The rotten core at the heart of Europe

[sasguru]

Forget the PIIGS, France is a ticking bomb:

Bonjour Tristesse: France Stares into the Euro-Crisis Chasm - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Debt to GDP ratio of approx 85%, before any recap of banks (UK 75%, after recapitalisation). No wonder they want the European fund to recap their banks.
Banks in hock to Greece far more than any other country.
Budget last balanced in 1974 (UK 1997, under the Tories obviously)
Falling productivity after their 35 hour week

And worst of all, no austerity plan to fix anything, since they think they can ride germany's coat tails.

No wonder the markets think the UK is a much better bet.

[Jeff Maginty]

..

[xoggoth]

Hopefully they will reap what they sowed, the next time there is an election

Given the immense difficulty that small parties like UKIP face in making any real breakthrough, they probably won't unfortunately.

PS Good find SAS, news to me

[Doggy Styles]

Three of the Big Four eurozone countries are fecked, and the other one will be joining them once it starts propping them up.

I preferred Francs anyway. You got a lot for a quid in the old days.

[AlfredJPruffock]

The Euro is a failed experiment and the EU is simply a gravy-train for Euro MPs. The British people want out of the EU. By denying us a referendum the politicians are ignoring the will of the people. Hopefully they will reap what they sowed, the next time there is an election.

Will of the People ?

Long live the Proles.

Been a wee while since Ive visited here - sad to see it reads more like Socialist Worker than a contracting site.

[xoggoth]

As with Greece, a lot to do with the Euro. There's an article on the growing resurgence of the US here:

World power swings back to America - Telegraph

According to that

Yet you can see the damage to Europe from an over-strong euro in foreign direct investment (FDI) data.

Flows into the EU collapsed by 63p from 2007 to 2010 (UNCTAD data), and fell by 77pc in Italy. Flows into the US rose by 5pc.
...

Europe has only itself to blame for the current “hollowing out” of its industrial base. It craved its own reserve currency, without understanding how costly this “exorbitant burden” might prove to be.

China and the rising reserve powers have rotated a large chunk of their $10 trillion stash into EMU bonds to reduce their dollar weighting. The result is a euro too strong for half of EMU.

The European Central Bank has since made matters worse (for Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France) by keeping rates above those of the US, UK, and Japan. That has been a deliberate policy choice. It let real M1 deposits in Italy contract at a 7pc annual rate over the summer. May it live with the consequences.

[OwlHoot]

Will of the People ?

.. sad to see Jeff Maginty reads more like Socialist Worker than a contracting site.

FTFY

(Mind you, this time for a change he is talking sound common sense)

[BlasterBates]

Forget the PIIGS, France is a ticking bomb:

Bonjour Tristesse: France Stares into the Euro-Crisis Chasm - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Debt to GDP ratio of approx 85%, before any recap of banks (UK 75%, after recapitalisation). No wonder they want the European fund to recap their banks.
Banks in hock to Greece far more than any other country.
Budget last balanced in 1974 (UK 1997, under the Tories obviously)
Falling productivity after their 35 hour week

And worst of all, no austerity plan to fix anything, since they think they can ride germany's coat tails.

No wonder the markets think the UK is a much better bet.

So is the UK better?

not really

the UK had a bigger deficit, or annual shortfall, than the recently bailed-out Portugal and also Spain, which is viewed as the next euro-using nation to potentially need international aid.

The UK was in the ninth weakest position with a debt standing at 80pc of GDP, which was worse than Spain’s 60.1pc.

With a massive 10% budget deficit, and debt at 80% of GDP it's pretty much bottom of the league, alongside the PIIGS. It's just everyone is focused on the Eurozone. If the UK was in the Eurozone one might have used the term "PUIIGS".

[TimberWolf]

The UK has the spectre of high inflation looming too, unless the Bank of England aren't wrong in their projections, as they have been for about the last 10 years it seems.

[TimberWolf]

So is the UK better?

not really





With a massive 10% budget deficit, and debt at 80% of GDP it's pretty much bottom of the league, alongside the PIIGS. It's just everyone is focused on the Eurozone. If the UK was in the Eurozone one might have used the term "PUIIGS".

Says 76% here (in 2010). And Japan, a mammoth 200%