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Post by ray51 on Jul 5, 2011 14:24:00 GMT 1
IN (hopefully it will be easier for my Croatian missus to find employment in the EU/UK) If she can show that she is legally married to a Brit , what difference would Croatia's accession make to her possible employment in any EU country , incl. U.K. ? Also : I know quite a few Croats in London , males and females , not even married to Brits and they all manage , somehow . It's all about choices in life , sometimes right , sometimes wrong , I think .
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Post by ray51 on Jul 6, 2011 17:30:37 GMT 1
There's much more to this than meets the eye ; it wasn't Greece that bankrupted itself , it was it's joining the Eurozone that did so ; the monetary union is a huge mistake , to which none of the major players will admit ( as they have vested interests in pretending that all is fine , let the Germans pay more tax , so the Greeks can retire younger ) ; no problem with that , if the Germans , the Dutch and a few others , who are still solvent , comply . But , the EU parliament has other grand schemes : new direct EU taxes on corporations operating there , taxes on all financial transactions , more tax on air travel , then on international phone calls and e-mails ( don't know they get the last one going , but there's plenty computer geeks available to help them ) . Lucky that I'm not young ; the teenagers of today will be working ( IF there's any work left in the EU ) 7-8 months a year , just to pay the tax bills .
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Post by gobrea on Jul 8, 2011 20:18:29 GMT 1
Thats a no vote from me Jim. Theres enough basketcases in Euro Zone at the moment lol, Plus it will play havoc with my taxes.
Whats South africa like Ray? since you've left. Grass seems to be a whole lot greener down there nowadays.
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Post by 3lions on Jul 8, 2011 23:42:28 GMT 1
NO to EU! Croatia needs urgent economic reforms. we wouldnt want a devaluation of the kuna. and they have to stop borrowing money!! but since i know that this aint gonna happen cos our politicians are as usefull as a horse that does jumping jacks...croatia will join the EU. but first there will be a devaluation of the kuna. then EU referendum and then we will join the EU and probably be the straw that breaks the EUs back..and it will all come falling down like a pile of brown stuff. its logical really. Croatia isn't going to break the EU. It's too small.
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Post by 3lions on Jul 9, 2011 2:05:07 GMT 1
There's much more to this than meets the eye ; it wasn't Greece that bankrupted itself , it was it's joining the Eurozone that did so ; erh? it borrowed more money than it could pay back. Debt isn't necessary a bad thing if its used to fuel investment, but when you can't pay it back that's a big no no. Anyway it could have rejected joining the euro.
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Post by Carol on Jul 9, 2011 6:23:44 GMT 1
Greece borrowed money and expected to earn enough to pay it back. Then came a huge recession and it found that by being part of the euro, it could not devalue its currency (which is the usual way to fix an economy that is in trouble). Ireland's problem was the other way round: its economy was growing too fast and it couldn't cool it because it didn't have currency and interest rate control.
Not having control over your own currency has always been the fatal flaw of the euro. The states of southern US - Virginia etc - have long had exactly the sane problem with being in the dollar. That's why they are perpetually poor states.
So even in 1996 economists knew that this was going to be an issue, but the pro-Euro camp said that the countries who were thriving would help those who were struggling and that was how this problem would be overcome. I don't know why this was never explained to the general public.
The only question I would have is why did Alasdair Darling sign Britain up to helping out the eurozone last year? By not being in the euro, we didn't get the benefit from the good years, so why should we bear the pain in the bad years?
