EU: State Of The Union Speech: Slams UK, USA, Banks And Memberstates:

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Barroso attacks member states, US, banks

By Leigh Phillips

for Mr. Barrosso!

Some remarks:

1° UK needs to be given the boot, ASAP. They can be given EER-status if they want too, in exhange for a tax on financial transactions by the financial sector. The British government is taking 500 million European citizens hostage because they are seeking a free-ride by the City. This, of course, is utterly outrageous.

2° USA needs to get her act together and not blame her problems of epic proprtions on somebody else. They, quite clearly, have never heard of the concept known to human-kind as "taking responsibility for one's own actions".

3° Germany needs to follow Mr. Schauble's lead in to accept the creation of so-called Eurobonds. Of course, we could set up a scheme in which we limit the amount to let's say, for example, 30% of all national issued debt.

4° 100% agree on the slamming of intergovernentalism!

NO! To De Gaulle's vision of a "Europe des patries!"

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87YUAlu4qyk"]Barroso State Of The Union '11[/ame]

 

I presume your "eurobonds" would be an attempt for Greece, Spain, Portugal and other deeply bankrupt nations to get cheap debt? If this is the case your in essence asking Germany, France, and other stable countries to gurrantee loans for countries that have proven they are less than reliable in terms of credit. If one of these broke countries defaulted it would cause tremors across the entire European economy. Also, as the article mentions, it would significantly increase the cost of capital throughout Europe. This would also affect securities across Europe.

 

Sounds as Germany has to pay the most to keep a failed EU afloat, again.

Not to mention i consider the oncoming demographic crisis far worse then the economy.

 

He called on national EU governments to find in themselves “a burst of pride to be European, a burst of dignity and to say our partners ‘Thanks for your advice, but we can all overcome this crisis.’ I have this pride in being European.”

So much for the rhetoric Europeans espouse about having eliminated nationalist tendencies.

 

Plymouth, what he basically is saying is: "hold the line".

European efforts often end-up in the ditch because one country blocks eveything because they caved in because of "pressure" or "manipulation" by a third country, mostly Russia, the USA or Israel. Recent example is The Netherlands on Israel.

Visit: Last-Minute Divisions: Europe Fails to Unite on Palestinian Question:

European countries which I consider most "weak" on this are: Netherlands, UK and Italy.

 

I realize you are now at Univesity studying business, but please, don't repeat to me the endless mantra of the Washington Consensus that probably your professor keeps pressuring in the larger scheme of the sovereign debt crisis.

I, and others, are not advocating to issues Eurobonds full throttle, no questions asked. Things will need to change, with, among other things, a constitutional debt-brake and a limit on the % of Eurobonds portfolio vis-à-vis overall debt to GDP.

Sorry, but your post is one big pile of silliness, since your entire "if-if-story" is already the reality today.

 

I realize that all the blogs you read are extreme-right in nature, and often written by Americans -- but, please, your infactual craziness in your posts won't fool me or any other fair-minded American or European.

 

Wait a demographic crisis is extreme right?

Are you on crack or just mentally insane?

in about 30 years time Janpor there will be 1 retired person for every working person, how do you figure a healthy nation can finance such a state?

We are not even mentioning disabled people, criminals, unemployed and others who will clinge around the few working people.

You can pay off debt over time with a normal economy but the demographic crisis will ensure that will be impossible, not to mention it is the actual the future survival of states like Germany and Italy are on the line.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,697085,00.html

 

You didn't address a single one of my points. Instead you attacked me personally, as you've been doing more and more lately in these European posts.

Adding Eurobonds will affect credit scores across Europe. If you allow Greece to finance 30% of its debt with cheap Eurobonds they'd simply add another 30% on the other end. Germany, Belgium, France etc. would end up paying in one way or another for these Eurobonds. If the solution was as simple as you suggest it would have already been done. There is no easy way out of this predicament.

 

Bankers to the gallows!

