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Slightly Optimistic
|  08 Sep '10 21:08 : 0 recs
Lots of comparisons are being made these days with the 1930's just before WW2.
You Say Recession, I Say Depression
In the FT, John Plender writes that positions are somewhat reversed. In the 1920s under the gold standard it was Germany that ran the deficits while the US pursued financial orthodoxy. |
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Hoog
| 08 Sep '10 19:41 : 0 recs
Jackboots,
Defeatism.
Compete!
Rgds,
*Hoog*  |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 08 Sep '10 16:32 : 0 recs
How to solve the West's economic woes.? [07 Sep '10 15:41 below]
Base all your companies/employment in Asia. [see UK House Prices, 08 Sep '10 15:46] |
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Jungle
| 08 Sep '10 08:05 : 0 recs
One for you to sign up to Hoog?
EU Referendum: Now for the most important vote of all
The euro is simply a vehicle, Hoog. Vehicles kill people? Yes, of course they do, but.
I suppose one could argue for greater control over the vehicle.
It all comes down to issues of trust. |
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Hoog
| 07 Sep '10 22:02 : 0 recs
If the euro doesn't bankrupt Europe, harmonisation of taxation, social spending and labour laws would finish the job...
What a nut!
Rgds,
*Hoog* |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 07 Sep '10 14:41 : 0 recs : edited 3 times : last edit 07 Sep '10 14:55
Key quote from the EC president:
There is no room for complacency. Budgetary expansion played its role to counter the decline in economic activity. But it is now time to exit. Without structural reforms, we will not create sustainable growth.
EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy is trying to put meat on the bones.
perhaps most controversially, Mr Van Rompuy's wish to reduce divergences in competitiveness is likely to hit the biggest hurdles as this points towards a harmonisation of taxation, social spending and labour laws.
EU economic task force reconvenes as disquiet returns to markets
But look where harmonisation got the US: Rising to the Occasion
Against this background of necessary structural reforms, energy may less of an EU priority. There is no common policy. Interestingly the finance minister of Italy, Giulio Tremonti, spoke at the weekend to the FT's James Blitz about competitiveness and nuclear energy. The gist was:
'The need of Italy’s economy to diversify and improve its competitiveness is undermined by its lack of civil nuclear power. We have the second largest manufacturing base in Europe outside Germany; we have a good banking system; but we don't have civil nuclear power. When you look at GDP around Europe you notice a big difference between those with and those without civil nuclear power, between those who produce energy and those who import it. We've also got companies that are too small; in global competition big companies in big countries compete. Germany has ten big industrial multinationals. We've got a thousand small companies; we have to consolidate them, or get them to work together. We've got to reduce the burden of red tape in Italy, more generally in Europe. We can no longer afford useless rules.'
For a global picture of nuclear power, see ATOMIC ENERGY: Over 30 Countries Aspire for Nuclear Power |
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Jungle
| 07 Sep '10 12:44 : 0 recs
Big man Barroso sets the tone:
Those who predicted the demise of the European Union were proved wrong.
Now we've bailed out the bankers ... it's jobs Europe needs to get going on.
''We will also act further on red tape. SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) are being strangled in regulatory knots. 71% of chief executives say that the biggest barrier to their success is bureaucracy.''
SMEs are the way to go, if you ask me. Encourage people in their 40s and 50s to go for it.
It's kind of ironic that politicians will now have to remind us of the qualities of risk-takers.
But, this should be an easy argument to put forward.
There's a big difference between risk-taking and reckless greed. |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 06 Sep '10 16:58 : 0 recs
BBC 'Hardtalk' interview with Serbian foreign minister, re Kosovo
See 06 Sep '10 12:49: But the BBC 'Hardtalk' interview last week with the foreign minister of Serbia suggests we haven't heard the end of this territorial dispute.
'The Economist' says that Serbian diplomacy, led by Jeremi?, is "on steroids" - per Wikipedia. |
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Jungle
| 06 Sep '10 16:04 : 0 recs : edited 1 time : last edit 06 Sep '10 16:18
'' ... and the West Country of England ... ''
ROFL!!!!
''Separatists and secessionists from Taiwan, Xinjiang and Somaliland to Sri Lanka, Georgia and the West Country of England will welcome this week's legal opinion from the United Nations' international court of justice in effect upholding Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia.''
Ooh aar, there be a lot of them sex-sessionists in the West Country of England, Slightly Bonkers ...
