Yet people still say the UK can thrive outside of the EU, negotiating our own deals with interventionist markets like the US and China. And India, of course. A newly liberated UK will be free to do it's own deals with Indian companies like, er, Tata Steel. Because of course they'll all rush to open their markets up to UK businesses once we're out of the major trading bloc on our own doorstep. Won't they?
Or stay in the EU where the "richest"* country...........Germany has zero tariff on its steel? The German KfW bank is state owned. This bank recently loaned $600m to build an American Steel Mill.............the machinery that this steel mill will use will be German made. Hmmmm. Howd that happen? *This is the same bank that hides fails to include 450bn Euros of Germany's national debt on it's balance sheet's liabilities. Something that every other country has to disclose and that Italy (who have a similar setup owning a bank that holds some of their national debt) has indeed been forced by the EU to disclose it. This is the same bank that borrowed a lot of the money (at a good low rate for Germany of course) to loan to Greece in the bailout at a much higher rate. Therefore the country that benefited from Europe writing off its debts all those years ago can't do the same for anyone else, and indeed makes a profit from it to boot!!. Inside or outside of the EU it will be a similar problem in regard to an American deal. The difference is that whilst in TTIP it will definitely not be weighted in our national interest because the Germans will want any trade deal whether it be TTIP or something else (should a miracle happen and the EU not just blag it through) to favour their exports and as we know they have much more power within the EU than we do. Also since France is nearly bankrupt Germany have them by the wotsits too. FYI Germany and France's governing parties are against TTIP. Cameron and Osborne are in favour of it even though they sometimes often pay lip service to the worriers. I would think people from Southampton would know Osborne is well and truly under the EU virus seeing as he was a governor of the European Investment Bank that approved the £80m 2% interest loan to Ford Turkey to fund the factory that they took the Transit to!!! If anything we could talk about Lakshmi Mittal who has been very vocal in favour of this high US tariff for China and he is in charge of some very big steel interests in the US. You might remember that name. He is the QPR co-owner. He is based in the UK BUT has a lot of business in Eastern Europe not in the UK. He just runs the business from the UK while its headquarters are in Luxembourg and his European mills in the poorer countries like Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Czech Republic.
Sorry mate, I'm baffled by all of that. Are you saying that Germany is somehow to blame for all the cheap steel the Chinese are dumping on the market?
No. China are to blame. America has put the tariffs there to stop their steel from being imported to their market. However they have increased the tariff on UK steel at the same time while the Germans have no tariff at all because their government bank has loaned the money to the US Steel company that is going to be buying a lot of German machinery. Basically they have struck their own deal here under the guise of a bank loan. That bank being government owned and which profits in many ways from the money it has lent to Greece. They give that company a better interest deal than the country they supposedly are trying to help stay afloat. Germany has already made more money than it lent Greece in the first place purely from those that have been scared into buying the 'safe German' Bonds. If Greece defaulted tomorrow Germany would already be £20bn or so in profit on that deal yet they insist Greece cuts further and Greece are going to need more money yet. Imagine the UK government buying the remainder of RBS so they own it all. Then rather than the government lending those that we want a favour from money at a favourable rate RBS lends the money instead. That bank if it we could get away with what Germany can) could then 'lend' the British Steel industry money and it wouldn't be seen as Government assistance. What I am saying is that while everybody warbles on about this lovely EU where everybody works together this is far from the truth. Germany is the only country that has any real influence and willfully breaks lots of EU rules that the EU makes every other country enforce including us. They are not pulled up on it because they are Germany. France is not happy about it however France is propped up by EU grants and without them they would go under. French farmer's are going bankrupt even though their Farmers get grants that are 3x as much as ours. Germany ignore the fact that we are this EU thingamy and supposed to be working together. We don't and can't get away with doing so, as we will find out if the government does try and help the Steel industry. If we were out of the EU we could loan companies money for favours too. We have about the same national debt as Germany when you work out how much will be paid back in interest although only slightly less per person. We have better growth though however fragile it is. But we won't do that kind of thing. So while we hear all about the UK's national debt which is costing £39bn a year in interest, no one mentions that the German's interest per year is also £39bn (which is about how much they earn from the Greece deal so Greece is paying Germany's national debt interest) because it is hidden as bank debt in a government bank that remains undisclosed as national debt because those 'bribes' and 'favours' are classed as bank loans to private companies and therefore nothing at all to do with government at all.......honest
So in other words, Germany interprets EU rules in the manner that best suits their own interests. As does France, and as should we. That's not, imo, an argument for getting out - that's an argument for ensuring that our own govt gets the best possible value out of our continued membership. And for continuing to act collectively with our European partners when striking trade deals with the rest of the world. Because a Europe acting collectively has far more clout than several countries acting individualy.
