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The analysis of the atricle is correct: the eurozone is heading to a collapse. Unlike expectations, it will happen slowly, over a long period of time provided it all stays the same. First Spain needs to become the next Cyprus (with the difference that housing bubble will replace the banking one). Bail out Spain and empoverish the North again. Then Italy will become Greece (pattern is very similar). Bail out Italy and whole Europe will reach the current economic level of Bulgaria.
After 20 more years, leaders, economists and voters will be constraint to lead the project towards a smooth end.
By that time, there is no responsibility to bear, which is extremely convenient.
The alternative: lead the eurozone NOW to a smooth desintegration is on nobody's lips...
Except that there is no bailout of Italy mooted. Rome is the third largest contributor to the bailouts.
Oops! That's egg on your face, eh?
Well, the politicians are sleepwalking, because they already know that's best what they can do. Euro is hooked up to IV for maybe 2 years already, it's just not visible yet. ECB kept it alive (just barely) by fiscal operations but this can't be done forever.
The problem is not financial crisis, the problem is massive difference in competitiveness north vs south and only way how to fix that is through prices. Simply put, South is too expensive or North is too cheap. This was created by credit bubble in the South, but it doesn't matter anymore since it's problem of all of us now.
You can't make south less expensive otherwise than through massive austerity programs, but those will probably destroy the very fabric of society there.
You can inflate North, but that would mean massive inflation for prolonged period of time. Are the Germans or Dutch ready to lose some 20 - 30 or more percent of their wealth through inflation just to come to same uncompetitive level as the South? I doubt that.
But that's it. There's no other option.
By saying that some pro-growth policy can help us, we're only lying to ourselves.
Besides difference in competitiveness, there is also a huge difference in productivity. Provided the ECB will print Italy's and Spain's way out of debt and provided that France will have its way by 'investing in growth and boost" (whatever it may mean. Other than: have the Germans pay for our wellfare"), the difference in productivity will show up again and again.
As to the destruction of the social fabric, this is happening heavily in the North as well as austerity programs point to social groups in order to justify draconinc measures. In Holland no politician talks about the real burden which smothers this nation: the eurozone. We are cutting costs because there are too many elderly (they are thus the problem) too few working women (there you have another perpetrator), too many migrants (good old recipe), and I could go on for ever.
The Eurozone already destroys the social fabric in a high pace.
But the same as communism, EUSSR will not break away overnight. There are still many years of top down imposed egalitarianism to come, untill it really bursts.
Well, I agree with most what you say, except the part about productivity. I'd say, it's debatable whether it's cause or consequence. That's not the point when you're only describing current situation - correct, but when you're looking for solution, it's important.
I don't think southern countries are inherently less productive than north - I think that extensive welfare state just took away any incentive to be as productive as such.
I have experience with this first hand, being from communist eastern Europe (or Central, pardon me:)- this was the same case. There was no incentive for being productive so everything lagged. Once communism went away, productivity shoot up like rocket...
Except that the ECB is not "printing" anybody's way out of crisis.
Why don't you start worrying about your country - the Netherlands - that is unable to get under Maastricht's 3% deficit ceiling? And, falling further into recession...
Check the OECD website before you post. Productivity is higher in France than Germany.
In my opinion the Italian low productivity is both cause and consequnce. It is the main cause of declining competitivity. The cost of labour in Italy is simply to high for its output.
Low productivity is also a consequence of lacking investment in r&d, which at its turn does not help the economy to grow.
I did not say that the southern countries are "inherently" unproductive. That Italy has one of the lowest productivity rates in the world is a fact. The type of economy Italy is has also a share in this story (more manufacturing and agriculture than services).
I see no correlation (let alone causal effect) between welfare and productivity. Countries with traditional strong wellfare systems (North-European mostly) have also higher rates of productivity (again, also thanks to the structure of the economy) and lower unemployment rates than the Southern countries. If you want to find a correlation, I see it rather in the terms of wealth produced in the real economy (-> productivity, low unemplyment) which is redistributed (->healthcare, disability benefits, etc).
The problem with the south is that they created equally expensive wellfare systems which are not born by real economy, but by debt.(138% of the GDP in Italy).
The "communist incentive" you refer to is exactly what the European project is about: does not matter if you produce and save (Germany) or are improductive and spend like there is no tomorrow (Italy) we want everybody to have the same. One size fits all. I more than agree, this does not work and will not work. Each and every good thinking German or Dutch should migrate to the sun and wait for the idiots in the North to pay for his or her pension, healthcare, etc...EUSSR!
Elsewhere in the Anglo-saxon world people are changing their point of view wrt the survival of the euro and the euro zone. Let's give the editors of TE some more time before they too realize that.
"The chief executive of Goldman Sachs (GS), Lloyd Blankfein, is confident the euro will survive despite the debt crisis, he said in an interview with newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
"The risk that euro will break apart or that individual members are headed for bankruptcy was substantially higher a year ago," he said. There is clear political commitment to the euro zone and the euro, which forms the basis for solving economic problems over time, the newspaper quoted Mr. Blankfein as saying.
"Americans have a history of underestimating the political will of the Europeans to see through the successful creation of a United Europe. I'm not going to make the same mistake."
Germany is doing to Europe today what it failed to do during World War II.
You are right. During WW II Germany failed to be supportive, compassionate and showing solidarity with her European neighbours.
Today, this is completely different: without German taxpayer's support, some nation states and their finance industry would be openly bankrupt. And without Germany's companies buying huge amounts of pre-products from other European economies, these bankruptcies would be even deeper, and even more people unemployed.
Yes, it is high on time the rest of Europe starts to thank Germany for her huge support instead of blaming her for not giving each, everything and more.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I did not know you were capable of such an ironical tone. Thank you for denouncing how Germany profits from the misery of others.
Don't attribute to misery what can be perfectly well explained with stupidity.
Germanys borrowing in the Euro Zone's one size fits all economy circa .05 %. France circa 1.2% . Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland ,Cyprus, Portugal etc. between 5% and 6% now that's what I call a level playing field and the opportunity for all to share in equality. One currency one rate of exchanger . Even the thought of it would give the munificent Merkel a heart attack. On behalf of the Brits gee thanks Germany, you stupid prats for the getting up the nose of the Chinese government with the EZ contrived 47% import solar panel tax to save the German bankrupt SP industry. Although the UK is not part of the corrupt pit that is the Euro zone as by association we will get hit by any reprisal forthcoming from the Chinese. O yea and thanks for the 11 euro zone driven bill to the golden tough gobbling bandits in Brussels in respect of a financial transaction tax intended to build up a slush/ bail out fund for Eurozone countries. This tax to be imposed on all 27 members of the EU and not just the recession sinking 17 EZ countries is a real thing of beauty. In this brilliant con one non EZ country will contribute as much as the other 26 countries put together and that would be the British who are expected to charge American, Japanese, Chinese, South American, Australian financial institutions to bail out a Franco/ German EZ bail out scam that would be worth of a MAFIA heist. You must think the Brits are Morons. Over 60% of the British electorate want you to stick your EU where the sun don/t shine and we will be off taking our billion with us very soon.
Germanys borrowing in the Euro Zone's one size fits all economy circa .05 %. France circa 1.2% . Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland ,Cyprus, Portugal etc. between 5% and 6% now that's what I call a level playing field and the opportunity for all to share in equality. One currency one rate of exchanger . Even the thought of it would give the munificent Merkel a heart attack. On behalf of the Brits gee thanks Germany for the getting up the nose of the Chinese government with the EZ contrived 47% import solar panel tax to save the German bankrupt SP industry. Although the UK is not part of the corrupt pit that is the Euro zone as by association we will get hit by any reprisal forthcoming from the Chinese. O yea and thanks for the 11 euro zone driven bill to the golden tough gobblers in Brussels in respect of a financial transaction tax intended to build up a slush/ bail out fund for Eurozone countries. This tax to be imposed on all 27 members of the EU and not just the recession sinking 17 EZ countries is a real thing of beauty. In this brilliant con one non EZ country will contribute as much as the other 26 countries put together and that would be the British who are expected to charge American, Japanese, Chinese, South American, Australian financial institutions to bail out a Franco/ German EZ bail out scam that would be worth of a heist. You must think the Brits are idiots. Over 60% of the British electorate want you to stick your EU where the sun don/t shine and we will be off taking our billion with us very soon.
A small correction concerning Greece. Public opinion as measured by the polls show that the figure in favour of staying in the Euro is no longer 70%, but 60% (from a high of 80% something) and falling. Furthermore, one of the reasons for this is 'terror' "if we leave the Euro we will die of hunger and cold!". However, the in out of the Euro question which was taboo is now beginning to open up and be discussed publicly. Since the stringent austerity policy is not planned to ease over the next decade or so,a policy that has caused the collapse of the Greek economy with no hope of any kind of recovery in sight, I don't see enthusiasm for the Euro lasting more than about a year. If that.
