I do not understand why all the enthusiasm about Turkey joining the EU (not hinting at your sarcastic post, Merlin [;)]). The people in the street is strongly against it, Euro politicians are not very enthusiastic and even Turkish politicians would rather simply sign a series of economical and commercial treaties than having full blown EU membership.
Part of this lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that Turkey has 76 million citizens: it would become the second largest EU country immediately after Germany. This means they would become the second most represented country in the Strasbourg parliament and a true force to be reckoned with. Toss in three-four millions of German citizens of direct Turkish descent and you have the balance of power shifting dramatically overnight. Another part of the problem is immigration: Europe has a serious immigration problem which may already be too late to fix. We simply cannot afford having more people moving in.
In the meantime the Greek crisis is quietly being swept under the carpet by the media. The mantra is always the same “recovery is here, don’t worry, go out and spend, spend, spend”. No newspaper I’ve read in the past week had a single piece on the Spanish situation. The old childish trick “if I don’t see it, it won’t hurt me” is here again.
It is indeed true that almost no one would want to join, and for good reasons.
Yet one must understand that a failed experiment as the EU can only survive this decade IF it gets a fresh injection of new capital. Now look around: which country is large enough, growing rapidly enough, export-oriented enough and still underdeveloped enough to provide EU investors with profitable investment ventures that would brig about enough profits (and taxes!) to keep the union going? (If one thinks thathe could also do, please consider whether an unstable country such as that is worth fighting a war with over).
Whether one likes it or not, the EU is now facing a simple choice: either gets in (or remains out, but is practically treated as an economic member to full effects) or the union crumbles. I really se no way around that. So, swallow the pill my dear Germans, to get your empire going, and that proceed with other needed reforms if is not to revert back to a pre-Bismarck balkanization ( an untold horror form their point of view).
Edit: I still can’t see why would want to join though.
Yes, but the situation going on in Europe is but a blip on the radar screen compared to what’s going on in the USA.
We are seriously !$@#%&, yet very few people actually want to come to terms with reality. It’s truly astonishing.
I recently got into an argument with my Neoconservative cousin and when I said " We (our generation) are going to have considerably lower standards of living in this country, most of us will be lucky if we can find a steady job)". She basically then went into a sh!t fit and said I was an alarmist and you’ve overblown the entire situation…
I was talking with my mom in the car today about how 9/11 was the best event for the Federal Government to take advantage of. I haven’t seen a single event that has vitiated such a disproportionately large amount of our youths minds (besides Pearl Harbor). We are all partially responsible for allowing the Neoconservatives to have their ultimate wet dream of a glorious imperial conquest in the Middle East. I’m so glad I eventually snapped out of that Neoconservative stage.
That was a dark stage of my life and I always beat myself up for all the ignorant crap I spewed!
I must admit I have pondered over it for quite some time too. In short Greece cut a deal with Goldman Sachs to sell them dollar-denominated bonds in return for euro-denominated assets. Fine with me.Greece then used these assets to artificially put down its debt since their bonds were now hold by Goldman Sachs and they got some quick cash in return,.Greece apparently got a better deal since her dollar-nominated bonds got more euro-denominated assets than the official exchange rate allowed.
The part I really do not understand is what did Goldman Sachs get in return. Because I doubt they set a more favorable exchange rate just to help a chap in need. Perhaps they were speculating on euro-denominated assets? Perhaps they expected to be repaid in the future when those bonds are supposed to be bought back by Greece?