Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 09:34PM
Hmmm, that seems intelligent. One of the most wildy divergent areas of the
globe with no common culture, language or economics all banding together for the
express purpose of standing up to the United States in global influence. Almost
sounds childish. Maybe this will start a global "see who can make the
biggest political entity" race. So maybe China, Korea, Japan should band
together, and maybe Canada the U.S. and Mexico should get together. For what
purpose and benefit I have no idea. Bragging rights I guess.
Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 09:48PM
Purpose and benefit? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!
P.S. The U.S., Canada and Mexico did get together for that thing called: NAFTA.
Republifucks Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 10:11PM
If the U.S. can get it's head out of it's ass, beginning with undoing the last
5 years it may yet, in fact, be a horse race.
Otherwise, they win. And I take no pleasure in saying it.
Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 10:36PM
That thing called NAFTA is a " free trade agreement" hence the
"FTA". It has nothing to do with politics or using a common currency.
SO how exactly does the European Union create "$$$$$$$$$$$"????
And what exactly is the "horse race" about??? Win what??? The bragging
rights? I read a study done by the UK government trying to figure out how
exactly using a common Euro would benefit the UK. There was no clear benefit and
many potential problems. It a completely emotional venture, led by countries
like France that want to regain past glories.
rogue_1 Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 10:54PM
With only 5 years of the 21st century begun its a bit early to claim bragging
rights
With that said Europe is leading by a short half head in this 2 horse race.
We will have to wait for the field to catch up before to pick a favorite.
Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 11:03PM
Well it seems to me the only thing Europe can brag about is that they have over
300 million people as members. That's all. Simply encompassing a group of
formerly separate groups of people does not in any way increase economic
productivity. To the contrary, it creates fiscal problems when separate
governments have different social spending priorities. The only real effect I
can think of is that the more influential countries like France will bully the
smaller members into towing the line in foreign policy matters, using
artificially created political and economic incentives. It will give a unified
voice to dealing with the rest of the world. So in effect it will further skew
the influence of the more powerful European nations. Why the smaller European
countries would be a party to this I have no idea. They will simply be giving up
their sovereignty and independence, something that neither Napoleon or Hitler
could achieve for very long.
stephanos Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2005 11:31PM
The reason smaller countries join is so they get the benefit of free trade
within the European Union as well as benefitting from economic policies such as
CAP which takes money from wealthy countries to spread around agriculture in
countries that require it.
Europe is doing now what America did from the outset in creating a
"federation" of states, just on a slightly larger scale
Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 04:26AM
Stephanos, it was logical for the American States to form a union. They all
shared a common culture, language, political beliefs, and ancestry for the most
part. At this time in history, a strong federal state provided a mutually
beneficial security force. Europe on the other hand, is a collection of very
different languages and cultures. There is no logical basis for a union except
artificial contrived incentives such as the trade barriers and equalization
payments (bribes). Again, I see no evidence to the contrary that it is simply an
attempt of a continent with an inferiority complex to try and gain power by
forcing an unnatural union. Europeans are obviously obsessed with the concept of
a single world power since the breakup of the Soviet Union, which they are
desperately trying to counter.
jumbo Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 08:18AM
What is this "common culture, language ... and ancestry"? Wasn's this
a disparate bunch of immigrants from Europe?
The EEC (as it then was) was setup to ease trade between a few European
countries - it was initially heavily influenced by France and Germany. General
de Gaulle actually vetoed the UK's entry. Now with 25 countries, it is much more
driven by consensus.
Those who think it is in a competition with other trading blocks are right. It
was setup to try to allow all member states to compete on an equal footing. It
means that Luxemburg has as great a chance as Germany or France of winning
business.
As to the so-called bribes, what government does not send aid to it's more
deprived areas? The US certainly does.
And since when does a partisan document produced by a government trying to
justify its position have any weight?
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 09:17AM
As a Briton, I have no wish to be part of anyone's superstate. The squabbling
nations of Europe will never agree for long enough to do anything effective,
anyway.
Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 01:30PM
The whole point is to make money. Irregardless of not having a common heritage.
An economic bolc of well over 300 million citizens will be able to compete much
better with the U.S and the emering economic superpowers in China and the Asian
subcontinent. Why would Denmark for example want to go it alone with their own
currency when the can have the Euro with the power of all of Europe behind it
driving it as an economic powerhouse?
I live in the U.S. and lets say that for example Montgomery, Alabama and New
York City have very little in common culturally, however the power of the dollar
on the world economic stage helps an economically backwater state like Alabama
exactly the same as Manhattan. The people of the two places may have nothing in
common and never co-mingle, however their money works for both of them. Do you
really think that Alabama would like it's own currency without the backing of
the rest of the U.S.? I imagine not, they would be a dirt-poor third world
nation. New York on the otherhand would still be a world player...not on the
same level, but still doing very well. California could make a similar argument.
I happen to live in the South, but I have very little in common with most poor
southerners (rednecks), we don't co-mingle, however their money spends exactly
the same as mine.