Parina Stiakaki
1 Praxitelous St.
14563 Athens
Don't exaggerate - things are bad enough as it is.
It is not true that the "stringent austerity policy is not planned to ease".
Greece had a deficit of 16% a few years - which was hidden by the government from its European partners and from its own citizens. "Austerity" was not the point in that context. It was a question of reining in deficits completely out of control.
It is believed the Greek deficit will be 4.3% this year.
If by next year Athens will achieve a deficit below the Maastricht 3% level, then much will change in the Greek economy - and by the second half of next year there will be renewed growth.
As bad as the news is in our economies, it is also exaggerated by a series of factors. Our economies will also take off very strongly however after the storm has passed.
In the meantime, may I suggest that continuing to purchase German cars is suicide for all of southern Europe?
Well I fully agree with your last comment. The purchase of German cars being suicidal. As to the rest, I do so wish I could agree. But actually, the overall deficit will not be 4.3% this year and as for going under 3% under a regime of growing unemployment and continual recession... well, it has to be seen to be believed. But in any case, projections including bank recapitalisation tend to raise the deficit far higher.
However, I think you miss the main point. Indeed, the deficit has been cut by so much through extreme over taxation and savage cuts in spending (not to mention a halt in all payments owed by the government domestically, some 8 bn still). Okay. But the taxation, at least, is not sustainable. Already the taxes owed but which people are unable to pay rather than unwilling are growing.You cannot milk a dead cow.
Furthermore the savage cuts in spending, particularly of public works, combined with the exorbitant taxation is what has lead to this continuing depression and growing numbers of unemployed.
If the policy is not changed drastically, along economically sensible lines rather than Lutheran ones, I see no possibility for anything like a recovery even only total collapse.
You say "Our economies will also take off very strongly however after the storm has passed." and I fully agree with that too. Only we appear to have different perceptions of what when the "storm" has passed means. For me it is a complete about turn of economic policy and whether we like it or not, exit from the Euro.
No, I do not miss the main point - the dynamic you describe is all-too-well-known to us here in Italy.
Our macroeconomic results for the moment - aside from another mild recession again this year (1.3%?) - are not disastrous. But Rome fiddles while the rest of the country understands very well that these levels of taxation (and fines) are completely unsustainable. Yesterday it was announced that the parastatal tax collection agency will no longer be able to issue distraints on homes.
And yet, Italy's problems would be over if we were to adopt Greek-style cuts in our excessive pension amounts going to the "Golden Pensioners" - which of course the political class has no intention of doing. Do you know there is one man in Milan who collects €90,000 per month public pension? And half a million who collect from 3000 to 90,000 monthly, being mostly ex-politicians and political appointees.
I think Greece has been treated savagely. I agree with austerity and Hellas remaining in the Euro. What I cannot stomach are Maastricht rules that forbid assistance from one country to another. What is the point of Regional Development assistance going to private individuals in the Greek case? Certainly using those funds for macroeconomic stabilisation would be much more useful - not to mention assistance to those who need it most.
The problem is not the rigidities of the Euro - it is the rigidities imposed upon the ECB by the Germans - who count their pfennigs even as tens and even hundreds of billions are being lost.
I fear this is going to end badly - in war.
"But German reluctance either to lead or to pay for the rest of Europe runs deeper than that"
When will TE finally get the simple facts that Germany
a) is by law not allowed to pay for the follies of other nations (and their finance industries)
b) even if she would be allowed, she is not willing to pay
c) can't foot all the bills anyway
I don't know Economist.
Your gloomy analysis about the EU's situation might be thoroughly correct but... how many times did you label the EU as hopelessly doomed? How many times did you chant the death of EU and Euro on your cover page?
(Roughly, as many times as you did announce the imminent crash of Italy. I can't even count how many lines you did waste on it. Italy keeps joyfully sinking into the mud, but it hasn't crashed yet. According to your Articles, it makes no sense: so what?).
The point is, dear Economist, no offense, but I don't think you should talk about the EU and the Euro. You don't care about them, you'd raise your glass if they seriously crashed (as much as you blithely cheered when France and Holland killed the Constitution in 2005).
In simple words: you are, in my opinion, incapable to make any objective analysis. You're hopelessly prejudiced and helplessly preconceived.
Let those who rationally care about Europe do the talking.
If someone needed the other point of view, there's always Bild.
It sounds like to me in a nutshell the Economist is giving out the following recipe for Euro's aliment:
1. To sever the ties between banks and governments too feeble to support them --- Never mind that the US banks survived precisely because of massive bailout funding from the US government in the 2008 financial meltdown? And Euro zone does have a European Central Bank (ECB).
2. It should pursue a free-trade agreement on offer from the United States, its biggest trading partner --- Nice and what about another free-trade agreement with China, its second biggest trading partner? And with India?.
3. To get rid of the idea of Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), who promised to "do whatever it takes" to protect the euro zone from collapse --- Isn't he doing what the US Federal Reserve Bank has been doing for the US dollar? Why should he be any different for Euro?
4. Or better yet, to abandon or abolish Euro zone altogether, like "I have told you so" --- Ah, that seems to be the message.
No, there is fundamental difference between what FED is doing and what ECB was doing and now ESM is doing. And that is, that US government bonds are still worth something on the open market. Greek are not.
The euro crisis. The sleepwalkers. Estranged bedfellows who never have problems with each other but …. The German and Dutch had a meeting this week like no other, each government took the whole cabinet and meet on the German Dutch border to have a chat. Erroneous!
The Euro is doomed to fail because Europeans don't like – or trust - each other enough to make a proper currency union work.
It's that simple.
Everything we have seen over the past few years has confirmed it.
Europeans don't trust each other, even if they do like each other is correct.
Yet they were never meant to trust each other, just each live within their means, as outlined in the European Treaty (No bailout clause, subsidiarity, 60%/3% etc.) which was breached by all, starting with Germany and France.
Self-interest not trust was supposed to be the prime motivator of Euro membership, still is. And self-interest is what will see the Eurozone through the so-called crisis. See anybody of the GIPS wanting to leave the EZ? No. Why? Out of self-interest. Back in their old currencies chances are they will fall back to the position they held back in their old currency. They may not have been in debt but their infra structure and life style was that of the second or third world.
Does Germany want to leave? No. Why? Out of self interest. Too much money sunk into the GIPS to walk away from their debt to Germany. Makes sense, does it not?
The only country which might be tempted to leave the EZ out of self-interest might be France, if it looks at its predicament in a superficial way. Tied to Germany it has to play second fiddle. Back in the Franc it could devalue and flourish through exporting more, beggar thy neighbour style? On closer examination this does stand up to scrutiny, since doing this single handedly will lead to isolation and boycott by the rest, unless they also go back to their own currencies and do the same, which they clearly do not want to do.
So self-interest is our friend. Romantic notions of solidarity are for romantics. Politics is about reality.
Hi Pumpy,
I think your considerations are valid for good times. In bad times - meaning those once-in-a-century Depressions that derive from America's Cowboy Capitalism of spectacular booms and busts, a degree of solidarity is required - and not just as a romantic idyll.
We share citizenship, a Brussels budget, defence production and deployments, open borders, open labour markets, air space and transports, harmonised legal systems, health care from one country to another, university exchanges, regional development aid, energy infrastructure, common strategic challenges deriving from Russia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and the list goes on...
At that point, pretending that any of our countries can hide behind monetary nationalism or beggar-thy-neighbour trade policies is suicidal. I would cite the Czech Republic, for example, as one country that maintains the illusion of an independent currency despite the truth that they may as well print Masaryk's face on a Euro, because they have no real monetary autonomy from the Euro-zone.
These pretenses, mostly from a newly-reunified Germany with its (increasingly less) sublimated Nationalism, transforms the Euro-zone into an open target for international speculators - particularly coming from the English-speaking world.
Thanks to the lack of a UNITED currency zone, for example, yields on Italian bonds have oscillated wildly from 50 basis points over German bunds to 500 b.p. back down to the current 260 b.p. over the last 4-5 years. A ludicrous "evaluation" by the market of our all-too-stable economic system. This over a period when our deficits were:
2009 5.3%
2010 4.6%
2011 3.9%
2012 3.0%
Steady progress that was too slow, to be sure, but would have been quicker without the extra, useless, interest rates paid from speculation.
Thanks to action by the Bank of Japan, and based upon the first quarter of 2013, it is estimated our Republic will now pay at least 0.5% of gdp lower interest expense over last year. I have no doubt at all that without this speculation Italy would have also achieved a near-balanced budget this year as Germany has done.
Germany is playing unfairly, by collaborating with Anglo-Saxon market speculators against its Euro-zone partners, and profiting from the misery of others.