I was having a similar argument down the pub the other day with a mate who was insisting that Germany had achieved through the auspices of the EU what they failed to achieve in the Second World War. Apart from being completely bonkers as well as pissed, he was ignoring the fact that the benefits of our continuing membership of the EU far outweigh the problems. As an example, the Working Time Directive is one of the greatest things ever to happen to the working people of Europe, and that's just one thing.
A massive leak of confidential documents has for the first time exposed the true extent of corruption within the oil industry, implicating dozens of leading companies, bureaucrats and politicians in a sophisticated global web of bribery and graft. Western firms involved in Unaoil’s Middle East operation include some of the world’s wealthiest and most respected companies: Rolls-Royce and Petrofac from Britain; US companies FMC Technologies, Cameron and Weatherford; Italian giants Eni and Saipem; German companies MAN Turbo (now know as MAN Diesal & Turbo) and Siemens; Dutch firm SBM Offshore; and Indian giant Larsen & Toubro. They also show the offshore arm of Australian company Leighton Holdings was involved in serious, calculated corruption. Bankers in New York and London have facilitated Unaoil’s money laundering, while the Ahsanis have built a major property investment business in central London. Since 2007, Unaoil has been certified by anti-corruption agency Trace International. This in itself raises serious questions about the worth of such international accreditation. But for the western companies confronted with questions under anti foreign bribery laws in their own jurisdictions, Unaoil appears to be a reputable and discrete middle-man, giving listed businesses what is known as “plausible deniability”. http://www.theage.com.au/interactiv.../day-1/the-company-that-bribed-the-world.html More leaks to come: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_56fa2b06e4b014d3fe2408b9 This is huge.
Just for the record: There is no Eutopia* being in the EU - there is a long list of pros and cons There is no Eutopia* in being out of the EU - there is a long list of pros and cons. * Yes, I know. Cool isn't it?
It was revealed in a government survey published today that the Prime Minister is doing the work of two men. Laurel and Hardy. Ronnie Corbett.
The working time directive is great for some people however if you get a job that is in a factory you will have a piece of paper wafted in front of your nose which is an opt out. You have to sign it. You can refuse of course but you will quickly find that your every action is being watched for reasons to take you through the disciplinary process. As most of those low paid jobs these days are through agencies (not many British unless you are lucky to be treated as an equal to EU migrants) then you take whatever hours you are given or you won't be on the needed list tomorrow. Compulsory overtime is illegal of course however it is very alive. It is called overtime with reasonable notice. An hour or 2 before the end of the working day is considered reasonable and how are you going to get home from the middle of the countryside when the transport has been rearranged for 2 hours later? If you ask most Europeans that are in the UK they are not bothered by the working time directive. Most of them want as many hours as possible. 70 hours is not a problem because that is 70 hours money. When it was all Brits we were the same. Half of the workforce would happily do 70 hours. I regularly worked my 5 days including the 2 hours extra each day and then worked Saturday and Sunday which were 10 hours shifts too. Those who didn't want to work the weekends as overtime would have no problems but if you tried to get out of 'reasonable notice' overtime you were in trouble. Also part of the contract was that there was no such thing as a bank holiday including Boxing day. You got 6 days added to your 20 days holiday but if you wanted the bank holiday off work you had to book it off as a holiday. Of course they were pre booked by management favourites on the 1st January. The rest of the Mums had to sort babysitters out because you can't have every Mum off when it is a normal working day. Of the big 2 you could choose to work either Christmas day or New Years day. You could not have both off. If you didn't turn in for the day you had selected (or been selected for) you would be disciplined. I worked Christmas day 4 years out of my 5.
