BS: Should UK join the Euro ?

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: mooman
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 10:27 AM

Swings and roundabouts Giok!

Beer is 6% here as it is classed as a "daily necessity"! (and very good it is too - so I'm told)

In Belgium there was very little price increase as a result of the Euro with some cash registers coverting to three decimal places to try to reassure customers.

All the best

moo

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jun 03 - 07:46 PM

Brussels had a far far better Eurovision song anyway...

The main thing that would tend to incline me against the euro is when I listen to the people who are in favour of joining; and the main thing that would tend to incline me to support joining is when I listen to the people who are against it.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 07:01 AM

Very deep Kevin! ¦¬]....Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 07 Jun 03 - 03:07 PM

The news that there will be a (:uro referendum is a diversion from the very real and enormous - for the UK at least - changes that could result in a Constitutional Treaty for all of Europe being endorsed in the UK by referendum.

If passed -then the EU would begin to do it's thing unimpeded by the naysayers, orif rejected then the rest of the EU would get on with their Federal program - btw this was squished by Bush and his friends in the UK Tories not excluded -.

It looked like a win win situation for the antiEU lobby until last week when oppositiona and backbenchers began asking irritating questions like - where are the WMDs?

The currency is but a very small part of this Global realignment and the US is learning the bitter lessons that Rome once had to; that you can't make people 'free' if they don't want that, you can't force your reality on them while stealing their country - the UK knows all about that one see Ireland for more data - , and you are simply wasting your time thinking superior technology wins every battle - see Adolp Hitler or Nalpolean for more data.

So while in the USA the Repulicons are chanting 'Hail Seizer' the Labor lobby in the UK sing 'Jail the seizers'

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,adam
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:50 AM

hi, i was wandering if anyone could advise me on any websites that will help me understand the financial arguments for and against the uk adopting the euro

thanks

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:23 AM

yes even if its only to upset all the old farts at the tory conference. whatever they want for the country is bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 02:46 AM

I don't think that adoption of the Euro in the UK is inevitable. And while I doubt that it would be to my personal benefit [Pensions--not prices-- tend to be rounded down rather than up!], I do think that it would benefit the people in the long run. It would encourage European integration for a start [and by geography and ancestry Brits ARE European], and would harmonise monetary affairs and facilitate trade. I hope the people vote "yes". Britain is an offshore European island. We should accept that, and cease the harking back to the days of Empire. They are in the past, and a good thing too.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 07:07 AM

Oh please, do it and join the €!
I still remeber the days when you lost changing your money at the border (in 1969: five borders and four currencies on one single day!); but now I can visit a lot of European countries and can exactly compare the prices in a foreign land.
How would I have appreciated the € in Hull this year!

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: burntstump
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 07:15 AM

Can anyone explain why the € to £ exchangr rate is so low, I am sure the whole thing is being manipulated to get the UK to join the €.

I travel to Spain quite a lot on business and the prices have soared since the introduction of the Euro.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 03:55 AM

In questions of inflation I never trust personal experiences and anecdotes. People tend to note the high increases and to forget the decreases. The statistics hvae been sampled by the same process before and after the Euro and there was no net increase. The years before and after looked very similar.

The bias in noticing in particular the increases comes from some highly visible increases which are explained easily. For instance restaurant prices have gone up visibly: All restaurants had to change the printed menues from Mark to Euro. So none of them did any price increase in the last two years before the Euro and all of them waited until the day of the introduction. Doing it twice would have meant double costs. The same is valid for instance for our hairdressers. They made the routine increase coincidental with the introduction of the Euro.

Those prices like in the supermarkets we do not usually recollect because they change weekly, did not go up or even did go down.

It is a bias in perception, nothing else.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: burntstump
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 03:59 AM

Is it bias that a cup of coffee went from 100 pesetas to 1€ an increase of 40%?

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,Terry K
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 11:46 AM

Think on this - we have recently had a period of rampant house price inflation. The Government's response has been to increase the interest rate to try to slow the market down (very sensible, up to a point) and all the signs indicate that it is working. One criterion for entry into the Euro is that we need parity of interest rates with the eurozone, in other words, our interest rate should be reduced to two point something.

My question would be, what would house price inflation be like now, if we did have an interest rate of two point something?

And if we do join the Euro and suffer a similar bout of house price inflation, what would we be able to do to quell it?

Do we really want our mortgage rate to be controlled by Brussels?

Terry

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,Betsy
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:36 PM

No, Non , Nein - never - there's not one of those countries you could count on for support in a hard time.
They're all takers takers takers - leave 'em to it.
Cassius Clay (as he was) said " If you put a load of different animals in a cage - after a day or two - only one will be left ".
In this case - I fear the German would emerge triumphant.
so it will come to pass.
Leave 'em to it !!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: dianavan
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:49 PM

Yes, the UK should join Euro and Europe should use one currency.

