Trouble in 't Euroland

[contractor79]

That's won the argument for me. Glasses as well.

stop it I can't concentrate now

[EternalOptimist]

The way the US political system works, the power is with the big states. The UK would wield that power, as the biggest state by far

just think, we could foist Blair or Brown on the world. why suffer alone

[PM-Junkie]

This got me thinking. What would happen if we did become another US state?

We'd get smaller government, lower taxes and increased personal responsibility for our own welfare instead of billions upon billions being pumped into broken public services.

On the downside we'd get an even more broken electoral system, a lack of control over our own destiny and most frightening of all, AtW would be able to buy all those guns he's been hankering after.

Hmmm, food for thought...

...ah, but then so would we. And we'd get some of their more progressive laws like being able to shoot any lowlife we catch breaking into our houses etc

[Doggy Styles]

...and Sarah Palin could show our women an example that we don't get from our hideous feminist MPs

That's won the argument for me. Glasses as well.

[DiscoStu]

Can't "join" the US dollar, because it isn't an international system. Nothing to stop us using it: but that's not the same as becoming a state of the USA.

As for US statehood, personally I believe that the American people would welcome us, but the US Government wants us where we are: an outsider in Europe.

This got me thinking. What would happen if we did become another US state?

We'd get smaller government, lower taxes and increased personal responsibility for our own welfare instead of billions upon billions being pumped into broken public services.

On the downside we'd get an even more broken electoral system, a lack of control over our own destiny and most frightening of all, AtW would be able to buy all those guns he's been hankering after.

Hmmm, food for thought...

[expat]

why not the US dollar? Then I could vote Republican and Sarah Palin could show our women an example that we don't get from our hideous feminist MPs

Can't "join" the US dollar, because it isn't an international system. Nothing to stop us using it: but that's not the same as becoming a state of the USA.

As for US statehood, personally I believe that the American people would welcome us, but the US Government wants us where we are: an outsider in Europe.

[contractor79]

Oh come on...... Let's join the Euro !!!!!

why not the US dollar? Then I could vote Republican and Sarah Palin could show our women an example that we don't get from our hideous feminist MPs

[bogeyman]

As to who leaves / gets kicked out of the euro first I am not sure, but I feel that the med states would would be first rather than Germany.

It reminds me of the old song:

Excellent

[HairyArsedBloke]

As to who leaves / gets kicked out of the euro first I am not sure, but I feel that the med states would would be first rather than Germany.

It reminds me of the old song:

One evening in October, when I was one-third sober,
An' taking home a ‘load' with manly pride;
My poor feet began to stutter, so I lay down in the gutter,
And a pig came up an' lay down by my side;
Then we sang ‘It's all fair weather when good fellows get together,'
Till a lady passing by was heard to say:
‘You can tell a man who "boozes" by the company he chooses'
And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

[Cyberman]

Oh come on...... Let's join the Euro !!!!!

[ratewhore]

What do you expect from the EU? Transparency and Truth?

[expat]

It is often suggested here that Germany will be first to want to leave the Euro. I disagree, noting that it is weak economies that most miss the sleight of hand that control of the exchange rate allows.

The Telegraph seems to agree:

A great ring of EU states stretching from Eastern Europe down across Mare Nostrum to the Celtic fringe are either in a 1930s depression already or soon will be. Greece's social fabric is unravelling before the pain begins, which bodes ill.

However, at the end of the article there is a suggestion of why Germany might eventually object:

Traders suspect that investors are dumping their Club Med and Irish debt immediately on the European Central Bank in "repo" actions.

In other words, the ECB is already providing a stealth bail-out for Europe's governments – though secrecy veils all.

An EU debt union is being created, in breach of EU law. Liabilities are being shifted quietly on to German taxpayers. What happens when Germany's hard-working citizens find out?