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Fiddling as the euro burns
The Telegraph ^ | 12/3/2011 | Andrew Gilligan

Posted on 12/03/2011 5:20:54 PM PST by bruinbirdman

It is, said the foreign minister whose country holds the EU presidency, "the edge of a precipice the scariest moment of my ministerial life."

The chief executives of Shell, Unilever and Phillips called it "one minute to midnight." Even the EU's own financial affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, says Europe only has ten days to stop the euro falling apart.

By this coming Friday, the ninth of those ten days, the continent's leaders are supposed to have agreed a plan that satisfies the markets and gives their tottering currency a future. They have tried, and failed, three times this year already. A fourth failure would probably be the end. But in the Brussels corridors, with the sands fast running out, you really wouldn't know that these are perhaps the most dangerous times in Europe since the Second World War.

At the Berlaymont, the Commission HQ, on Thursday, they were proudly launching their "better airports package." "There is no Commission proposal for the auctioning of new airport capacity," explained an official. "The decision was to go ahead with liberalising the secondary trading of existing slots." Across the road the European Council, the ministerial decision making body, was busy on a resolution deciding that member states must "combat negative stereotypes regarding older persons" and demanding that "optimism has to prevail in the EU." The week before, the Commission announced a new drive to "protect our sharks," proclaiming it a "very good day, not just for European sharks, but for sharks worldwide." The sharks in question were the finned, not the financial, variety.

The European Parliament was doing a little better. Mario Draghi, the new head of the European Central Bank, addressed MEPs on ways out of the crisis. His speech was easily the most important thing said in this

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bondcollapse; dollarcollapse; stuffingeuros; usnext

1 posted on 12/03/2011 5:21:00 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman

Andrew Gilligan?

Is that the fool I think he is?

....

The eurtopians are trying to convince the masses that the way to save themselves is for full fiscal union, a superstate.


2 posted on 12/03/2011 5:26:22 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

They’ve been telling us for years now that the euro has just days to live. I wish they’d just let it happen already instead of constantly teasing. It’s the same thing as “we’re shutting down the government.” Promises, promises.


3 posted on 12/03/2011 5:36:37 PM PST by huckfillary (qual tyo ta)
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To: GeronL

O nose! Only nine days til disaster, unless.. The bureaucrats save us, I mean them. Seriously this crisis tactic is getting old. Who in their right mind who buy this. Are these not the same idiots who couldn’t agree on a plan, but have the answer in nine days. Sigh!


4 posted on 12/03/2011 5:39:10 PM PST by momincombatboots (Back to West by G-d Virginia.)
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To: bruinbirdman
Opposite the Euro-Parliament, with spectacularly bad timing, a new visitors' centre has just opened extolling the "fascinating world" of the EU. In classic fashion, it is three years late and 50 per cent over budget...

"...National sovereignty is the root cause of the most crying evils of our time," says a quote, in English, on one wall of the exhibition.

"...The only final remedy for this supreme and catastrophic evil is a federal union of the peoples."

5 posted on 12/03/2011 5:42:32 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: GeronL

I think you are right. They’ve tried in the past to vote the unification in, but it failed because one or more countries wouldn’t pass the treaties by popular vote. I think this is the backdoor way of getting a complete unification pushed through: political, geographical, financial, etc.


6 posted on 12/03/2011 5:46:02 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
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To: momincombatboots

Remember how stimulus was going to save us? or TARP?


7 posted on 12/03/2011 5:49:36 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: bruinbirdman

I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to save the euro is to make the ECB like the Fed. That would require making Europe like the US, with a central federal government, and the traditional boundaries merely separating provincial governments. The Germans aren’t going to accept that. My suggestion to them would be to forget about Germany, and get the other nations to agree.


8 posted on 12/03/2011 6:03:07 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: momincombatboots
"Are these not the same idiots who couldn’t agree on a plan, but have the answer in nine days."

The author cites a surprising number of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who, themselves, see no solution.

This article lasted about 15 minutes on the front page of DT before it was hustled to the back.

yitbos

9 posted on 12/03/2011 6:04:37 PM PST by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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To: bruinbirdman
Don't worry, top experts are on the job and will have us in smooth water shortly.


10 posted on 12/03/2011 9:17:00 PM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: bruinbirdman
This says it all:

“Opposite the Euro-Parliament, with spectacularly bad timing, a new visitors’ centre has just opened extolling the “fascinating world” of the EU. In classic fashion, it is three years late and 50 per cent over budget (a bargain £15.5 million.) There's even a souvenir shop, where you can buy euro note tissues and a wall-clock in the likeness of a one-euro coin. Sales, alas, have been slow.”

This is how the EU works, everything is over budget, late and no one is accountable! Even if Germany comes to the rescue by breaking its democratic laws and constitution it will not be long before the EU runs through that money and they are broke and really boned!

11 posted on 12/04/2011 2:43:39 AM PST by lowbuck (The Blue Card (US Passport) Don't leave home without it.)
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