This was the same dynamic Rome saw in 1992/1993 when Helmut Schlesinger conspired against the Lira together with George Soros. Memories are long at the Bank of Italy. That incident, which spilled over to the attack on the Pound Sterling, convinced British monetary authorities at the time, if they had had any doubts, to avoid any union with German monetary authorities.
"The fish stinks from its head" and the Euro-zone crisis does not derive from southern Europe (a phrase which means nothing in any case) - it derives from Berlin.
Too true, self-interest will rule - like the ring to rule them all.....
[Still searching for a non-derogatory, apt and spot on term to distinguish Germany et al from Italy, France, Spain - suggestions welcome, will use core/periph for the time being]
I just wonder where the urge of self-preservation will kick in first - in the core, because eventually it has to write off all the existing debt, never mind the one accumulating now.
Or the periph, which is currently better off with maintaining the euro, as long as the core is extending its credit card?
Currently everybody is holding their breath, as the core is limiting the amount of transfers with "we cannot till after the German election", but afterwards....
You are daydreaming if you think there is any way the periph will keep the euro without banking union, Eurobonds (or any other form of joint liability), basically without more or less unlimited access to the core's credit card.
Self-interest will prevail. Question is whose and when? According to your logic, the core has to move, because they loose more with every day. Will they choose prolonged agony or the end with a short and sharp shock?
One wonders.
Hello Joe,
As is your habit, you are telling porkies about the 1992 sterling/lira situation but I shall let Josh or one of his monikers to kick a** with you,
as he does it so much better.
The Brits joined EMU 1991 at the wrong rate (2.95DM) against Germany's better advice. The correct rate they should have used when joining as advised by the Germans was 2.45DM. When the markets went for their jugular they expected Germany to defend the pound. The Germans said "told you so" and let Soros, the grim ripper, do what a Soros will do. Today the British are grateful to the man for having "saved them from the clutches of EMU and later the Euro", even though their subsequent recovery was entirely due to their oil.
I am not so familiar with the Italian story but assume that it must have been running along similar lines: joined at too high a Lira rate, got corrected by the markets. Germany then rescued only the French from the vultures, since it could not have rescued two or even three candidates who all, conceited and greedy, joined EMU at too high a rate.
Time we turned tables and demanded the Italians, Spaniards, French - all much richer on average than German households - to do the honourable thing and share their wealth with the poorer Germans.
Finito la musica!
The Eurozone will stick together out of self-preservation. Assuming none of the big countries does leave (probable, because it would be suicidal) then Target2 can go on forever and eventually over the next 20, 30 years, will be resolved in Euroland's organic growing together into a true Federation. Core creditors will be able to "launder" the debts they are holding by selling them to USA, China, Russia, all holding big sticks, at a discount, if they should be nervous about not being able to enforce it, should the situation demand.
If you really need to commiserate or worry in earnest maybe you should consider doing it nearer to home, where, as we say in Germany, die Kacke ist wirklich am dampfen but thank you, anyway, for your kind advice and consideration.
@ Joe
"That incident, which spilled over to the attack on the Pound Sterling, convinced British monetary authorities at the time, if they had had any doubts, to avoid any union with German monetary authorities".
By all accounts, John Major, that forgotten Prime Minister wedged between his more charismatic predecessor and successor, Thatcher and Blair, was a decent and honourable man. What's more he was a committed European, determined that Britain should eventually join the €. Wasn't his slogan "putting Britain at the heart of Europe", as he regularly told the country that the UK was 'shadowing the D Mark' with the eventual goal of EMU? He also had full Labour Party support.
This has now been forgotten.
These were the days of Mitterrand/Kohl, remember? No one else mattered to the Germans but the French, proof of this being that when there was run on the franc later that autumn, the French got the full German support that Britain didn't.
It has nothing to do with the "sterling/DM exchange rate".Kohl just didn't want the UK in EMU.
This was the lesson for Britain from the Sep 1992 crisis, the only occasion the country needed help for its then pro-EMU government.
A mistake that will never be repeated.
So you opt for permanent gifts (target is only another name for it). Target will not be resolved over time, it will only get worse (more gifts, whatever the name will be, shared deposit scheme, may be?). Actually, the Spanish regulator found another pile of about EUR 200bn bad debt in the Spanish banks alone this week, estimates for the entire EZ are at around EUR 700bn.....
Last week, you said you were against transfer union, today you propose it. And before you have your beneign union, you will be at each others throats, fighting for the resources you are so keen to give away today.
Running out of arguments, or why are you digressing from the topic in question?
"As is your habit, you are telling porkies about the 1992 sterling/lira situation but I shall let Josh or one of his monikers to kick a** with you,"
Mr. "Joshua" is a hateful individual who speaks of "uncompetitive Greeks" when thousands are rummaging in dumpsters.
Apparently we will have to wait a bit longer to have the pleasure of seeing that phenomenon in Germany. And don't worry, it is coming - you Germans are digging your own graves, as usual.
2) No "porkie" - the story was related a few years later by Mr. Soros himself. Schlesinger pulled him aside at a banker's meeting and told him he "did not think Italy would make it into the first round of the Euro-zone." Soros explained that he caught the message - and went straight back to his office to organise the speculative attack - knowing that Italy's European "partner" was working against it. Otherwise, there was no attack upon the Lira - except for the one the Bundesbank organised.
We have seen this dynamic before in Germany - so please, continue defending Nationalist German institutions: we all know exactly how that finished twice before in the last century.
3) Average Italian households have more money than Germans because they have lived with more austerity. Remember the comparison between engine size over the last 60 years in our two countries?
And, most importantly, Italian cities were not razed to the ground like German cities - remember? Our capital city of Rome was not touched by a single bomber, remember? Of course we have had to spend less on housing over the last 60 years...
Europe today, and the Euro, is not about who is spending what on other countries. Italy is the third-largest net contributor - and the largest amount of monies are going to Central, not Southern Europe.
Europe today is about Germany refusing to pay its fair share and blocking the water supply to the firefighters as the house burns.
In the meantime, you Germans insult us because you are terrified of what would happen to your country if the conditions created by international speculation in the south were to reach Deutschland.
What would happen if German families were forced to wait six months to get paid?
What would happen to politics in Berlin if there were people rummaging for food in dumpsters in Germany? (Or more appropriately, what WILL happen?)
What would happen if German banks were made to pay for their manipulation of LIBOR, their crimes abroad in places like southeast Asia, their role as primary organiser of American toxic mortgage-backed security intermediation, etc. etc. - and there was no government bailout waiting for them - as Italian banks face today?
What would happen if German unemployment were to reach 27% as in Spain today?
What would happen if the Euro were to fail - and a trade war ensued, primarily against German exports?
The rest of Europe is inclined to seek compromise. Merkel's Germany has instead decided to pour petrol on the fire, despite all her rhetoric (diplomatic lies) to the contrary.
I know we disagree on many things. But you have my complete sympathy on this point. I agree with both the substance and the tone of your comment.
And you have my apologies, for what it's worth, about the whole Falklands War. I was unaware, before participating on these blogs, just how much that issue still burns in England.
In that case you did act in bad faith telling me Poland should asap enter the union with German monetary authorities. Remember, Joe? You even claimed that Warsaw's stance 'let's wait and see if EZ is even capable to sort out their mess' is 'arrogant'. Did you change your mind or you simply, poor uninformed Joe ;) cannot make your mind up? :)
You are as manipulative as sad H. zoster - though much more sympathetic, I have to admit - and the only difference is that at the end of your manipulations is strong EZ, and strong EU, a worthy aim, while at the end of H. zoster's manipulations is an extremely unbalanced Europe from Prussian and then nazi dream.
But are you sure exitus acta probat?
I remember John Major well as, yes, a most decent and honourable men, unlike his predecessor and successor BUT he should have listened to the Germanz when they warned him repeatedly to enter at a lower rate, exactly the rate the pound later devalued to.
Wer nicht hören will muss fühlen :-/
Move your a** over here to deal out some punishment to our Genoese friend. I am to tender hearted for this.
Yet he deserves it. When Joe starts to apologize to the Perfidious Brits we know he is ripe for a duck shoot.
Who is this H. zoster? Any chance he could come over for a pub brawl, forlana? Need to take the doggies walking to one of the mills, where we will have a beer and return to the blog. Get zoster.
When it comes to the future imposition of the € on less than enthusiastic populations, then "exitus acta probat" will be a guiding policy of these countries' leaders, as we shall see with Poland and the Baltic states.
The fact remains that if there were other large countries within the Euro - and especially the UK, there would have been more credible support within the ECB to tell the Germans to take a hike.
Warsaw has had a good run over the last 4-5 years because the zloty was strongly devalued. But that is a short-term solution that causes other long-term problems, such as lack of investment in R&D.
