesn't have a role of Lender of Last Resort either. It can't prop up falling economies the way that we would expect the Bank of England to.

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