The U.S. should start using Canadian currency because its so much prettier.

d

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Ooh-Aah2
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 06:15 PM

In that case the Europeans should use British money, because it's extremely beautiful - those wonderful chunky pound and 2 pound coins you have, with the words stamped into their rims and Scots thistles, heraldry etc, the wonderful notes - the Euro is plastic monopoly money.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 23 Nov 04 - 07:18 AM

Is it bias that a cup of coffee went from 100 pesetas to 1€ an increase of 40%? (burntstump)

No, burntstump, though any single example may be correct, the bias in general comes from selectively recollecting outrageous examples of increases and selectively forgetting instances of decreases. But you could tell that from my post, couldn't you?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,Ferdinand
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 11:08 PM

Sorry to say igno
rance.The Euro is a good invention.   Ferdinand

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: *Laura*
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 05:47 PM

but pounds are so purty!

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 05:57 PM

So why do most German folk I know say they wish they'd never voted to join it? And my Greek friend Christiana says prices have more than doubled since Greece joined.

We cannot have a common currency until we have a common interest rate and a common minimum living wage.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: MudGuard
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 05:59 PM

Hm - my dictionary can't translate "purty". What does it mean?

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 11:16 PM

Mudguard - "pretty" with a Southern accent.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 05:09 AM

Among many other benefits, joining the Euro would remove the current drain on holiday funds caused by greedy bankers grabbing 15% going in and coming out. So YES!!!

Sovereignty is another issue, and we should be able to indicate our feelings on that one to the government, if we shout very loudly about vanishing votes.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: MudGuard
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 05:46 AM

Thanks, JennyO (how should a non-native speaker know such things ...)

Don, you mention sovereignty - is the sovereign still used as a coin? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 07:52 AM

Hi Don - d'accord! Eurogatherings in the UK would be less expensive for us continentals.

Liz - that's the way of prices: they always increase. Some dealers took the chance to increase their prices more than usual; others waited till they had to change their menus to € and so avoided additional printing costs. Others changed their prices in the government ratio between mark and €.
Now guess who lost customers, and who gained?.

All in all: A common currency WILL lead to a common economy system, not immediately, but by and by. And as I said in a post some years ago: The costs of a common currency system are cheaper than the next paneuropean war.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Terry K
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 09:20 AM

"greedy bankers grabbing 15% going in and coming out"

- it's the careless use of throwaway lines like this that cause impartial observers to believe it might be true, rather than just the prejudiced shite it really is.

A partially trained monkey could find a better deal than 15% each way, so I suggest you either get your facts straight or stop using unlicensed rip-off merchants to change your money.

best regards, Terry

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 08:04 PM

Do you work for a bank then Terry?

There's always one who's so focussed on examining the tree, that he's unaware he has walked into a wood.

The same partially trained monkey could also assist you by pointing out that the percentage isn't the point. It's the fact that they grab it in both directions, and you lose twice.

regards back at ya
Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Terry K
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 05:27 PM

No, I don't work for a bank, nor do I necessarily have very much going for them. But I have heard tedious rhetoric like that trotted out ad nauseam, and am heartily sick of it. So the percentage doesn't matter? So why exaggerate to try to make a non-point? Why not use a more likely figure - less effective is it?

I'd like to introduce to you the concept of people doing work and getting paid for it. Someone changes your money, he gets paid for it. Someone else changes the same money, he gets paid for it. Like if a plumber installs a bathroom for you, he may want paying again when he removes it some time later.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: GUEST,a normal person
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 07:25 AM

get a life, ringer wolfgang...

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 07:46 AM

All of the large super markets in the north of Ireland take the Euro, as do most of the small shops, it is all money,

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 05:57 AM

If you plan taking another trip abroad in the foreseeable future you might do better to stick the unused euros in a drawer somewhere.

I still think it'd go a down a lot better here if it was referred to as "the (euro)Quid". I suspect we'll end up calling it that anyway. Or (euro)Dollar maybe.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Ringer
Date: 21 May 10 - 05:54 AM

Are you still here, Wolfgang?

I admit that my 5-year prediction timescale was incorrect. But the euro has only just hit its first "bad time". What odds do you offer that it will survive the next 5 years?

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Ringer
Date: 31 May 10 - 03:11 AM

Bump

Are you still here, Wolfgang?

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 May 10 - 01:39 PM

I'm still here, but only occasionally and even then mostly reading and not writing. So I didn't see your older post.

I'm convinced it'll be with us in five years as well, though with, I hope, changed rules. The odds for that opinion? 75% probability I'll be right, 25% I'll be wrong.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Ringer
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 09:47 AM

Thanks, Wolfgang.

Let's come back in 5 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 09:44 AM

They would be foolish to do it. It is already destroying the Greek economy. It could imperil theirs. There is no advantage to it for the UK.

The problem is that the International Economy is controlled by the World Bank and the IMF.
This centralization of control means that the UK could suffer the same fate as Greece.

Subject: RE: BS: Should UK join the Euro ?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 07:47 AM

We would certainly need a much more stable situation before tying our currency to an organisation which has so many lame ducks to support.

Don T.