I am not saying to Junoir that I agree with the UK out of the Euro. I agree that London was treated badly on several critical occasions (the Falkands War was one of them). There was no issue about the Lira or the Pound Sterling being too strong. There was simply a speculative attack organised against us.
Remember, the Germans are the most hypocritical people on the planet - convinced they do nothing wrong even as they send millions to the gas chambers.
Now you are going a bit too far, Joe. This is a very nasty remark. Are you drunk?
"There was no issue about the Lira or the Pound Sterling being too strong".
No, of course not. It was a purely political decision on the part of Germany. Soros was just the executioner.
When the franc came under attack, the result was the 'Brussels Compromise' of August 1993 which widened the EMS band to 15%, thus enabling the French to say in the system.
I will remember, Joe, thanks for the warning.
So - should we enter EZ right now or wait until you kick them out and the non-hypocritical Franco-Italian Eurozone will be in operation?
What will be those ignoble policies I fear to even imagine, Junoir. But ost of all - I cannot imagine who will be those leaders by that time.
France wouldn't be isolated if she left the euro, au contraire we could reforge our old alliance with China, Russia, the US, UK...
as we are playing on the same geopolitical yard
@ Pumpernickel (1/2):
Move your a** over here to deal out some punishment to our Genoese friend."
No way, big P. When someone allows himself to sink so low, I lose interest. Self-abasement is such a pitiful sight. He'll recover, though. We've seen this play out before, haven't we?
@ Pumpernickel (2/2):
Instead (and even though you keep repeating the same tired joke at least twice a day), I'll save your day by quoting your friend Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldmann Sachs, who's just said, in an interview with DIE WELT (below, in english language):
"Of course I believe in the euro."
And he continued:
"Naturally, we are looking at a very difficult situation. But the euro has always been a political project, and that remains intact. Americans have a history of underestimating the political will of the Europeans to see through the successful creation of a United Europe. I'm not going to make the same mistake."
Amazing, isn't it? Message from the heart of darkness: the euro won't die. So we can all just drop it, and Joe may go forth and multiply. I mean, literally: It's about time for a man his age, even if Italian mothers tell their daughters not to have babies, ever, as he keeps reminding us. (The Vatican and Angela Merkel must be behind this, too.) LOL
I simply do not buy it when you say that Germany deliberately worked against British interests when not coming to the rescue of the pound on Black Wednesday. In which way would that have been in the German interest? Give me one coherent reason for this?? It is BS, junoir, blinkered BS.
To kick the a** of the undeserving, fickle, treacherous, turncoat Italians would have made sense. They fully deserve it every time but WHY on earth would we want to harm British interests??
No, it is as I told you before. The British rate of entry was not defensible. The error was yours and yours alone. You did not adhere to the very well meaning German advice to enter at a lower rate. You screwed up and expected Germany to bail you out.
Well, tough!
I've been asking myself this question myself more than once - an affirmative answer would explain the emotional hiccups (so to speak) that occur in quite regular intervals, interrupted by - fortunately still extended - "lucid moments". Let him get sober, and we'll be talking.
Other than that, if someone plays the nazi card, I'm simply switching off. I mean, what the heck ... .
A union of the peoples of the continent known as Europe is as improbable as that of China, Korea, India and Japan of the Asian continent.
@ Josh
"Message from the heart of darknes: the euro won't die".
Blankfein didn't say that. What he said, according to your quote, was:
"Americans have a history of underestimating the political will of the Europeans to see through the successful creation of a United Europe".
IOW, he said nothing about its succeeding in the long run (as it has never succeeded in the past) nor that the € was here to stay.
China, Russia, the UK, US and France in ONE alliance?
That means a LOT of protection for the sea lanes.
We should as Fifa and Emma.
@ Pumpernickel
Do you remember the events of the time? Kohl loathed Thatcher, who had only just left office, so decided, rightly or wrongly (that's not the issue here) that he didn't want the UK in the ERM. The fact that he was now dealing with a new, completely different PM with John Major cut no ice with him. He was VERY close to Mitterrand and for him this was all that mattered. It's not a question of wanting to 'harm British interests'. I never said that. It was a question of Britain not being a priority for Germany at the time.
I have never heard of the Germans "warning" Major that DM 2.85 was too high a rate to enter. The £ after all, floated up to over DM3 at one point, so who was to know, until the £ crashed out of the ERM, that the initial rate had been set too high?
I repeat, the necessary effort was made by Germany when the franc, which was also overvalued, came under pressure a few months later.
Just before I retire. I was living in Germany at the time and remember reading the papers in this regard, as I was always interested in Britain, my second home.
There definitely were warnings that 2.95 was too high and 2.45 DM was the correct level.
Why on earth this was ignored I do not know. I only imagine that it was preferable to come in at a higher rate for whatever reason. To bail out the UK would simply have been too expensive.
You are right that Kohl detested Thatcher and for good reason. It was easy then for Mitterand to manipulate Kohl in his direction. Human nature.
Good night.
"I cannot imagine who will be those leaders by that time".
More of the same I should imagine, or probably worse.
My advice to the Poles over the next few years would be "Keep your wicks trimmed" (Matthew 25:8)
Not quite as radical as Viva's "Get yourself some nukes", but it's a less dramatic alternative.
nice, nice.
But you seem not that informed about the situation on the ground here if you think 'more of the same' is an alternative.
And most of all - even the shortest wicks won't make the lamps burn on Chinese water snake extract.
Or to put it in yet another way. It would not be that bad to keep the lamps burning on good, original American oil (which you seem to propose), though certainly not an ideal situation taking into account that they lost interest and forgot that America was born in the heads of Europeans, it is/used to be a vice-Europe in a way :)). In result they eg. seem to think Poland and Hungary still have a common border, and the like. But when that oil is increasingly diluted with Chinese water snake extract, to the degree that one cannot be sure if it is still genuine American oil under American supervision; and to add insult to injury, the salesmen of that snake oil have rapidly grown in number over the last years, one has to look for some real thing. Our fantastic, concurring sleepwalking brothers and sisters seemed a good alternative source of crystal clear, high quality oil for our lamps. And - there's a chance we could become the co-producer of that European-made, snake-extracts-traders-independent, high quality oil.
So, Junoir, I'd prefer to have real, own oil in the lamp, whatever the wick's length I'd then chose to light my way.
@ Pumpernickel
"You are right that Kohl detested Thatcher and for good reason".
I did make a point of saying that the 'reason' was not an issue here, not wishing to go there, but since you ignored this and claim that Kohl's loathing was with 'good reason', may I suggest that his objection to Thatcher was her opposition to German reunification?
The reasons she gave are well known, interpreted by the ill-willed and intellectually weak as 'Germanophobia', and turned out to be valid with time.
As we can see in Europe today.
Wow! I've really opened a can of worms there.
"Of course I believe in the euro."
Of course he does, and fervently – especially its defects:)
But only as a hedge for lots more looovely mooooon-naaayye !!
If he had his way he's talk it up so that it could limp along indefinitely:-))
A – ha – ha - ha– ha – ha - ha– ha – ha – ha !!
didn't you notice that they allways agree on the vital agendas?
um, not sure if Forlana understood your drift with "keep your wicks trimmed":)
"The Bundesbank, as an institution, has always opposed European monetary unification, except insofar as it meant the imposition of German economic philosophy on other countries. This attitude of monetary imperialism was summarised by a remark in nt Times obituary published for Richard Medley (the legendary hedge-fund consultant who was at the centre of the ERM breakup as George Soros's political consultant). Helmut Schlesinger, the Bundesbank president in 1992, was asked why he disliked the precursor of the Euro, which was called the Ecu. He replied, "I have nothing against the Ecu apart from its name—I think it should be called the Deutschemark".
Back in 1992, the Bundesbank encouraged Soros and other speculators to sell Sterling and the Italian Lira in order to break up the ERM. But the Bundesbank also discretely hinted that the French Franc should be supported because France was in a different category as a German ally from Italy, Britain and Spain. As Soros later said in an interview, also quoted in last week's obituary for Medley: "I felt safe betting with the Bundesbank. The Bundesbank clearly wanted the Pound and Lira devalued, but it was prepared to defend the French Franc. I did better than some others by sticking to the Bundesbank's side."
@ Junoir:
"I repeat, the necessary effort was made by Germany when the franc, which was also overvalued, came under pressure a few months later."
That is correct, and there was indeed an inconsistency with the cases of the UK and Italy.
But the Bundesbank was not to blame for it (it would have intervened in none of these cases) -- Helmut Kohl (a bulldozer if there ever was one) took the decision more or less all by himself, afaik, as he had already pressured the Bundesbank to intervene in the Franc's favor in 1982/3. For Kohl, the French-German alliance was sacrosanct, the Bundesbank Law was not.
