"Austerity" now a dirty word in Europe

@izzythepush,

Well, Izzy since you said it, it must be so. As we all know, you speak for the UK with an authority that is unquestionable.

I think I'll trust the word of a cabbie who reset his meter after we were stuck in snail crawl's traffic on the way to Paddington Station and headed straight to Heathrow. Cost him 12 pounds I was prepared to pay. Also refused to take more than a 5 pound tip when I was prepared to give him more.

But then you're an expert on all things British, including the character of it's cabbies.

Interesting enough, the only London cabbie who has recently tried to rip me off, by taking me on a circuitous route, was the one who told me how lucky I was to have Barrack Obama as my president.

Glad your cynicism gives you such pleasure.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

I erred in confusing European Union with Euro Zone.

She did not recommend that they withdraw from the EU.

Not that it makes a real difference in what she was suggesting, but when anal Germans like you Walter are right, you're right.

I'm sure the bureaucrats of the EU wouldn't care if Greece stiffed its European creditors.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

roger wrote:
As opposed to Eruopeans who are more concerned with the spiritual rewards?

I've quoted here Finn

For someone is so anal retentive that they must lie awake at night pondering if the term should be hyphenated, it is incredibly amusing that you should assert that you were quoting me.

For someone who insists on source links to accompany cut and pastes of articles it is delightful that you should assert that you were quoting me.

You were, of course, not quoting me.

I didn't use the word "simply," which was, undoubtedly an important motivator for roger's reply.

All is not lost though, hopefully you will see this as a "teaching moment" and in the future be less pedantic and/or more intellectually honest.

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

What took you so long?

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Recovering from jet-lag, and catching up with work left behind.

2 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

I erred in confusing European Union with Euro Zone.

She did not recommend that they withdraw from the EU.

Not that it makes a real difference in what she was suggesting, but when anal Germans like you Walter are right, you're right.

I'm sure the bureaucrats of the EU wouldn't care if Greece stiffed its European creditors.

It is a real difference - not only by the number of members but how those treaties work.

0 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

Sorry, included inadvertently one word to much in my "quote".

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Recovering from jet-lag,

Do you get it flying eastwards as well? I never got it when flying to the US, but always had some problems when coming back here.

0 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

Inadvertently?

I think not.

You may have not conciously and with deliberation altered my words to suit your purposes, but your version of what I wrote fit better with your mind-set and so naturally flowed.

Yours was not a meaningless and inadvertent error Walter.

It happens from time to time and perhaps this event of yours will help you, in the future, to restrain yourself from being such a smug prig.

2 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

Not thinking up a snappy response, which was so late as to be almost irrelevant.

I know you'd rather think you weren't taken for a ride, nobody likes to be taken for a fool.

I'm not bothered either way, I couldn't convince you water was wet.

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Boy, you're really confrontational tonight, ain't'cha, Finn?

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Btw, when I made the same point over a year ago now, that the UK was politically left of the USA, you accused me of trying to start a fight with JTT by out socialising him. Now you mention it like it's a revelation.

I'm so glad that your brief stay in London means you know far more about our country than me. I've just lived here all my life, what do I know?

Have any chats about the reorganisation of the NHS and the evils of 'socialised medicine' when you were over here, or did you stick to flag waving and shooting illegal immigrants?

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Those were the conditions they had to meet before entering the Eurozone, not the EU.

Yep. And there's no such requirement for staying in the Eurozone. In Greece's case I suppose one could find a way to revoke their membership because they cooked their numbers to get in, time and time again. (Those Greek socialists, they're as crooked as Wall Street investment bankers!) But that was discovered years ago and nobody did anything. So I suppose it's too late.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

It's just there is a very big difference between staying in the EU and staying in the Eurozone. Some posters are acting as if the terms are interchangable, they are not.

In the UK we're in the EU, we're not in the Eurozone. (Thank God)

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

In the UK we're in the EU, we're not in the Eurozone. (Thank God)

Staying out was definitely one of your better moves. And you're right, it does make a big difference if you're out of the EU or just out of the Euro-Zone.

0 Replies

I don't really want to get into Cyclo's and GeorgeOB1's American budget discussion again because we've already had it. But I will note that the liberal wing of House Democrats has outlined a fiscal policy that would balance the budget in about 10 years, and do it mostly by tax increases on higher incomes. The economics of fiscal sanity is easy. Only the politics is hard.

Read "The People's Budget"

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Quote:

... you accused me of trying to start a fight with JTT by out socialising him. Now you mention it like it's a revelation.

It happens from time to time and perhaps this event [and others] of yours, Finn, will help you, in the future, to restrain yourself from being such a smug prig.

0 Replies

@Thomas,

You say "hard," I say near impossible.

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

The person(s) responsible for that should get a medal...or be knighted or something.

0 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

I'm my own speech writer, thanks very much.

Cycloptichorn

In the way of gratuitous advice, you might want to eliminate the use of "I" and "me"; it makes you sound less pompous, in my opinion.

1 Reply

"Austerity" now a dirty word in Europe

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know