What is the difference between that and say a wealthy Parisian and a poor
Lithoanian...the Euro spends the same for both. The power of the Euro around the
world is working for both as well. The economic tide will raise all boats just
like wealthy and poor states in the U.S.
In short (not that it's possible at this point): There is strength in numbers.
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 03:47PM
Because Denmark's economy, like that of the UK, has thrived outside the
eurozone. We don't want our economies wrecked for the benefit of France and
Germany. There may be strength in numbers but size isn't always everything (or
so my girlfriend told me)
LIONEL Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 04:15PM
WILL RUSSIA ONE DAY JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION,? .UKRAINE ,TURKEY,GEORGIA WANT TO
JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION.... WHICH IS A POLITICAL UFO.BUT IT WORKS WELL JUST
LIKE AN AIRBUS ...RUSSIAN SOYOUZ WILL TAKE OFF FROM FRENCH GUIANA IN
2007!...WORLD IS CHANGING.EUROPE IS GETTING BIGGER AND STRONGER.IT S GOOD NEWS
FOR USA AND THE WORLD.
Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 04:39PM
HEY LIONEL, MAYBE THE WHOLE WORLD WILL JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION!!! Then somehow,
the WHOLE WORLD will be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL!!! JUST IMAGINE THE POWER!!!! (Do
you see why this is ludicrous?)
Jumbo, the U.S. was predominately made up of immigrants from the UK, being a
collection of BRITISH colonies after all.
dub Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 06:10PM
Why does everyone think Europeans are so different from one another? I live in
a place with lots of Germans, British, Swedes, Danes and eastern europeans and
we´re all the same. Except ALL women from the Baltics are sluts. Europeans
are pretty much the same from Sweden to Spain. Hey, that rhymed! And they do
have a common language now, everyone under forty speaks ... English. Why?
Because europe has been teaching it in their schools for decades. Unlike the
monolingual UK were a second language is looked upon as bowing down to the
heathens. Face it, the time has come to forget about Napoleon and look
FORWARD.
But I agree, the UK should stay out of it. I´m from there and Britain needs to
shake its superiority complex first. So a few famous people are from the UK,
big deal. Most of the culture Britons are proud of can be found in other
countries too, you just don´t hear of it in Britain. Want to know what sells
records in Norway? Yes its US & UK music but the biggest sellers are
Norwegian. They just don´t export it & the Brits have never heard of it
because Britain lives in a bubble. But in Scandinavia you can be huge and this
goes for bands who sing in english. Britain needs to slap itself and quit the
stupid attitude that they have more to offer the world than anyone else.
Anthony Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 06:25PM
dub, Yeah my experience in norther Europe is that a lot of people can speak
english. However this is less common the further south you go. In Spain I could
not find ANYBODY who could speak english and Italy is a bit better. And I really
think it a long stretch to say that Swedes are just like Spaniards. LOL.
dub Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 06:46PM
I´ve worked with people from all over and they are all the same. Except for
gingers, they are FREAKS.
Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 10:07PM
I cannot see the downside for the Euro. After all who is more powerful as an
economic entity: Wal-Mart or a local Mom and Pop store? They primarily do the
same thing: sell stuff. However Wal-Mart due to it's size has much more economic
muscle behind it. Europe with one currency, much like the U.S., re-creates
itself as a major, economicaly diverse, powerhouse. For example: California
could be an economically viable entity in the world by itself, however that is
nothing compared to the power California has as a part of the U.S.. I don't
really understand the skepicism. Most of the arguments against it simply don't
hold water.
stephanos Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 11:35PM
except for the fact that the countries outside of the Euro do so for the fact
that they don't want to end up with a constitution dictating to them how they
should do everything as America does
straightedge Report This Comment Date: April 14, 2005 06:12AM
Sorry, I believe China has this spot.
CHINA WILL RISE TO POWER AS THE LEADING CAPITALIST STATE IN THE WORLD!
Communism is going out the door.
jumbo Report This Comment Date: April 14, 2005 02:23PM
The downside of the Euro is that it imposes a single bank lending rate across
the whole of the Eurozone. This means that countries in differing parts of the
economic cycle need differing interest rates, but they can't get them. So
countries that need high interest rates suffer when Germany/France need low
rates and vice versa.
In the US, the common currency and rates have been around for a long time. The
country as a whole tends to be on an economic downturn or upturn, much more so
than in the EU. It will even out in the EU, but at what cost to the individual
countries?
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: March 14, 2006 02:11PM
Well, how about, EVERYONE staying in there homes, no interactions,
inbreeding,maybe, it will end STUPID FIGHTS HERE AND THERE, and, we would even
forget we had neighbours !! That would be a treat ! no FORD, no CHANEL, no KIA,
no ROYAL AIR MAROC, no SHELL,no FISH & CHIPS, no flags, no more bullshit
people like ya ! GREAT PROSPECT NO ?