Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 09:34PM

Hmmm, that seems intelligent. One of the most wildy divergent areas of the globe with no common culture, language or economics all banding together for the express purpose of standing up to the United States in global influence. Almost sounds childish. Maybe this will start a global "see who can make the biggest political entity" race. So maybe China, Korea, Japan should band together, and maybe Canada the U.S. and Mexico should get together. For what purpose and benefit I have no idea. Bragging rights I guess.

Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 09:48PM

Purpose and benefit? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!

P.S. The U.S., Canada and Mexico did get together for that thing called: NAFTA.

Republifucks Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 10:11PM

If the U.S. can get it's head out of it's ass, beginning with undoing the last 5 years it may yet, in fact, be a horse race.

Otherwise, they win. And I take no pleasure in saying it.

Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 10:36PM

That thing called NAFTA is a " free trade agreement" hence the "FTA". It has nothing to do with politics or using a common currency. SO how exactly does the European Union create "$$$$$$$$$$$"????
And what exactly is the "horse race" about??? Win what??? The bragging rights? I read a study done by the UK government trying to figure out how exactly using a common Euro would benefit the UK. There was no clear benefit and many potential problems. It a completely emotional venture, led by countries like France that want to regain past glories.

rogue_1 Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 10:54PM

With only 5 years of the 21st century begun its a bit early to claim bragging rights
With that said Europe is leading by a short half head in this 2 horse race.
We will have to wait for the field to catch up before to pick a favorite.

Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 11:03PM

Well it seems to me the only thing Europe can brag about is that they have over 300 million people as members. That's all. Simply encompassing a group of formerly separate groups of people does not in any way increase economic productivity. To the contrary, it creates fiscal problems when separate governments have different social spending priorities. The only real effect I can think of is that the more influential countries like France will bully the smaller members into towing the line in foreign policy matters, using artificially created political and economic incentives. It will give a unified voice to dealing with the rest of the world. So in effect it will further skew the influence of the more powerful European nations. Why the smaller European countries would be a party to this I have no idea. They will simply be giving up their sovereignty and independence, something that neither Napoleon or Hitler could achieve for very long.

stephanos Report This Comment
Date: April 12, 2005 11:31PM

The reason smaller countries join is so they get the benefit of free trade within the European Union as well as benefitting from economic policies such as CAP which takes money from wealthy countries to spread around agriculture in countries that require it.


Europe is doing now what America did from the outset in creating a "federation" of states, just on a slightly larger scale

Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 04:26AM

Stephanos, it was logical for the American States to form a union. They all shared a common culture, language, political beliefs, and ancestry for the most part. At this time in history, a strong federal state provided a mutually beneficial security force. Europe on the other hand, is a collection of very different languages and cultures. There is no logical basis for a union except artificial contrived incentives such as the trade barriers and equalization payments (bribes). Again, I see no evidence to the contrary that it is simply an attempt of a continent with an inferiority complex to try and gain power by forcing an unnatural union. Europeans are obviously obsessed with the concept of a single world power since the breakup of the Soviet Union, which they are desperately trying to counter.

jumbo Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 08:18AM

What is this "common culture, language ... and ancestry"? Wasn's this a disparate bunch of immigrants from Europe?

The EEC (as it then was) was setup to ease trade between a few European countries - it was initially heavily influenced by France and Germany. General de Gaulle actually vetoed the UK's entry. Now with 25 countries, it is much more driven by consensus.

Those who think it is in a competition with other trading blocks are right. It was setup to try to allow all member states to compete on an equal footing. It means that Luxemburg has as great a chance as Germany or France of winning business.

As to the so-called bribes, what government does not send aid to it's more deprived areas? The US certainly does.

And since when does a partisan document produced by a government trying to justify its position have any weight?

Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 09:17AM

As a Briton, I have no wish to be part of anyone's superstate. The squabbling nations of Europe will never agree for long enough to do anything effective, anyway.

Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 01:30PM

The whole point is to make money. Irregardless of not having a common heritage. An economic bolc of well over 300 million citizens will be able to compete much better with the U.S and the emering economic superpowers in China and the Asian subcontinent. Why would Denmark for example want to go it alone with their own currency when the can have the Euro with the power of all of Europe behind it driving it as an economic powerhouse?

I live in the U.S. and lets say that for example Montgomery, Alabama and New York City have very little in common culturally, however the power of the dollar on the world economic stage helps an economically backwater state like Alabama exactly the same as Manhattan. The people of the two places may have nothing in common and never co-mingle, however their money works for both of them. Do you really think that Alabama would like it's own currency without the backing of the rest of the U.S.? I imagine not, they would be a dirt-poor third world nation. New York on the otherhand would still be a world player...not on the same level, but still doing very well. California could make a similar argument. I happen to live in the South, but I have very little in common with most poor southerners (rednecks), we don't co-mingle, however their money spends exactly the same as mine.

