Crisis in the Euro Zone

I have posted nothing for six weeks. It is astonishing to everyone of my age just how quickly time passes by. I have had a dose of flu which kept me depressed and withdrawn for over two weeks and then I have been in the North of England, where I was visiting mys sister in hospital. Now things are getting back to normal. But I have not been oblivious to what has been going on in the world. I have enjoyed watching the Rugby Union World Cup even if the England team were an embarrassment on and off the field. I find it extraordinary that men paid substantial wages, playing at the highest level, think that getting pissed out of your mind and indulging in partying in the middle of the night is suitable behaviour for preparing for matches where you are out to beat the world. Alcohol is bad for athletic performance at any time and drinking to excess is not an option in the careers of serious athletes. If they want to go binge drinking week after week, they should give up international [and club] rugby and go away to become piss artists. Anyway. it's all over and done with now. The right team won and Wales played a blinder even if they came away with nothing — except a lot of experience and the makings of a team with a great future.

Now to other matters and the great Euro fiasco. As every day passes the farce that is the European Union becomes ever more apparent. Many years ago we used to get Brian Rix on TV with Leo Franklyn, Larry Noble and the rest of the team from the Whitehall Theatre in uproarious farces that were hugely enjoyable. The great Euro Farce is bigger, repetitive, costly and much less enjoyable. I have long been of the view that if the European Union did not exist, we would not need to invent it. The whole thing is a bureaucratic monstrosity that needs to be put out of its misery so that Europe and the World can move on and try to rebuild the world economy.

But look what is happening. The politicians have been talking and talking about the problems of debt —in particular, Greek debt. Vast meetings of politicians, bureaucrats and media men get together over and over again to talk about something which is insoluble. It is a catastrophe, a debacle, a disaster, a mess, a flop. How many more nouns meaning catastrophe do we need to use before the message sinks in. Greece is not the only problem country but it is the worst at present. Last week after another marathon session, another bundle of sticking plaster was brought out to stick over the cracks and give more breathing space while EU leaders went round the world with the begging bowl to get someone to lend them more money. Why do so many politicians believe that borrowing more money is a means of getting out of debt? In this latest plan 50% of Greek debt would be written off — it should be noted that this would not be a default. A novel bit of thinking that but in the Euro zone such new speak is the norm. The reason they have decided this will not be allowed to be called a default is because they think this will avoid anyone having to pay out on CDS insurances against Greek debt — which could double the losses. Whether the losers will accept this is quite another matter. Greece would sign up to yet more austerity measures which would allow the EU, by some means or other, to lend them more money. This would not eliminate Greek debt. The economy would contract, the Greeks would have a torrid time for years to come and by 2020 they would still owe 120% of GDP. It is a non-plan. It is meaningless. It is absurd. The EU should start at once planning for the dismantling of the Euro and re-establishing national currencies. Money is the means by which we carry on day-to-day life and commercial exchange, but in Europe the Euro has become not a means of facilitating trade but an enterprise of itself. The cost in useless meetings alone is astronomical. Sooner rather than later the Euro will collapse. Greek is a small country with 0.16% of the world's population yet it is causing economic paralysis world-wide. After the politicians thought they had agreed another slight of hand that would help paper over the cracks yet again, the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Papandreou, announced to the world — without telling his Euro partners — that he was going to put the latest plan to the Greek people in a referendum. This caused shock and horror. The EU politicians do not like referendums because the people keep giving the wrong answers. The right thing to do is never, never ask the people to give their agreement on anything. At this moment it seems very likely that the Greek people bogged down with riots and unrest will say "No!" and then, not only will the latest rescue plan be dead, the Euro will be on life support — and more and more millions will be spent talking about it. If by some means or other the Greek problem is overcome, then the much bigger problems of indebted Spain and Italy will rear their ugly heads. And the latter country is run by a man who is incompetent, treated as a joke by other Euro leaders and is probably corrupt. Not a scenario for an easy solution to the insoluble.

As all this nonsense continues the pro-Europe lobby in the UK goes on and on about how important it is for us to be "at the heart of Europe." They are clearly deranged. Crackers!

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