Posted on 12/08/2011 10:56:08 PM PST by tcrlaf
The 17 eurozone states and six other EU countries agreed early Friday to create a new treaty that will allow them to introduce stricter fiscal rules in the hope of containing a worsening debt crisis, but Britain's prime minister immediately threatened to block the new accord.
The failure to get agreement among all 27 members of the European Union at a summit meeting in Brussels reflected in large part a deep split between France and Germany on the one hand and Britain on the other. France and Germany are the two largest economies in the eurozone; Britain does not use the euro as its currency.
Britain's Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday "the institutions of the European Union belong to the European Union, belong to the 27" member states.
Cameron wished the eurozone nations luck in finding a solution to the crisis, which he conceded was in the interst of Britain, too, but said it was not in the U.K.'s interest to join the new treaty because he could not get special safeguards for the country's financial center.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I have a comment.
If the Euro collapses, everything is moot. It will be interesting to see what happens with those “sovereign” nations.
England was very wise to stick with the crown sterling.
And, lastly, a collapse of the Euro will affect the USA big time.
I guess that was three comments.
Nitey nite! ;o)
The IMF is 70% funded by U.S., we are going to bail out the European commies.
OH! I understand what you meant now, and totally agree with you.
Not good for us.
So are the Greeks
I think it was understandable the way the cabbie behaved. It has been very exciting to see those countries who were under the Soviet thumb being liberated, and now thriving.
Thankfully, they had a great model to follow...the good ole USA.
I hope we will return to that proven and successful model after the next election.
Pays to have real value (silver, gold, for example) backing your currency, rather than fanciful economists’ notions.
The Communists lied to their people less than our media does.
The communists owned the papers, and the lies were state-mandated, although more egregious than American MSM lies.
The American MSM lies voluntarily out of personal conviction, and even worse, has built a fantasy universe based on its lies, and lives in that universe and keeps its audience mesmerized. The viewers can’t realize how false that universe is unless they’ve got personal experience and see for themselves what’s going on. It’s the difference between plain lying and being a psychotic.
Europe should get bailed out by Soros, the destroyer of the Bank of Britain, the master behind the current destruction going on in the US, and all-around Brazilian Oil invester. He and his cabal of leftist organizations are probably much better funded than the IMF at this point, and in a better position. Unless he's gaming to destroy the IMF as well...
Prior to the Euro, the Germans always ran the strictest monetary policy in Europe. They inflated the Mark to be sure, but Italy, France, Spain, etc. all inflated their currencies much, much more. The result was a constant struggle to readjust their exchange rates downward in relation to the Mark.
This only served to highlight their fiscal foolishness and caused them quite a bit of embarrassment. The Euro project was designed in large part to do away with the unflattering comparisons to the Germans and siphon away some of their economic power.
As always, the laws of economics may be ignored but not repealed. The truth is revealed in each country's bond rates and they all look bad compared to Germany. Now, they want Eurobonds to disguise this embarrassment.
They would be better off if they did let Germany set the rules. But this is Europe and chaos must reign.
This year Santa will be giving out Euros to all the naughty boys and girls instead of those expensive lumps of coal.
bfl on that.
Beware of Giethner, he’s making promises we know nothing about
The UK has the same problem with liberal pseudo intellectuals that we do, and the same infestation of liberalism in academics.
Let’s see, from that list: At least four of the countries are teetering on economic default (Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal). Belgium has had internal political struggles. Malta has limited resources and had a 1.2% economic contraction in 2009. Kosovo has an average per capita income equivalent of less than $3,000 dollars. etc. etc. I wonder why the UK wouldn’t want to tie their economic future to the Eurozone?
The IMF is 70% funded by U.S., we are going to bail out the European commies.”
Exactly what “Timmy the Tax Cheat” was doing in Europe this week. Notice how much coverage he got in the press? This will be a done deal and it will cook Obamas goose when it goes down.
Sweet! Go UK, go Hungary! We are behind you!
So much for one world order working out.
United nations is failure number two.
The Euro was designed to remove the monetary autonomy of german competitors. Giving german exporters (the heart of the german economy) a weaker stable new currency without the exchange risk.
UK has a gigantic total debt as a share of GDP. If they were deprived of monetary auonomy or its financial sector was heavily regulated, they would be in worse shape than Ireland, Spain and Italy.
There is no doubt between the german and the british model. The german way is far superior: they´re the last true anti-keynesian nation. But the rest of the Eurozone cannot afford those german monetary and fiscal rigor. If confidence is not back in markets we are moving into a deadly spiral of recession and cuts in Europe.
Germany passed a constitutional balanced budget amendment in 2009, in the worst moment of the crisis. They will balance the budget in 2012. Believe it or not, it was a socialist government who cut the corporate tax rate from 60 to 30% in 10 years (with a federal tax rate as low as 15%). It was a socialist government who cut from 45 to 42% the top tax rate on personal income. And it was a socialist government who passed the most radical welfare and labor reform (in the sense of more autonomy for companies) in recent german history.
Germany radically opposes that the European Central Banks becomes another Fed or BoE massively printing and monetizing public debt. Germany says that such intervention creates a moral hazard and hides the true structural causes of the crisis: too much debt (both private and public) and the lack of reforms.
They´re 100% right. And they´re truly admirable. But its time to admit that most Europe cannot follow them.
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