Kohl went against the Bundesbank at three occassions: those two and when he had his finance minister announce the introduction of the DM in the then-GDR prior to unification without even consulting the Bundesbank, who was against such a move (which proves Joe's claim wrong that the bundesbankers are "nationalists": their religion is stability, not nation).
@ Josh
MC's link (8.10) tells us that it was the Bundesbank that made the decision not to support the £ and the lira. You say it was Kohl.
In either case, it amounts to a German political decision taken for the reasons I gave, i.e. a belief that the core F/G relationship was all that mattered.
"MC's link (8.10) tells us that it was the Bundesbank that made the decision not to support the £ and the lira. You say it was Kohl."
So the Düsseldorfer "EU"-churn has made a total @rse-hole of himself here too, has he?
He is still churning out the same old block-/muddle-headed diktats from the botosphere over at the DT at the end of the "Europe needs Britain, says ECB president Mario Draghi" blog despite 99.9% of bloggers telling Draghi and "Europe" (whatever that means – apparently something that wants yet more British money) to get stuffed .. as if anyone even *cared* what "Europe" needed.
Blockhead scapegoats with the usual:
"Europe needs Britain. Mr. Draghi is right.
Not so much because Britain is a net contributor to the EU, which obviously helps (ha, ha, ha.) More because with Britain fully on board (does he think we are mad?) there would not be a Euro crisis or a Pound crisis.
With the City working not against Europe but for Europe, as they are beginning to do only now after viciously fighting it for the last 10 years or so - now, because they finally realized that if you can't beat them, join them – there would not be a Euro crisis and the periphery of Europe would be in much better shape. (He can't grasp that the €'s fate would have been exactly the same without the City !)
Sisyphos (Sisyphus) Germany would not have to roll the boulder uphill with the City pushing it downhill every time (if Germany is stupid enough to put itself in that position – with fiscal union and eternal transfers ahead – well tough, that is your business, certainly not ours –you are on your own). It would be good for the Euro AND good for the pound, if only the City could be persuaded to take the long view, forget shorting and short term profit considerations. Any chance of that? Nay, not likely. These folk do not have a Mother country. Their loyalities are only to themselves and their bonuses. Long term planning does not come into it. Let everybody around them perish as long as Jack is alright."
As usual he shows not the slightest glimmer of what democracy is about, with his imaginary "Europe" dictating to all and sundry, as always blaming the City for his botched currency.
@ Junoir:
I wasn't disagreeing with you – I just wanted to highlight who (to my knowledge) was responsible inside Germany for the different approach in the French case at the time.
I think that it was a mistake to treat France differently, but until Hollande's election last year the consensus in Paris and Bonn/Berlin always had been that the end of the world would be near if France and Germany were ever to part ways in European matters. Turns out that is not the case anymore, which might be liberating in a way.
It is really amazing that The Economist and many of the comments inspired by, for instance, this article, keep on adhering to the North/South- Core/ Periphery dialectics. This way of presenting things by blaming the Club Med aka Periphs aka PIGS as the sum of all evils( lazy, spendthrift, corrupt...) apart from insulting and barely acceptable in any serious publication if it were applied to any other group of countries or peoples ( can anyone imagine the FT, the NYT or this very magazine calling Asians or Africans or Jews or Buddishts PIGS as they have repeatedly done with us?)is a very misleading and self-serving way to present the root causes of this crisis by blaming others, particularly those inept Southern Europeans. Were Lehman Bros, the Libor scandal, the massive hole in the British financial system in 2007- 2008 or the massive distorsions created by the German reunification back in the 90s ( which explains a lot of what came later, including the fact that virtuos Germany could not stick to the Maastricht criteria for several years without being punished by a righteous Protestant God) caused by corrupt Greek politicians, vacationing Spaniards or by Italian bunga bungas?
I think that is unfair criticism. The Economist, does not, to my knowledge, use the derogatory acronym PIGS and does not blame the crisis on supposed national characteristics.
The Economist is making the very fair point that if the Euro is to survive, there must be some cost to Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.
In any case most shorthand terms don't work. You can talk about Northern Europe nations, but Ireland and UK are in Northern Europe and their economies are trashed too. "Periphery vs core" makes no sense either, because Finland is on the periphery geographically and economically, but it's economy is healthy right now.
I have a lot of sympathy for what you´re saying. "PIGS" became over used and was always a simplification.
Your comment though did make me re-visit my own thought train, in a way it´s something I´m fighting against.
I live in Spain, I have a lot of positive experiences at a grass roots level but what stays in my heads is not the PIGS expression it´s listening to the travails of Bankia today on the radio, or Gurtel/Barcenas/ElPais/PP.., then there´s Iñaki Urdangarin, or case in Mallorca, in Andalusia, the President of Galicia and his friend, football club Presidents that rigs votes. The list goes on and on and on.... And actually the one that offended me the most was Zapatero with whom I struggle to put into words my rage at his idiocy/narrow education/lack of worldliness. It all colours my judgement of Spain and I think the point here is that it´s having the same effect too on many others around the world and it is much to Spain´s detriment. This is Spain´s big problem!
Finland is healthy? The country has low debt, to be sure...
but the economy is entering recession and there has been no appreciable level of foreign investment there over the last 4-5 years - while southern European countries, despite Anglophone prejudices to the contrary, continue to attract billions in FDI.
Looking at El Economista in Spain tonight, which has as it´s lead this Economist article, what catches my eye is the shift of opinion as indicated by + or - reactions to readers opinions. For the past 5/6 years there would have been a knee-jerk anti "anglo saxon" reaction, tonight there is a good balance of +´s for support for The Economists sentiments. I take that as meaning more & more Spanish are beginning to see membership of the € as the problem!
If your analysis of Europe's problems is as well founded as your cheerleading for Obama and his government, Europe has nothing to worry about.
Why not address the issue raised by Pettis in http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/07/no_the_spanish_can_t_be... ? Then find a solution to the balance of payments issues he describes, accurately, within the EZ , by not falling into the same disaster that the US fell through its subprime excesses. State 'savings' sloshing around in an uncontrolled riot will not be controlled by an FTT nor by a Germanic savings directive mentality. Curious that the Germans were unable to keep their working capital requirements within their own central bank control, and had to force a fiscal exception into a structural reversal of the freedom of movement of capital and payments, isn't it?
EU's problems stem from the creation of the Euro and the growth of central Euro bureaucracy. These two plagues have infected all economies.The solution is a massive cut in the EU Government's budget and for the Northern countries to break out of the Euro into a separate currency. If the present EU leadership would be prepared to exercise the culling of EU bureacracy the UK could be drawn into positive discussions that might lead to it joining the new Northern currency. The fly in the ointment is that such a solution requires leadership. History tells us that formidable leadership only emerges from a crisis of major proportions such as World wars. Therefore I fear we are doomed to await the social revolt that diminishing living standards will produce allied to a financial crisis arising from the collapse of the overworked printing presses.
Here we go again the same old blaming the € game. The € is fine it's rules were quite clear and they made sense.The Growth and Stability pact mandates a maximum of 3% GDP deficit yearly and a max 60% national debt.All the countries had to conform to these principles before they could join the currency.How then can one blame the currency which is fundamentally sound for the mistakes of corrupt politicians? You can't.Corrupt politicians and lethargic delusional electorates are the problem not the currency.Going back to national currencies would be a disaster worse then staying together.We don't need to borrow money in order to grow economically. Creating more bubbles that cannot be sustained because they lack fundamentals.The problems in the Eurozone member states come from bubbles created by credit.So restricted credit is a good thing except it's not restricted enough.The ECB is allowing the interest rates to drop to historic lows that means no one has any incentive to bring their money to the bank which they can then loan out (it would have been even better economically if the banks had been allowed to go bust and the sound banks the winners were left).The solution is to make interest rates rise to lower taxes to cut spending and to reform the labour markets so they are less restricted and people want to hire more people.That is the reform we need not cheap credit so we can continue the debt crazed haze where everyone can make bs companies that have no real right of existence because they float on bubbles of debt.Germans building BMW's to sell to Greeks with money loaned from Germans.
Well said. I have lost count how many times I have told people the problem is not the Euro. I think that Europe has come together enough to stop the contagion for now but what Europe needs so desperately now are a few leaders with charisma that talk about Europe and not a specific member state. They need to counter the argument of a flawed currency and point to the successes in the beginning this article. They need a few major leaders who say more financial/banking integration is the ultimate key to to calming the markets long-term. They need to tell Cameron that Britain needs to either embrace more European integration and cooperation or sit out on the sidelines. What Europe currently has is a leadership problem. This is why it seems Europe is currently "sleep walking" through the crisis, as this article states.