What is the difference between that and say a wealthy Parisian and a poor Lithoanian...the Euro spends the same for both. The power of the Euro around the world is working for both as well. The economic tide will raise all boats just like wealthy and poor states in the U.S.

In short (not that it's possible at this point): There is strength in numbers.

Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 03:47PM

Because Denmark's economy, like that of the UK, has thrived outside the eurozone. We don't want our economies wrecked for the benefit of France and Germany. There may be strength in numbers but size isn't always everything (or so my girlfriend told me)

LIONEL Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 04:15PM

WILL RUSSIA ONE DAY JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION,? .UKRAINE ,TURKEY,GEORGIA WANT TO JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION.... WHICH IS A POLITICAL UFO.BUT IT WORKS WELL JUST LIKE AN AIRBUS ...RUSSIAN SOYOUZ WILL TAKE OFF FROM FRENCH GUIANA IN 2007!...WORLD IS CHANGING.EUROPE IS GETTING BIGGER AND STRONGER.IT S GOOD NEWS FOR USA AND THE WORLD.

Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 04:39PM

HEY LIONEL, MAYBE THE WHOLE WORLD WILL JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION!!! Then somehow, the WHOLE WORLD will be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL!!! JUST IMAGINE THE POWER!!!! (Do you see why this is ludicrous?)
Jumbo, the U.S. was predominately made up of immigrants from the UK, being a collection of BRITISH colonies after all.

dub Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 06:10PM

Why does everyone think Europeans are so different from one another? I live in a place with lots of Germans, British, Swedes, Danes and eastern europeans and we´re all the same. Except ALL women from the Baltics are sluts. Europeans are pretty much the same from Sweden to Spain. Hey, that rhymed! And they do have a common language now, everyone under forty speaks ... English. Why? Because europe has been teaching it in their schools for decades. Unlike the monolingual UK were a second language is looked upon as bowing down to the heathens. Face it, the time has come to forget about Napoleon and look FORWARD.

But I agree, the UK should stay out of it. I´m from there and Britain needs to shake its superiority complex first. So a few famous people are from the UK, big deal. Most of the culture Britons are proud of can be found in other countries too, you just don´t hear of it in Britain. Want to know what sells records in Norway? Yes its US & UK music but the biggest sellers are Norwegian. They just don´t export it & the Brits have never heard of it because Britain lives in a bubble. But in Scandinavia you can be huge and this goes for bands who sing in english. Britain needs to slap itself and quit the stupid attitude that they have more to offer the world than anyone else.

Anthony Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 06:25PM

dub, Yeah my experience in norther Europe is that a lot of people can speak english. However this is less common the further south you go. In Spain I could not find ANYBODY who could speak english and Italy is a bit better. And I really think it a long stretch to say that Swedes are just like Spaniards. LOL.

dub Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 06:46PM

I´ve worked with people from all over and they are all the same. Except for gingers, they are FREAKS.

Black_Trans_Am Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 10:07PM

I cannot see the downside for the Euro. After all who is more powerful as an economic entity: Wal-Mart or a local Mom and Pop store? They primarily do the same thing: sell stuff. However Wal-Mart due to it's size has much more economic muscle behind it. Europe with one currency, much like the U.S., re-creates itself as a major, economicaly diverse, powerhouse. For example: California could be an economically viable entity in the world by itself, however that is nothing compared to the power California has as a part of the U.S.. I don't really understand the skepicism. Most of the arguments against it simply don't hold water.

stephanos Report This Comment
Date: April 13, 2005 11:35PM

except for the fact that the countries outside of the Euro do so for the fact that they don't want to end up with a constitution dictating to them how they should do everything as America does

straightedge Report This Comment
Date: April 14, 2005 06:12AM

Sorry, I believe China has this spot.

CHINA WILL RISE TO POWER AS THE LEADING CAPITALIST STATE IN THE WORLD!

Communism is going out the door.

jumbo Report This Comment
Date: April 14, 2005 02:23PM

The downside of the Euro is that it imposes a single bank lending rate across the whole of the Eurozone. This means that countries in differing parts of the economic cycle need differing interest rates, but they can't get them. So countries that need high interest rates suffer when Germany/France need low rates and vice versa.

In the US, the common currency and rates have been around for a long time. The country as a whole tends to be on an economic downturn or upturn, much more so than in the EU. It will even out in the EU, but at what cost to the individual countries?

Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: March 14, 2006 02:11PM

Well, how about, EVERYONE staying in there homes, no interactions, inbreeding,maybe, it will end STUPID FIGHTS HERE AND THERE, and, we would even forget we had neighbours !! That would be a treat ! no FORD, no CHANEL, no KIA, no ROYAL AIR MAROC, no SHELL,no FISH & CHIPS, no flags, no more bullshit people like ya ! GREAT PROSPECT NO ?