 

Nothing the Might EUSSR Oh I mean EU cannot fix.

 

He cannot instill European pride in some speach. Basically Barosso is a massive (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)bag. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

I also note he didn't mention the nationalisation of a Belgian bank.

 

He's been completely brainwashed into eschewing all forms of nationalist sentiment to the point that his entire identity is completely linked to the EU. If it fails, then his entire identity will collapse with it, probably with devestating psychological consequences for him.

So don't be surprised if he becomes more and more insensical as time goes by and the situation grows worse. He's already blaming all the EU's problems on 3rd party nations.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii0Yc6_dwyo]"Nigel Farage's reply[/ame]

And why, if they had lots of MEPs who wanted to reply, did they choose Mr Duff to do so? I admire Duff; it must take a lot of guts to do what he does, but why put a stutterer up against one of the most natural speakers in politics? Was it because people would admire his guts and forget that he had no argument?

 

Why can't the UK put out lots more Nigel Farage's? Nationalistic, Democratic, non-technocratic, and absolutely unapologetic about the UK's proper place in the world, next the USA and the Commonwealth Nations she mothered.

I hope one day the UK gets out the EU and returns to the fold of the English Speaking world.. as Farage so eloquently stated that she should do.

 

What purpose does nationalism serve amidst members of the Western world? Other than to artificially pump up weak egos?

 

Good joke, SiliconMagician!

 

Farage didn't sound like he was joking to me when he said that the UK "shamefully turned its back" on its Commonwealth. He seemed pretty righteously indignant about it in fact.

 

Farage is such a lame-ass politician.

He's beating the same drum for over more than 5 years and he has no arguement whasoever.

He believes in a feodal Europe, thanks but no thanks.

 

Care to answer my question, Silicon?

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpSl2C8DSbA"]Verhofstadt Exposes British Hypocrisy[/ame]

Verhofstadt

UK

 

On this occaision I agree with much that Farage says. What Barruso is saying, and saying very clearly, is that democracy should be abandoned, diversity should be abandoned, nations should be abandoned and all power should become centralised under an unelected body which just happens to have him as its president!

The more people like Barroso have influence over the direction of the EU, the more I am inclined to think that there will eventually be no alternative to the UK leaving the EU altogether. That is a very sad situation, and very much against my core instincts - we should have a strong European community, and a bond among our nations to work together in our common interest. However, to do that in a way which creates a Europe entirely controlled and dominated by a singe unelected (and deeply corrupt) body is something which all of the people of Europe should absolutely be resisting. We should be the closests of friends, allies and partners, not fellow subjects in chains to absolutist masters over whom none of us have any actual control. We should be celebrating our diversity and our various nationalities, not trying to impose complete uniformity from above.

Europe has fought against political union led by dictatorship from a self-appointed, self-serving and corrupt central elite many times and in many ways, and none of us should be handing ourselves willingly over to another attempt at creating a similar centrally-controlled, undemocratic, Pan-European Superstate entity by stealth.

 

'Nationalism' and the belief that democracy should be accountable and held at as local a level as possible are not the same thing at all. Regarding an autocratically and centrally run European Superstate as a bad thing, and an infinately worse thing that having separate 'nation states' under the control of their own people, does not make someone a 'nationalist' in anything like the kind of negative terms that the term is often employed. Believing that abandoning (rather than enhancing, as we should be doing, by devolving as much as possible of the power downwards to smaller unit than the current 'nation states') the system of local democratic accountability is a bad thing does not make someone the kind of 'nationalist' that sees themselves as somehow 'superior to other people, or conversely sees others as somehow 'inferior'.

 

I agree with this.

That's not what I was referencing; I believe Silicon was lamenting jan's loss of rabid, flag-waving nationalism.

 

To rabid, flag-waving nationalists, janpor's balanced position (between nationalism and internationalism, it seems to me) probably constitutes some sort of threat.