PS. That Spiegelonline article earlier was equally full of sensationalist dribble. If you like this kind of stuff, Slightly, I would suggest getting a copy of Heat or Now Magazine? |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 06 Sep '10 14:10 : 0 recs
Kosovo
Court's opinion that independence is legal has far-reaching repercussions
The US, Kosovo's principal sponsor, was adamant all along the court's opinion would have little practical impact. Independence was not primarily a matter of law, a White House spokesman said. ''We do not believe that declarations of independence are legal acts whose legality is affirmed or denied by this international court. They are political facts that have to be established through political realities.''
The US may think it has got ahead. But Russia could win both ways, not least in terms of its Georgia intervention. The court's failure to oppose Kosovo's secession ''would automatically weaken the West's case against the recognition of [the independence of] Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia,'' said Petr Iskenderov of the Russian Academy of Science in International Affairs magazine. Moscow could also use the decision to push for an ''overhaul'' of the international community's approach to disputes in the Balkan and Caspian regions, he said.
Kosovo freedom signal paves way for others |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 06 Sep '10 11:49 : 0 recs : edited 1 time : last edit 06 Sep '10 11:50
two tiny but independent nations
There is no limit in law to the size of a nation, nor indeed in reality to the public services they should provide.
The International Court of Justice ruled recently re Kosovo, which incidentally applied in December to join the EU, that its declaration of independence was in accord with international law. But the BBC 'Hardtalk' interview last week with the foreign minister of Serbia suggests we haven't heard the end of this territorial dispute. |
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ssaines
| 06 Sep '10 03:18 : 0 recs
Condor: It is sad, but perhaps the best thing. What I'm intrigued by is whether the Flems join Holland (and Flemish is a Dutch dialect) and the Walloons join France (Wallonia is Parisian French) or if they remain as two tiny but independent nations.
The real question is what happens to Brussels, virtually a City-State in many respects.
The marriage appears far-past reconciliation. I can only say, on a positive note, that Canada pulled back from the brink and now separatism is a spent force. A lot had to do with the Judicial decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Faced with the right to separate in itself satisfied the needs of the French in Quebec and to a lesser extent, other provinces. Marriage is not the same for all. Some couples need some space to make it work. |
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3dc
| 05 Sep '10 22:12 : 0 recs
Get ready for break-up of Belgium: top minister |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 05 Sep '10 10:20 : 0 recs
Moreover the destruction of global monetary discipline in 1971, and the disdain for international financial audit [incidentally some of the gold is the UN's], led to a number of serious problems - including the assaults on the euro and 'Black Wednesday. |
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Hoog
| 05 Sep '10 00:54 : 0 recs
Jackboots,
1. Bretton Woods simply didn't work - much like the euro. Get over it.
2. Auditing (or not) Fort Knox is an issue for the Americans. Why do you care about this?
3. You are still a Nazi.
Rgds,
*Hoog* |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 04 Sep '10 21:14 : 0 recs : edited 1 time : last edit 04 Sep '10 21:16
What did Hoogstraten say, editing out the distractions?
Re the destruction of global monetary discipline in1971, refusal of audit of the public's gold in Fort Knox since the 1950's, state [not independent] action against energy companies and the unauthorised use of military might internationally - Hoogstraten tells us the might of "democracies" tends to be right, except when it's not.
One of his better non-committal comments. |
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Hoog
| 04 Sep '10 16:47 : 0 recs
The democratic capitalists are in charge currently (US, Japan etc). Their "might" tends to be "right" (they are democracies).
Hoog would trust the democratic capitalist countries much more than the state capitalists (Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, the UN et al).
Naturally, Jackboots loves the tyrants and totalitarian regimes. He is a Nazi.
Rgds,
*Hoog* |
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Slightly Optimistic
| 03 Sep '10 13:04 : 0 recs
What caused the tantrums?
From this forum: 02 Sep '10 10:05
1971 showed that global monetary discipline essentially in the hands of one state is impossible; state capitalism was evident. But the EU efforts since to undo the damage are unravelling.
Having apparently despaired of the EU, France now intends to work through the G20 and is said to be recommending that a group of international experts - meeting in Beijing - solve the problem.
Another priority of France at the G20 is energy security. The German government is thinking of this too, Might is right.
From the Middle East forum: 01 Sep '10 11:28
[Hoogstraten's] aim is a world order based on 'might is right'?
List of territorial disputes |
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Hoog
| 03 Sep '10 11:59 : 0 recs
Sore Ass,
He's behind you!
Rgds,
*Hoog*  |
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George Sore Ass
| 03 Sep '10 07:02 : 0 recs
Slightly optimistic, you're wasting your time.
If it homosexual victorian hasn't written a poem about it, it's outside Hoog's area of expertise. |
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