Absolutely right, the rules are clear and sound. The idea was that all member states do all necessary to reach the criteria. Only, the control mechanisms were unclear. And control is better than trust.
TE is demanding a wakeup call for the European politicians and this is absolutely right! Jens Weidmann, chief of Germany's national bank, just stated the same prior to his visit to France. He said that additional reforms are required (to revive the economy) and that every country is obliged to stick to the rules that were agreed upon in Maastricht.
The Germans very well understand that by releasing the pressure of the financial markets the little bit of will to do painful reforms e.g. in the labor or pension system is going to go away completely. That is why they resisted to mutualize debt for all these dramatic months. A lot has happened but a lot still needs to happen.
BTW, also Angela Merkel needs to do more in her own country. She is compromising on fiscal, social economic policies in order to occupy the space of her political opponent, the Social Democrats, wherever she can. That is why we need a strong and undeceived liberal party in all EU countries!
The € was a mistake - as the Economist pointed out at the time.
It was a grave mistake. Mission impossible as it were.Germany never needed the €, the Club Med will never flourish in this €-zone.
So why does TE pretend more German, Dutch, Finnish ... money could be the solution to the Club Med´s problems? That France is in dire straits today and not in the same league with Germany any longer is the result of French decisions, cowardly and stupid decisions, a pervasive socialism, enmity to markets and capitalism, not Germany´s fault. And no amount of German money would really help.
The same goes for the other Club Med members: They, like Italy for example, are not poor, they are not victims of a domineering Germany. They have been extremely badly governed (bunga bunga) and their markets are stifled by red tape, extremist unions and nepotism.
Euroscepticism is on the rise in Germany and you have facilitated its birth by betraying your own principles.
France didn't choose to dump its workers wages like Germany did, because there was no reason to make it, would you want a €1 job, up to €4, like 7,5 million Germans have to bear, but that's also disguised state subsidied jobs. Germany did that to nuke France and Italy concurrence, who them, respected the ECB recommendations, wages followed inflation, while in Germany they were decreasing under the O % inflation level !
This has nothing to do with socialism, Germany is as much socialist than anyone, her cuts never ment social wealfare, but workers wages
There's a justice, while the EZ market is sinking, and for Germany, and for China, because of this forced recession, Germany and China are feeling the pain too, Germany used to sell to China, and because China lost its european market, she can't buy made in Germany, as usual Germany has no understanding how trades and markets work. If we can't get out of this trap with intelligence, we all are going into a wall... the sooner, the better !
I am still waiting for TE to explain why a problem caused by too much debt and living above one's income could be solved by more borrowing whilst maintaining the current spending level?
However, the fundamental schism is not mentioned: the euro was created - amongst other reasons - to lift the periphery on to Northern European living standards - which they almost enjoyed for a decade due to the credit binge caused by low interest rates.
The ugly truth: the core is not wealthy enough to retain their own and subsidise the periph sufficiently to achieve this. And that's were the trouble is.
Call it banking union, call it Eurobonds, call it annual gifts - we are taking transfer of resources, impairing the living standard in the core. And the people are starting to feel it.
Taxpayers in the North are fed up, not least in Germany. Angie will loose her elections hook, line and sinker if any German money is spent on Europe before the election (guess why Ljubljana will not be bailed out soon, ELA anyone?). I wonder whether Angie will get away without explicitly promising to stop any more bailout activity - ever.
Nothing will happen before September, and regardless of who will win the German election, the EU then has to face reality.
Is the core willing to be fleeced, forever, to maintain the euro, or is there some sense of self-preservation left?
And do not kid yourself - either some mechanism to transfer a huge amount of resources is found, or the euro is toast. One or the other it has to be, and no muddling through in between.
What a totally ignorance laced comment.
The problem was not caused by too much debt.
Otherwise Germany would be one of the nations floundering right now, not Spain.
Prior to the collapse Spain had less debt than Germany.
So you should just keep waiting, because no such explanation will ever come, since the problem wasn't caused by too much debt.
Too much debt is the issue -everywhere.... just wait and see.
However, "too much debt" in relation to "abiltiy to repay" is the issue.
Even if the offical Spanish debt is lower, the unaknowledged losses in the Spanish banks, unpaid bills left out.... and more. Spain took on - public and private sector - too much debt in relation to the inherent ability to service the debt out of cash-flows - or such is the perception of the market. Spain is currently financed by the ECB, and only by the ECB. Withdraw the generous ways to treat Spanish debt as collateral, stop the EUR 300-400 bn Target balance (not included in official sector debt) - and Spain might be deemed insolvent (not by me, but check Jeremy Warner from the Telegraph a little while back).
Germany's official debt might be higher, but so is her (perceived) ability to service the debt.
Yep, Spain has less debt, but apparently, it was still too much.
Nobody has maintained the same spending level - so what is your point?
Northern Europe is subsidizing Northern European bank managers that lent (Northern European's taxpayers) money to Southern politicians and Southern banks. There is no transfer, the money is treated as debt, not as a gift. If you accept that some debts will not be repayed, it is a loss, not a gift.
The EU's problems are usually the fault of principle: subsidiarity.
This slogan is used by rivals as a means for preserving uncertainty in the EU's constitutional identity, so as to avoid the vexed question of the ceding of sovereignty to the EU.
The sooner we get rid of it, the sooner we might see some meaningful action.
The euro currency is designed to fail unless there is full economic and political integration. Can anyone see President Hollande or Chancellor Merkel giving away their powers of taxation and expenditure to european body?
At the moment the weaker economies are having to endure internal devaluation as they cannot let their currencies devalue. The politicians will fail to act until there is real panic and the people rise up in protest.
Only when the creditor refuses to continue provide credit will real structural reform happen.
"The euro currency is designed to fail unless there is full economic and political integration"
"full economic and political integration" is both impossible and a pipe dream. That argument is brought up time and again by power-hungry eurocrats who prefer destroying Europe before admitting that it is time for the integration to do a step back.
Did you notice that new memberstates are still obliged to adopt the euro as soon as possible? Pure eurocratic hubris!
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text: As an active Real Estate Agent I know how important schools are and how much they affect property values. Homes in better school districts just sell for more. Period. Schools are a big deal. So, if you are a Redondo Beach home owner, you have to be very pleased with the recent positive press Redondo Union High School has been getting. For years, the gold standard in the Beach Cities has been Mira Costa in Manhattan Beach but the delta is rapidly closing if it hasn't done so already. Specifically, Mira Costa has historically surpassed Redondo Union in reputation and... Read more →

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Monday's TV Highlights: 'In Performance at the White House' on PBS
Story | Apr 6, 2014 | 8:00 PM
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Story | Sep 5, 2014 | 6:30 PM
Arriving so soon after the first reports of Burger King's corporate maneuvering to enjoy a whopping big tax break by establishing a new legal address in Canada, "The Price We Pay" seems all the more timely, if not prescient. This well-crafted...


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Chef Daniel Boulud on Flipboard
@danielboulud | 1,122 Articles | 16 Magazines | 10,830 Followers | Chef, Frenchman, Family Man. www.danielboulud.com
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James Beard Foundation
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The 2015 James Beard …James Beard Foundation
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U.S. Ambassador Kennedy Thank Chef Daniel Boulud and Chef Nobu for the Charity Dinners with Proceeds to TOMODACHIAmbassador
Daniel Boulud on Fundraising, Collaborating, and the "New Wave of Luxury"
The chef hosted his 18th annual Sunday Supper at DanielLuxury
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Oui, Chefs! @DanielBoulud, @ChefMichelR & @dominiquecrenn introducing their @lenox cookware line in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/GbDJq30Tn2
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90's week video teaser from @ELideasChi (with my first ever voice over!) http://youtu.be/n4umm3ZStY8
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Award-winning French masters unveil a dining/entertainment brand promising blue-ribbon European flair to America's kitchens
Ahead of its national debut, "The French Chefs" lifestyle line of cookware and dinnerware was revealed to the biggest hitters in the world of …
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Bring a …Sauces
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The after of a legendary dinner. Thank you #AnneClaudeLeflaive, #AubertDeVillaine @maisontroisgros @DanielNY pic.twitter.com/xkjxlSmWq2
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5 time-wasting iOS apps for your holiday trip
Traveling, especially around the holidays, can be horrible. Make things a little easier by downloading these iOS games before you go.
Juniper Networks rolls out processor, router, network operating system revamp
Juniper Networks is rolling out new network gear and a strategy to compete with Cisco Systems. ZDNet's Larry Dignan gives an overview of Juniper's new software, routers, and proces...


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Item: 194964 Model: 055300
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BLACK DIAMOND Bugaboo 3 (Short Thin)
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- Offset eyes recommended for clipping
- Specs for #3:
Weight: 65 g (2.3 oz.)