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Post by ray51 on Jul 9, 2011 8:00:50 GMT 1
Whats South africa like Ray? since you've left. Grass seems to be a whole lot greener down there nowadays. SethEffrika was a great place to live in , in the 70s and early 80s ; better than California , DownUnda or NZ , not only IMO but according to the testaments of many a well-travelled person ; oh , but then we got Jimmy Peanuts Carter and a bunch of influential commie fools in Europe , who arranged for economic sanctions and embargoes , to ruin all this ; the interest rates went to 23%+ and once SethEffrikenz were banned from playing international rugby and cricket , what was there to live for ? Most of the best people left , those who could . The president De Klerk gave up , once the spine was broken , knowing full well that the communist-trained ANC would inherit the country ; ( Some years later , his ex-wife was raped and murdered , by her gardener , in a supposedly safe and secure compound , so there you have it .) and they ( Mandela's ANC ) did get the country on a plate , even though they had to re-count the votes for weeks , until everyone reckoned they had a safe majority ( the Law of Africa = one man , one vote , once - and therafter never again will the new rulers allow any democracy ! ) Today , actually , only Cape Town could still be attractive , it truly is the last remaining outpost of some civilisation ( Durban , Jo'burg , Port Elizabeth , East London and others : all sunk to African " standards " ) the rest is more and more like the usual Africa : crime , poverty , dirt and grime , rape , AIDS , murder , terrible driving , guns , inefficiency , bureaucracy , corruption ; ( only that , over 20 years after Nelson's release , how long for will all the failures be strictly and exclusively the white man's fault ? ) and there are also some who are ridicoulosly rich and protected , in the midst of all this , incl. the new elite of ruling party's cleptomaniacs ; some of the economy does well , on commodities' exports , some of it on monopoly and lack of competition , overcharging = not a problem ! ; when all is said and done , Cape Town today is more expensive to live in than most of western Europe ( much to do with the exchange rates ) . Not a proposition !( unless you are seriously well-off and living off a passive income - which would go untaxed there ) . ( Thank you , Lord David Owen , mr. Andy Young and a few hundred millions of ignoramuses who caused previous South Africa's downfall and surrender to "world's" wishes , many years ago . )
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Post by crojoe on Jul 9, 2011 11:03:37 GMT 1
The problem with many of these countries (in and out of the EU) is whether the government is telling the world the truth about their budgets, the profit and their debts. Greece is seems was lying about their debt for decades, and with a culture of not paying taxes by the people (especially big earners) it's no wonder they couldn't figure anything out. They will never be able to pay back their loans, and this latest loan by the world is like a kid’s band aid on a cut artery. Slowly the patient is bleeding to death.
So, one has got to wonder what the true situation is in Croatia? Almost on a daily basis I read different numbers on the economy. Someone says things are looking up then another dude says it's not looking good at all. Even world financial institutions are at odds about what the true figures are. So, if a dinky country like Croatia can't figure out its finances, then who can? It's all a grand cover-up and it will cost more then a grand to fix it.
The banks here seem to have missed the lesson of the European bank melt-down over mortgages and loans, as they are loaning out money big time. At the rate we are going I think we'll start seeing peoples in larger numbers having their apartments or house being repossessed (if that can be legally done in Croatia?). In business it's like 1 to 2 in 5 businesses are in debt. That’s a lot.
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Post by ray51 on Jul 9, 2011 12:23:07 GMT 1
I would not blame the Greeks quite as much ; anyone , it seems , would prefer to live better on credit ( look at U.K. and the U.S. ) in nice weather and in comforts one prefers , get some feta salad and retsina and let the bouzoukis play all night ; and the famous international bankers were falling all over themselves to offer the buxxxx unlimited , be they Deutsche Bank , Soc.Gen , you name them ; now when there's trouble , the EU and the ECB are extending new zillions , not to help the Greeks but rather : so that the German , French and other banks don't go under and that the face of the EUro is saved . ( Some media calls it : kicking the can down the road ; yet , one day , someone'll have to pick it up ? ) The Greek tragedy may be only the beginning of more drastic things to come , from Portugal , Spain , Belgium ...who knows ? Certainly , once a country has no control over it's currency , it can get worrysome .
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Post by 3lions on Jul 9, 2011 21:46:27 GMT 1
Whats South africa like Ray? since you've left. Grass seems to be a whole lot greener down there nowadays. SethEffrika was a great place to live in , in the 70s and early 80s ; I thought Apartheid wasn't really the way forward as did Steve Biko
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Post by ray51 on Jul 9, 2011 23:26:04 GMT 1
Or Nelson , the all-admired universal hero , putting the bombs into post offices , before going to Robben Island ? There's many a side to a story and not all white africans are criminals ( as usually alleged ) .
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Post by mickanddeb09 on Aug 6, 2011 11:34:01 GMT 1
Interesting to see everyone's thoughts and views, maybe we can come back and reflect after actually living an EU run Croatia.
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Post by ray51 on Aug 6, 2011 12:02:54 GMT 1
But : EU don't run Greece , Portugal , Ireland , Italy , Spain , Rumania , Bulgaria , Hungary and other snake-pits of bribery and corruption and of economic failure ; nor do they run Sweden or France , or Germany or Austria or NL - so , then : why would they "run" Croatia ? if anything , for a while and in the "good times" the EU was a bottomless well of cash , for the fraudsters to enrich themselves and for unelected political elites and bureaucrats to have champagne dining and wining and all the luxuries they never could have earned themselves any other way ; at first , the Spiel was about one Common Market ( no duties between the member-states ) , then : no more wars in Europe , then the common currency - and now it's unashamedly about the politicians maintaining their incredible , uncontrolled and unaccountable powers and spoils , at any and all costs ; there are thousands of well-dressed , well-paid penpushers enjoying this game , between Brussels and Strassbourg ; so , then : let the Germans , the Dutch , the Finns and any other still-solvent member-ones pay for the impossible dream and let's see how long that one-trick-pony will last ?
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