What you are failing to point out is the disempowerment of the unions which has been happening for the last 35 years in this country. That's the problem with the scenario you describe, not legislation like the WTD.
It is a power struggle. The KfW came into being as a mechanism to help Germany rebuild and restructure after the war. It is now an instrument for creative accounting and the Germans use it to make their national debt look superb when in fact it is just as bad as the rest of Europe (excluding Greece.) When the EU idea started (EEC) the French were the powerful ones. The common agricultural Policy (CAP) was over 70% of the EU expenditure even up to 1980. It was initially basically a trade off between France and Germany. Germany would get access France were the biggest recipient by a long margin and it was basically an exchange between Germany and France where in return for Germany having access to the French market to sell their industry they would pay the French farmers. France are still the largest recipients receiving 17% of the total CAP which accounts these days for just under 40% of total EU expenditure. Problem is that since the Common market turned into the EEC turned into the EU the idea has changed without rethinking the original plan. Each treaty change is just a rehash of the old rules to try and make the new aims appear achievable however when each country tries to cling onto the part that they want without assessing the whole package then it fails each time. For example where the original treaty was a tit for tat between France and Germany with some appeasement thrown in for the other 4 (Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) also remember at this time Germany was still split so we are talking a deal between West Germany and France. Germany could sell their stuff in return for West German support for France's farmers. Since then the EU has had to continue with this initial policy even though it is pretty much unfit for purpose now as there are so many more countries in there and while France still gets the biggest percentage of the CAP they are now net contributors. Germany has become one since then and is now a much bigger beast. All the other countries qualify for a share of that agricultural pie so what was once a tit for tat deal is now a noose around France's neck. France's farmers may get 3x the amount British farmers do but many are very near to bankruptcy. What used to feed the French economy is now basically a rebate from France's contributions and while France teeters on the brink of bankruptcy with debt being over 97% of GDP it is in effect funding the poorer countries of Europe. France's weakening has meant Germany has even more power. Compare the defecit to GDP ratio of the big 3: France 97.22% UK 82.86% Germany 73.43% (probably closer to 90% when you add in the KfW bank's (honestly not) national debt. The UK's debt to deficit GDP ratio is actually fairly normal, much better than France, and likely better than Germany. 1.5 trillion is a scary amount but our GDP is 1.8 trillion. There are countries that are considered poor but getting a lot of EU money like Latvia that only have a deficit to GDP ratio of 36% and Poland 51%. They are borrowing less than us because we are funding them. If we didn't fund them they would most likely have deficits similar to the big 3. To bring things into perspective the USA is 106.3% and Japan is 217.21% Only China has a lower deficit to GDP ratio than us out of the top 6 economies. The problem is that while the rules are the same for every country they are applied and enforced differently not just by Germany and France but also by the EU Commission. Germany made rules on maximum deficits to implement automatic sanctions for transgressors way back because everybody should be sensible and practical like them and who were the first to break the rules? Germany and France and what happened? The EU decided not to do anything to Germany and France. They didn't make the same decision for Greece though. Wonder why? More on KfW and the German way within the EU can be found here. Would take a lot more typing for me and this is already a long post: The fiscal role of the KfW: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=26324 Germany’s serial breaches of Eurozone rules: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=30887 So in short yes France and Germany do flout the rules. Germany thinks it runs Europe and France's only leverage is that it will vote against the Germans if it doesn't get its own way. Germany wanted to hit Greece harder, France want Germany to write off some of the debt. What you see in Greece is actually a compromise. The other countries don't have much say at all. If they want the money then they have to agree with what Germany (with French agreement) says. One example is the refugee crisis. Merkel made a statement that all refugees were welcome in Europe as if she were the EU spokesperson and it