The Euro and its value

[Chicken Runner61]

Half the problem is that governments need paper currency to work. The banking system is now built upon paper currency and the ability to be able to print money to oil the cogs.

In times like these at the end of the day its resources and commodities that are the real economy of the world. And there are only two currencies gold & silver

 

[Titus]

It's amazing that not long ago on here, the majority of people were saying that Britain would be mad not to join the Euro.

 

[Half Time Pies]

Half the problem is that governments need paper currency to work. The banking system is now built upon paper currency and the ability to be able to print money to oil the cogs.

In times like these at the end of the day its resources and commodities that are the real economy of the world. And there are only two currencies gold & silver

Actually this is not true. Only 3% of money is paper money, the rest is digital money which was created by the banks as debt.

The whole system is debt based which is the real core of the problem, we need to reduce debt but we cant achieve growth without more debt.

So the solution to the US governments problems: raise the debt ceiling, the solution to greece: more debt. The solution to the high indebtness of UK citizens? Get the banks lending again so as we can have more debt!

 

[withdeanwombat]

Everybody has missed the point.

It's Gordon Brown's fault.

 

[BensGrandad]

Will the euro ever fail and countries go back to their old currencies like Germany with the Deutchemark, France the Franc etc.

 

[NMH]

The problem with the Euro is that although France and Germany are in each other's pockets and there are some relatively trustworthy countries..... or ones that are able to chug along in profit without doing much - there are also some with untrustworthy politicians who just line their own pockets and use the EEC as a meal ticket to do nothing much about anything (most politicians, sadly, talk a lot and do nothing except run up an expense account). So while they are abusing their positions resting on their laurels thinking the EEC is an excuse to delegate responsibility elsewhere, their country goes down the toilet and they are shocked when they are the last to find that out.

Still - you have to look at the top, because the governing body for the EEC ought to know what is happening in their so-called united European Community.

"The best made plans of mice and men often go astray"

 

[SeagullEd]

Before people go on and on about debt please read this: The biggest lie in British politics Johann Hari

Towards the end he gets more opinionated, but the facts are very intersting.

 

[BensGrandad]

Just got back from Brighton shopping and one place was giving 1.198 euros to the pound.

 

[paddy]

Before people go on and on about debt please read this: The biggest lie in British politics Johann Hari

Towards the end he gets more opinionated, but the facts are very intersting.

"Let’s start with a fact that should be on billboards across the land. As a proportion of GDP, Britain’s national debt has been higher than it is now for 200 of the past 250 years"

That sentence is ridiculous. Firstly, he doesn't say what measure he's using - if it's the National Loans Fund measure (which I suspect it is) that's a completely inaccurate statement since the Treasury stopped using it years ago on the basis that it failed to properly reflect true liabilities. Secondly, a large chunk of those years were spent fighting two world wars where we had one single, largely benevolent creditor: America.

The fact is that at the moment we are spending a huge proportion of the tax take in paying off our debt (£2000 per household each year just for the interest). This figure fluctuates according to how cheaply the Government can borrow money in the bond markets. That is why, when the interest rates on Greek sovereign debt exploded, the Greek Government needed bailing out. Without fiscal consolidation to keep rates in the bond markets low, the percentage of tax income that will be needed to pay off the interest (let alone the capital) will dramatically increase to unsustainable levels.

 

[paddy]

Before people go on and on about debt please read this: The biggest lie in British politics Johann Hari

Towards the end he gets more opinionated, but the facts are very intersting.

And, of course, Hari was suspended from the Independent for suspected plagiarism, so hardly the most reliable man to be commenting on 'lies'