Thickness: 5/32 in. (4 mm)
Length: 3.5 in. (88.9 mm)
BLACK DIAMOND Bugaboo 3 (Short Thin)
Weight 2.3 oz. Weight (grams) 65 g


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Canstar Community News - ONLINE EDITION
Help protect your favourite trees along the Red
Know of a lovely tree along the Red River? You could help protect it.
The Rivers West Red River Corridor (RWRRC) is seeking trees near the river that are either "the biggest, the oldest, the most striking, or a community favourite."
Those looking to nominate a tree must tag the tree with a string, and then submit a photo, the GPS co-ordinates, and the nomination form found here.
It can also be obtained by emailing the Manitoba Forestry Association at firstname.lastname@example.com
RWRRC executive director Julie Turenne-Maynard noted this year is the first time the contest is being held since the province of Manitoba was the first province in Canada to create a heritage tree program.
She hopes the contest will inspire people all over the city.
"It's really good to do as an individual or as a family," she said.
The contest launched on June 1 and will wrap on Sept. 2. Winners will be announced during National Forest Week (Sept. 22 to 28).
For more information, visit Rivers West.
Twitter: @HeraldWPG
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Leaving it all on the table03/27/2015 9:24 AM 0
This Just In
@TimesWPG: The Garden City Aces struck gold twice on Sunday. winnipegfreepress.com/our-communitie… #cbn 3:28 pm on Mar 27
@TimesWPG: Four northwest Winnipeggers up for @YWinnipeg Women of Distinction Awards winnipegfreepress.com/our-communitie… #cbn 3:27 pm on Mar 27
@TimesWPG: Meadows West School students held a Be the Change conference last week featuring local activists winnipegfreepress.com/our-communitie… #cbn 3:25 pm on Mar 27
@TimesWPG: Giles twins led Sisler to a provincial basketball crown earlier this week. winnipegfreepress.com/our-communitie… #cbn 3:23 pm on Mar 27
@canstareditor: RT @CanstarHeadline: New homes to be built next to Blumberg Sports Complex in RM of Headingley. winnipegfreepress.com/our-communitie… #cbn 2:09 pm on Mar 26
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Burger 21, founded by the owners of The Melting Pot Restaurants, has executed its first franchise agreement in Michigan, under which a debut restaurant in Ann Arbor will open summer 2015.
Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. (ARG), franchisor of Arby's, has signed development agreements with new and existing franchisees.
Valpak has signed a franchise agreement with Lia Jensen to acquire the Valpak of West Michigan territory.
Togo's Eateries has announced signed development agreements with new and existing franchisees to open nine new restaurants in markets across California.
Togo's Eateries announced the signing of two multi-unit franchise agreements with an existing franchise group to develop 20 new restaurants in Oregon and California over the next several years.
Burger 21 has signed its first franchise agreement in Arizona.


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Related Publications
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Service to Remnants of a Jewish Population in a Decaying Neighborhood in New York
Jewish Communal Service Association of North America (JCSA), National Conference of Jewish Communal Service, Winter 1970
Topic: Residential Patterns, Social Work, Generational Issues, Poverty, Housing, Aging, Elderly
Name of Publication: Journal of Jewish Communal Service
Editor: Sherman, Sanford N.
Volume/Issue: Vol. 47/No.2
Page Number(s): 139-147
Genre: Article
Coverage: Bronx, New York
Language: English
Copyright Holder: Publisher
Copyright Information: Download for personal use, freely distribute link
Bibliographic Information:
Pollock, Josephine S. Service to Remnants of a Jewish Population in a Decaying Neighborhood in New York. Journal of Jewish Communal Service. Jewish Communal Service Association of North America (JCSA),National Conference of Jewish Communal Service. Winter 1970: 139-147. http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=4650
» View Publication
(PDF, 672 Kb)


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Welcome - Dravet Syndrome Community
What is Dravet Syndrome ?
Dravet Syndrome is one of the most catastrophic epilepsies and is a rare neurological condition causing severe, difficult to control seizures alongside developmental delay.
Source: Participating patient organizations visible belowDravet Syndrome Resources
Latest Member Stories
Rare Disease Day 2015by RareConnect team published 2 months ago No comment
Rare Disease Day takes place on the last day of February each year.
The main objective of Rare Disease Day is to raise awareness amongst the gen...
Our Angel Ally Marieby 114Ally published 8 months ago One comment
Ally was born seizing, and that's about all I know, she got very sick this spring, she had dangerously low white blood cells, so they changed her s...
Partners and Patient Groups
RareConnect is a joint venture of EURORDIS and NORD. The following patient groups are official partners of this community.


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CapitaMalls Asia and Changi Airport Group are jointly developing Jewel Changi Airport. With outstanding architecture and an exciting myriad of lifestyle offerings, Jewel Changi Airport will be a world-class destination.
Westgate brings the city's best to the west of Singapore, with more than 250 brands including anchor tenant Isetan and premium brands such as Kate Spate Saturday, Armani Exchange and COS.
A landmark development in Xin Nan Tian Di Commercial Zone in South Chengdu. Opened in December 2014, the mall houses a cinema, ice rink surrounded by duplex restaurants, gym and supermarket.
A quality lifestyle shopping mall located within the core commercial centre in Baiyun District of Guangzhou. It will offer a refreshing dining and vibrant trendy shopping experience to the district when opened in 2015.
A mall that will bring the city shopping experience to Taman Melawati, the affluent residential district north east of Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore, China, Malaysia, Japan, India
"My Schoolbag" is a key CapitaLand annual corporate social responsibility programme where we donate schoolbags containing school and daily necessities to underprivileged school children.
Download My Schoolbag news release
Build a career with us. Find out more about CMA's work culture, career development and job opportunities.


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Lets talk about cat litter!
I have 4 indoors cats, ages 5 to 16, and am fed up with the clay type clumping litter. I am currently trying the Tidy Cat True Nature litter in one of my litter pans ... it's only been 2 days.
My cats didn't go near that litter box until yesterday, and I think one of them used that box last night. I didn't want to disturb anything this morning, so will clean it tonite.
The woody smell is quite strong, but better than a perfumey smell, to me at least.
Anyone else using this? Any other non-clay types that you use that are available in your grocery store? I live in a rural area and am not going to drive far just for cat litter. :>)
Let me know you experiences ...
The article below has the best info I've ever read on cat litter, what cats prefer, and the problems created by odor and grain size.
I've tried many brands and always return to Worlds Best (corn based, clumping).
Here is a link that might be useful: Litter
The vet I worked for in the dark ages always said, one more litter pan than cat. No scented litter, ever. He was also against covered boxes. I've stuck by that & other than 1 cat who had health problems, all my cats have been mostly good about litter. (knock wood).
I have 2 pans in the basement, 1 w/clay, 1 w/clumping, and the same setup in a bedroom upstairs. Hadn't been down to scoop the basement boxes in a few days & was wondering why the upstairs pans were so full every day-turns out the drain had flooded in the basement right next to the boxes! The cats didn't want to get their paws all wet & mucky I guess & I can't blame them.
My cats use the clumping a LOT more than reg. clay, but I still keep it out for them, as they do occasionally use those pans.
My picky princess likes the Swheat Scoop brand. It is a very fine texture and almost no smell at all. It has a bit of dust but it is different than clay dust - it is heavier and not as fly-away. I tried unscented Scoopaway when I first got my cat but we both coughed and sneezed. We have been using the wheat for over 4 years with no problems.
It does need to be deeper than the clay litters so it clumps correctly, but you don't really use more - there is just more in the box at any one time. It tracks a bit but I have never seen a small-texture litter that doesn't. Paws are paws.
It might be a bit tricky to find in rural areas, but Target has it, along with Petsmart and Petco.
annz, I fill the litter box about 1/4 with Arm and Hammer and then top it off with World's Best. I began doing that because I started off with Arm and Hammer and since the WB is a little pricey I thought I wouldn't have to use as much of it if I just put it on top. I really like the WB and have never noticed urine or feces odor, nor does the litter itself have a scent. Well, maybe a slight ground corn cob scent. Since my cats are indoor/outdoor (only use the litter box in the house overnight and when I go away) they use it mostly for pee.
However, I do find that WB tracks alot. The company claims that it doesn't but seems as tho it clings to my cats' paws.
I use plain clay non-clumping litter. My cats typically only use the litter box when they are too old to go outdoors. In their early 20s their kidney function is next to null so they excrete large quantities of watered down urine, and clumping litter (which I tried one time and one time only) turns into a horrible cement mix, ie all the litter in the box becomes a single clump. I have no use for clumping litter.
As far as non clay litter material I haven't tried these. They tend to be more expensive than clay litter, and because I change the box often for my old cats, I think these types of litter might be cost prohibitive. Less dust would be a plus though, so I may try some other materials at some point in the future.