had all been agreed when of course it hadn't. You then had the EU announce they would agree quotas for each country and a lot of nations said No. Less than a week later the Nos were addressed. EU grants are leverage and the Germans threaten with that leverage. You also have to remember that 5 countries are cap in hand to the EU because of bailouts. Portugal's president even denied a coalition that formed after Portugal's last election the right to govern because they would be a threat to the austerity demanded by the Germans via the EU. So the motion was passed and quotas forced on those who are net receivers from the EU. What Germany says goes after they have got France to agree. While at the moment the UK has said that we will not take a quota mandated from the EU and we will take what we want on our terms we have heard that before. Cameron and Osborne proudly announced that we would not be contributing to bailouts.......but we did. Cameron vehemently stated we would not be giving the EU the extra 2bn when our economy came out of the recession much better than the rest of the EU........but we did. A lot of words but for all the money we put in we don't have the balls to fight the ECJ over implementation or no implementation of EU rules and directives. We just apply them. I fully expect that the vote for prisoners issue will be back on the table if we vote to remain.
The unions weren't interested and they aren't now. They were there, they had their representatives but the knew the score and did nothing to help us. The only thing we ever got from them was a policy where once you worked there for 5 years you got an extra days holiday and then after 10 another and for every 10 after that another. All they did when the Brits were being kicked out was promote themselves like crazy with posters and flyers in Portuguese, Polish and Russian. The whole industry is the same and if the unions really wanted a battle they could tackle it but they aren't bothered. illegal compulsory overtime is still in place and agency workers know they have to do what is asked or they won't get the hours. It is illegal to discriminate by advertising 'Polish workers only' but it still goes on and when they get caught out they just say it was a mistake and get away with it. Agencies are not allowed to only take on migrants and not British but they do and get away with it. These laws have been in place for over a decade. The Equality and diversity Ethics comittee do their annual report every year detailing that it is still going on yet nothing is done. The Unions will make a stand every now and again for something small like a 1% payrise just to make out they are worthy of their place. It isn't newsworthy like doctors and nurses so they don't bother. Greencore opened a new factory in Northampton last year and then went to Hungary to get employees. When questioned they stated that locals and Brits were not willing to do the work. This was weeks after a different sandwich maker had closed in the area. This article is a mirror of when I worked in the factories with the bullying, disciplining for nothing and agency workers not saying anything for fear of losing work. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/supermarket-sandwich-company-snubbed-brits-4635564 Next's big distribution centre in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire. Again they state they can't get British workers and hire through an agency in Poland that buses the workers to the UK. They also say that Brits won't travel to the factory however the Poles are bused in from miles away. When it was asked why it doesn't advertise in the UK they said they did but they advertised in Poland first because it takes more time to take on workers from abroad. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...orkers-staff-warehouse-area-200-000-dole.html These 2 are from 2014 and 2015. I last worked in the factories in 2005. Nothing has changed in a decade. This article addresses how small towns and villages are overloaded by migrants who are exploited by agencies and gangmasters. This is from last year. My wife of 10 years originally cam over in this way sharing a room with 8 people living in a 3 bed house for £60 a year. This problem is getting worse as it was slum living back then but these days can get very nasty and violent. She had one of those 'alpha males' in her house who was basically the one that was the spokesman for the workers if any authorities came knocking. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-workers-exploited-gangmasters-eastern-europe The unions are not interested in doing anything about this. They are just interested in getting more migrant members.
co-incidence. I bought a new 70s kenwood turntable 2 weeks ago and am veneering the plinth. Lovely sound to it. Ortofon FF15XE cart and stylus. The first record I bought for testing (I sold my whole vinyl collection in the mid nineties) was Fade to Grey. Sounds awesome.
