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About LinkBacksThat's it "a thunder of fool's, skilled in the art of eejitary"Originally Posted by Oppenheimer
That's it "a thunder of fool's, skilled in the art of eejitary"
Give FF control over currency and interest rates and you can be sure they'd use it for short term gain and to buy the next election. The printing presses would be working overtime to print the big wage increases for the public sector workers that Biffo and Lenihan want to be best friends forever with.
They certainly wouldn't take the real steps necessary to make us competitive again.
His is right on the money. We need to get out of the straight jacket that is the Euro. The ECB must think of inflation first thanks to German obsession with the Wiemar Republic. Inflating things would help personal debt big time but that argument meets with haughty disdain from the useless Trichet. We have a currency we have no control over. Remember 4 countries, France Germany, Spain and Italy have 4 permanent seats on aboard of 6. Dictatorship by the big boys for the big boys. It is beyond a joke listening to people twittering about Euro membership as if it is some club of equals rather than a political project run by the gruesome twosome of France and Germany.
"The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.” -Golda Meir
We could achieve the same result just by shooting people and taking their wealth. Sure it worked for the Nazis and the Soviets, didn't it? And their economies did, eventually, recover.
I am a young saver, with zero debts and no mortgage. I am already paying for the stupidity of others through higher tax and low interest rates. It will be a cold day in hell before I let the government take my savings and hand me monopoly money in exchange. I would actually fight, investing some of my savings in a gun. They'd have to send the Irish Army door to door to confiscate our euros - and we'd make Falluja seem tame.
Yes, the solution to our problems is to wipe out the last people who have money left - primarily our pension funds.big investors would get an almighty kick in the cojones.
Eurosceptic - I don't care how big your mortgage is - your not getting your hands on my savings. You bankrupted yourself. Live with it.
I can think of lots of problems with this:
Everyones mortgages would be in euros, but earnings in punts, which would be almost worthless because there would be a crippling devaluation. The Government could nationalise the banks and redenominate mortgages in punts, but we would still be stuck with the banks enourmous debts, in euros.
Devaluation means a massive, massive pay cut for everyone in the state - it would be harder in the short term but less painful in the long term to just cut euro wages. Since we depend heavily on imports, our cost of living would depend on the euro and sterling, and the new punt is guaranteed to plummet against them, raising the cost of living. Interest rates would have to be jacked to the sky to protect the currency, think 15-20% on your mortgage vs under 2% in the euro zone.
Anyone with any savings would instantly transfer their euros out of the country to avoid having them exchanged with worthless punts, meaning our banking sector would be permanently crippled.
If we want to leave the euro, we have to do it when the economy is strong, not weak.
Devaluation is a terrible idea - it robs money out of the pockets of those who have been sensible and prudent and saved money, to reward those who gambled and took on lots of debt. Leaving the euro would be economic shock therapy on a grand scale, we would be in exactly the same place as Iceland are now.
What devaluation is is a universal wage cut by any other name - except it means that we would have to leave the comfort of the eurozone at a time when we do not have the resources to prevent a run on the punt.
I'll take my chances with the Germans and French rather than crowd of gombeens and corrupt Dublin skangers that populate FF.
If we left the Euro and set up our own currency. We would have to link it to Sterling other wise it wouldnt be worth the paper its printed on, we would end up like Zimbabwe.
'A defeatist attitude now would surely lead to defeat, it primarly a question of whether we have confidence in ourselves and the dilligence and determination of our people,We can't opt out of the future.' Sean Lemass (1965)
He's raised this before; it wasn't so long ago.
And when he did, he drew a lot of criticism. Now, much of this criticism was reflexive and reflected how some people do hold euro membership as a shibboleth.
But others raised informed and credible points against the idea, especially the aspect of how it would be very difficult - short of installing a dictatorship - to implement the actual change-over and prevent ruinous capital flight and the fleecing of those savers without advance warning.
McWilliams must be aware of these objections, unless he doesn't bother reading his own press. Yet he doesn't address them. I find that disappointing.
I think all commentators on this subject (yes, even the OP) would gain credibility if they accept that there's no absolutely compelling argument for or against continuing euro membership; each has significant dangers and downsides.
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And you and Oppenheimer's ideas are.....................
"The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.” -Golda Meir
Ah yes, the Mugabe solution.
That'll solve all of Ireland's problems in a stroke.
What a genius!
The man should be President (for life naturally).
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