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Archive for the ‘Economies’ Category

Although not one of my favourite writers, Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph wrote an interesting piece on why right now, David Cameron is unlikely to be able to repatriate any significant powers from Brussels on the back of the Treaty Changes that Germany wants in order to support the Euro, a good article and worth a read. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8910266/The-eurozone-crisis-an-opportunity-for-Britain-Dont-bet-on-it.html

With disaster almost inevitable due to the incomprehensible slowness to comprehend and then total inaction of Eurozone Leaders to meet the challenges, we do indeed live in ‘interesting times’.

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I must confess to be totally bored with the “Euro Crisis” and feel distinctly “Euroed Out”, how much more can there be to write about it ? I looked at an article I had written last week but not published, it was all the same old stuff I had written months ago. The latest episode was David Cameron visiting Angela Merkel in Berlin from which absolutely no agreement or common ground was found.

The funniest part of this visit was a anti-British campaign in some of the German Press and “noises off” from from some German politicians in a similar and antagonistic vein which should be viewed in a rather positive light I personally feel, it seems to indicate that finally, the Germans are starting to wake up from their stupor and started to become aware how serious this all is…

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So the Cannes G20 Summit has ended and as could be predicted, with very little achieved except a very clear message from the rest of the World to the EU and specifically, the Eurozone; “Get your house in order”. Sarkozy along with Merkel, will no doubt blame the Greeks and yet, Greece is but a symptom of an underlying disease called the “Euro”, a currency never destined to work for the benefit of all.

For France, the “Common Market” and the infamous CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), were designed so that inefficient French farmers could get a ‘subsidy’ that didn’t come from the French taxpayers, it came from all the other ‘Members’. As this has wound down, Germany has achieved a similar unfair bonus via the Euro, the point being that these two, for all their apparent “high moral ground” with regard to the Greeks, fail to see the mote in their own eyes.

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Right now I’m having to master PHP programming and am working from several different books. I was amused by one author who having ended an introductory chapter and about to launch into the real world coding examples, wrote “…and bring a shovel with you…”

The implication being that it will get harder and you will need to dig deep to get through this… It struck me just how true that is of the World Economy right now too with a G20 about to start, one wonders whether they will be smart enough to avoid the pending economic disaster. If the unrealistic fudge we saw in the Eurozone last week is anything to go by and the uproar caused by the Greeks holding a Referendum, one suspects not.

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I must be feeling particularly “vinegary” the other day because I picked up on two pieces of total nonsense in The Independent and posted replies to both. The first was an ‘Editorial’ and I know, I have often complained about just how ‘amateur night’ the average Editorial in the ‘Indy’ is, they all seem to be written by children on work experience rather than grown up people but crap is crap and demands a response. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-cynical-response-to-the-rebellion-2376276.html

The second was by a half-wit called Andreas Wittam Smith, a total tosser if ever one breathed. His opus was to blame ‘Bankers’ for everything but without ever getting to grips with what is really wrong with our current society. Sure, Bankers are ‘tossers’ but his approach is little better than lambasting Undertakers for ‘dealing in death’. Another brainless old fool.

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There was interesting article in The Independent written by Hamish McRae in which he basically said that we should not expect too much from the “Euro Summit” and basically all they can hope to do is buy more time, there are no magic solutions. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-europes-leaders-first-need-to-buy-themselves-time-2375813.html

I tend to agree totally with the view that “Summit Meetings” are of little practical significance as whether on the Euro, EU, SALT Treaties and so on, all the real work and agreements have been done before the public event takes place, which only to give a “blessing” to what has already been agreed. Of course with this Euro Summit, nothing crucial has been agreed yet anyway.

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I have already expressed previously my view that David Cameron and his party managers laying a 3 line whip on this vote was totally foolish and ignoring it would have been far better, I am apparently not alone in this. Mary Ann Sieghart wrote a very good article in the Independent on just the same theme of “Cameron Picks a Fight when he doesn’t need to”, worth a read: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-ann-sieghart/mary-ann-sieghart-cameron-picks-a-fight-when-he-doesnt-need-to-2375093.html

What intrigues me over this most obvious mistake from a normally deft politician is just why he let this happen ? Could it be because he feared speaking the truth at this stage would be counter productive, even dangerous to on-going negotiations ?

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I have read various articles concerning the various protest campaigns on Wall Street, in London and so on but haven’t rushed to write about them as they seem to be all rather soft, confused, lacking in focus or with any particular goals in mind. In simple terms they are best summed up with a statement like; “We don’t like this and it isn’t fair…”

What no one has seemed to grasped and in this I include the Bankers, Industrialists and Politicians too, is the exact nature of the problem let alone, what kind of solutions may be applicable. In a sense, we all seem similarly as frozen and devoid of ideas as the Generals were when faced with trench warfare in WWI and the significance of including the statue of Cromwell in the graphic will I hope become clearer in due course.

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There is no way that I consider myself some kind of great intellectual with either superior insight or just plain wisdom, I therefore suspect that what I think is the reality of the current Global Crisis goes way beyond “Greedy Bankers” and that daft political construct the Euro, a hunchback currency in search of its Bosworth Field.

To my mind I suspect that the truth is known and the real problem lies in the political will to spell it out publicly. Forget the size of the Euro Bailout Fund or specifically Greece, there is only one thing that can solve the current problems and it is happening already via inflation, it is called PRICE RISES and surprising as that may seem, it is probably THE ANSWER at several levels !

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The Euro Crisis has thrown up an amusing spectacle, a British Conservative Government urging the Euro countries to “ever closer union”. On the one hand with so much of UK trade bound up with the Euro Zone, it is obvious that it is not in the UK’s best interests that the Euro should fail and therefore if tighter economic integration of the Euro Zone countries is the “answer” to it not doing so, then so be it.

Perhaps from a UK perspective, we are finally reaching a “tipping point” with regard to our relationship with the EU whereby without too much effort, we in the UK can move on our way quite naturally without having to make a “Big Decision”, like being an island race, many decisions are made for us already, same as if we were a “Continental Country”.

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