I can find the Arm & Hammer variety, so have now mixed that with the clay litter, to get them used to somehting different ... and they are using the litter boxes that are mixed, with no issues. So I'll see if I can gradually switch them over to the Arm & Hammer.
The grocery store (rural) I go to does not have the World's Best ...
I stopped using clay, dusty or clumping after I read that it's possible/likely that the cat will inhale it and have resulting health issues.
I've used Stove/wood pellets for years now. Depending on the time of year, they are called pet bedding or stove pellets, but they're the same thing. The pellet size is similar to Yesterdays News or Feline Pine. Natural, no clay, no dust, really great at absorbing odor, and MUCH cheaper than commercial cat litter -- about $4 for 40 lbs. When they go on sale, I buy 10 bags and I'm set for awhile. I buy mine at Menards. None of my 5 very different cats have a problem with them.
Here's a pic of one brand:
Long time cat owner here. Used clay litter exclusively until they started coming out with the clumping stuff. After a few years of that (Tidy Cat, WB etc), my male cat started having UT issues. No infection but just irritation. He was cleaning a lot and then started peeing a little bit outside the box, with a trace amount of blood in the urine. Took me WAY to long to figure out it was the litter.
If you know anything about how male cats urinate, they dig a hole and stick their butt down in the hole. Their penis comes out a bit and then they pee. They then cover up the hole. This is outside behavior but they replicate it indoors. It keeps their scent contained.
With clumping type litter, their urethra gets irritated by the dust and the clumping compound. This causes irritation and so on. Since that happened with my old man (been gone almost 2 years now), I discontinued using clumping litter for males. I only use clay based litter. It has to be cleaned more often but my cat's health is more important to me.
If I had a female cat, I would use WB or TC clumping. I actually used to mix the two to keep down the tracking of WB.
We just (this past weekend) switched to Dr. Elsey's Ultra Precious Cat litter for our two indoor-only cats. So far, so good.
We've been using, and swearing by, Everclean ES, fragrance-free since it came out back in the late 1980's (started out using the original version, but switched to the ES for its stronger/harder clump formation as I had two cats at that time as well). We were very satisfied with Everclean's odor-neutralizing and clumping properties. We tried switching litters a few times over the years, but always switched right back to the Everclean, as none of the other litters could match Everclean's ability to neutralize cat urine odor. We were quite spoiled--with Everclean, our home did not smell like a "cat box."
If we were so happy with Everclean, why even consider switching? Well, we were quite tired of (and more than a little annoyed with) the fact that their Unscented/Fragrance Free (both terms used on their packages) ES litter, was more often than not, heavily fragranced. Our cats would come out of the litter box, reeking of this fragrance (as if they had rolled in a bottle of cheap perfume). I called the company a number of times over the years to complain, and to ask them to please do something about this. According to Everclean, they looked into it, and the litter was in fact unscented/fragrance free when packaged in their facilities. If this was in fact true, then the only thing we (DH and I) could surmise, is that the (boxes of) Unscented ES litter must absorb the perfume-y scent from the boxes of their fragranced litter during storage or shipping. The boxes themselves have as a rule, had no scent at all, only the litter contained within (strange), so checking the boxes before bringing them home was of no help.
Fed up, I would often look at the different types of litter available at our local family-owned and operated pet supply store, but always stuck with Everclean, despite it not being fragrance-free. as advertised. Having battled carpenter ants in the past, and having two cats with possible food allergies, I was reluctant to try any of the corn or other "food"-based litters.
When I saw bags of the new-to-the-store Ultra Precious Cat Litter on the shelf (40 #'s for $14.99, good price), I asked one of the guys about it. He said a customer kept telling them to get in and sell it, so they finally did, more to humor her than anything. Since then, they've been selling out of it, and the feedback has all been positive (overwhelmingly so apparently). So we picked up a couple of bags over the weekend, and like I wrote at the beginning of my post, so far it seems pretty good. Urine odor appears to be neutralized well. Poop odor, maybe not quite as good, but still pretty good (slightly detectable while scooping the litter box??).
It's definitely more dust-free than Everclean (or some others we had tried over the years), and is truly fragrance-free as well.
If my opinion about it changes in the days (weeks, months) to come, I will report back to you all.
Here is a link that might be useful: Ultra Precious Cat
Reporting back after another week of using the Ultra Precious Cat litter: it's still working out very well. Seems to be neutralizing odors well, no dust, no perfume-y scent (no scent whatsoever!), and it doesn't seem to scatter/track as much as EverClean did (we also moved the litter box to another room, so that may or not be a factor in containing the litter scatter). Still some scatter, but not quite as much.
Will see how the litter does at controlling odors long-term (cumulative effect), and report back again at a later date.
And I have been successfully switching my cats over to the Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Cat litter. It's been going well and in a couple of weeks I will no longer have any clay litter in the house! That makes me happy.
Here is a link that might be useful: ARM & Hammer Essentials


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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Child of slaves made name around world, died poor
The Black Russian
By Vladimir Alexandrov
Atlantic Monthly Press, 294 pages, $30.50
BIOGRAPHY best captivates when, as here, it emphasizes personality.
It also doesn't hurt that its subject, turn-of-the-century African American Frederick Thomas, was witness to, and even a minor player in, some of the most dramatic events of early 20th-century history, including the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution.
Yale professor of Slavic languages and literature Vladimir Alexandrov, author of previous books on Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Nabokov, repeatedly underlines Thomas's singular asset, his Southern charm.
Thomas could turn it on at will, and it served him well as he charted a course that saw him move from waiter, to head waiter, to maÆtre d'hotel, and finally proprietor of ritzy foreign establishments.
His vocational progression paralleled his geographic peregrinations.
Born in 1872 to former slaves, he started his career in New York City, moved to London, and then ventured south to the French Riviera.
He subsequently surfaced in each of Milan, Venice, Trieste, Vienna and Budapest, but finally went east to Moscow, in the heart of then still Czarist Russia.
His story could serve as an MBA-program case study of against-all-odds entrepreneurial success.
Not once, but twice, and in two different countries, neither of whose language he spoke, he leveraged small savings from his earnings as a waiter into large loans, and used them to launch successful restaurants and glitzy clubs.
His successes were astonishing.
In Moscow, in 1912, Alexandrov writes, he earned an estimated 150,000 rubles net profit, or the equivalent of about $1 million in today's money. Later, in Constantinople (now Istanbul), after many setbacks he also netted big dollars, until geopolitical events once again torpedoed his business.
All this accomplished by a semi-literate African-American man from the Mississippi Delta, who floundered in segregated America, but who flourished in the white world beyond the continental United States.
Nor did the collapse of either of his business empires have anything to do with his business acumen, or lack of same. In both cases his enterprises were caught in the current of monumental historical events he never saw coming.
In 1917 the Bolsheviks forced him out of business, and were about to arrest him for being a bourgeois capitalist, before he escaped Moscow for the White Russian enclave of Odessa on the Black Sea.
Fleeing Odessa for Constantinople, he rebuilt his entertainment establishments, only to have them come a cropper due to the resurrection of a particularly xenophobic brand of Turkish nationalism in the mid-1920s.
Thomas reached the apex of his career and wealth as an impresario in Moscow.
But in a supreme irony, his plight in Russia, once the Bolsheviks seized power, mirrored his earlier treatment as a black man in Mississippi. Prejudice of a different but just as virulent sort befell him and his family.
"Frederick's origins as a black American would have done nothing to mitigate his class 'sins,'" writes Alexandrov. "Frederick's past oppression as a black man in the United States was trumped by his having become a rich man in Russia. In the end, he could no more escape how the new regime saw him than he could change the color of his skin."
By late 1927 his once-flourishing Constantinople ventures also went into a death spiral.
Ultimately his debts were so massive he wound up in a Turkish prison, where he contracted pneumonia. He died in June 1928 in a Constantinople hospital run by nuns, who'd accepted him as a charity case.
But he left behind a remarkable story about a formidable man. A story Alexandrov has uncovered, and masterfully told.
Douglas J. Johnston is a Winnipeg lawyer and writer.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 9, 2013 J9
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Review: William deBuys chronicles the search for Earth's rarest mammal in 'The Last Unicorn'03/31/2015 9:23 AM 0
"The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth's Rarest Creatures" (Little, Brown and Co.), by William deBuys
Spoiler alert: There ...
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Countdown the top 25 DIY features of 2014, so far. We're halfway through the year, so we decided to crunch the numbers and show you the most popular #DIYwins.
More in Decorating
Let's start the #DIYwin countdown with the nation's premier tailgate pastime — cornhole. We have the how-to instructions to build a set according to specs and regulations of the American Cornhole Association. Originally from How to Build a Regulation Cornhole Set
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