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Euro-Skeptic William Hague: "I Was Right In 1998, And I Am Right Today"
I well remember the furrowed brow of President Chirac, sitting amid the splendid gilt furnishings of the Elysee Palace, as I explained to him in May 1998 why I thought the euro would not work as Europe's leaders intended. The charm of his welcome had evaporated as I set out not only why joining the euro would be very bad for Britain, but also far from a good idea for some of the countries desperate to sign up to it.
After I gave my speech that night at my alma mater, the European Business School at Fontainebleau, Chirac and many others were appalled. I said that joining the euro would exacerbate recession in some countries, and that some would find themselves "trapped in a burning building with no exits" - a phrase that brought me a fair amount of controversy and abuse.
I was regarded around the EU as a rather eccentric figure, almost pitiable in being unable to see where the great sweep of history and prosperity was heading. One former senior colleague in Britain said I had become "more extreme even than Mrs Thatcher", as if this was an unimaginable horror. Idealistic heads in Brussels were shaken in sorrow that the dreaded eurosceptics were not only growing in the Conservative Party but had now taken it over, with me having become, astonishingly, its leader.
There is no doubt that I was wrong about quite a few things when I was leading my party. But I hope the eurozone leaders meeting today will remember that those of us who criticised the euro at its creation were correct in our forecasts. Otherwise they risk adding to the monumental errors of judgment, analysis and leadership made by their predecessors in 1998.
Those who poured scorn on some of us who predicted "wage cuts, tax hikes, and the creation of vicious unemployment black spots" - all now experienced in abundance by the people of Greece - should at least now make the effort to understand why these predictions were true.
Economics has few laws, which is why economic forecasts are so maddeningly unreliable. If it has one law, it is this: that if you fix together some things which naturally vary, such as interest rates and exchange rates, other things, such as unemployment and wages, will vary more instead. And in a single currency zone, which has exactly this effect, you can only get around these problems by paying big subsidies to poorly performing areas, and expecting workers to move in large numbers to better performing ones.
This is what happens in the US, or indeed within Britain. In general it works. In the eurozone it does not work, because either Greeks have to cure their poor economic performance or Germans have to pay them big subsidies, and neither are willing or able to do so. This, in a sentence, is the problem of the eurozone, and continued denial of it will only make it worse.
There are three important truths for eurozone leaders to recognise today as they have to choose between the credibility of their currency and the permanence of European unity.
The first is that this crisis is not the fault of the Greek people. It is easy to think the opposite when they have a government so utterly ham-fisted and unreliable in its dealings with its partners, and a demagogic and now departed finance minister who regards as "terrorism" the simple act of lending money and expecting it back one day.
They have rejected reasonable terms from their creditors, defending retirement benefits paid earlier than most in northern Europe, and protecting lower VAT rates for tourist areas of which Britain's Welsh hills and Yorkshire Dales, to name two close to my heart, can only dream. But Greeks have experienced the loss of one quarter of their entire national income, following an unsustainable inflation of spending and debt which eurozone membership facilitated. The responsibility for this crisis lies with their own former leaders and those around the EU who gave them euro membership when they were not remotely suited to it, a triumph of political desire over dispassionate economic analysis for which ordinary people are now paying the price.
It is no good now expecting Greeks to sit quietly in a burnt-out room of the burning building I described 17 years ago.
This brings us to the second truth: that this is not a short-term crisis, but a permanent one, in which any temporary accommodation will soon be overtaken by events.
Greeks are being expected to do business and compete with the rest of the world at the same exchange rate and with the same interest rates as Germany, which would require their manufacturing, their education and their enterprise culture to be at least similar to those of Germany.
In their lifetimes they are not going to be able to do that. This is not because there is something wrong with them; it is because they live in a different economic environment from Germany, and one that is not suited to being in the same currency.
In such circumstances, it is better to be able to leave sooner, with some generous support, than leave later with even greater resentment and failure.
The third and final truth will be the hardest one of all for those responsible for the euro to accept: that this is not just about one country. It is in Greece that the fundamental tensions created by a single currency have first broken through, because Greece is a particularly indebted and less competitive country. But the same tensions will ultimately surface in other nations facing a less immediate crisis but a similar prognosis.
Across southern Europe, governments such as those in Italy and Spain are making brave efforts to enact long overdue reforms. They might not achieve enough, however, for their people to prosper when required to compete equally with their northern neighbours.
There is a clear risk that the economic performance of the south will diverge from, not converge with, the north. Unless this is averted, it will bring problems to Europe for which Greece has only been a minor rehearsal.
In future decades, in the very business school where I spoke in 1998, I believe students will sit down to study the folly of extending a single currency too far. Sad though it will be to see it, their textbook is likely to say that the Greek debacle of 2015 was not the end of the euro crisis, but its real beginning.
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Worst Foreign Secretary the UK ever had. Fuck him, even if he pretends to be right on this occasion.
EDIT: I suppose what I wanted to say is that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Still very, very broken nonetheless. Hague is the poster boy for asshats like Evans-Pritchard. Probably because he worked so tirelessly for a chance to drop even more bombs in Libya and Syria.
He was not the worst; Milliband was 'worser.' Hague's disastrous tenure at the Foreign Ofice is because somehow, on entering that office, he suddenly became as though a ziocon puppet. Willingly so, or coerced? Who knows. But the above article is truer to his self.
What a shame that to qualify for power, you have to leave your soul (and brain) behind. Good people can't get through unless they cave.
I know. My bitterness comes from the sheer disappointment. Missus and I had a chat recently about this very issue - it is uncanny how people are transformed the moment they assume power of any kind. Would I be any different? Would you?
One day, Boris is attend football (is soccer for Amerikansky:) match in Poland and is pardon for lavatory break. While is relieve urinary, anxious man is approach where Boris is stand and ask "European?" Boris is answer in best English "I am Russian". Man is respond, "thanks, because is really must go bad."
Moral of story is... Never as you mind, Boris is forget, but is something to as do with European Union and why is such bad mistake. After football match Boris is drink vodka and vomit projectile on side of car before stumble into wrong hotel room.
Hi Boris, good to see you back again. Winter in Siberia? But I'm having difficulty relating projectile vomiting to the William Hague post? No, wait.......
It doesn't seem such a stretch now that you think about it, eh?
Hague still looks like a little boy.
Funnily enough, he may hate the Euro but he is more than happy to go along with the financial strategy behind it, austerity for the undeserving poor (99%).
Hague is an odious, braying twat.
I keep hearing this fiction that less productive people cannot have the same currency as more productive people. A moment's thought should tell you that it's nonsense. Within every polity, millions of people of varying degrees of productivity share a currency without that being the cause of any problems. The less productive people just get paid less. It's true that there are government-imposed fiscal transfers between many of them, but that doesn't arise from them all sharing the same currency; that arises from them all sharing a government that bribes voters with other people's money.
Greece's (and the Euro's) problems didn't arise because they share the same currency (though this is making it harder for them to extricate themselves from their predicament). They arose from the Greek government (with the help of Goldman Sachs) obfuscating their true debt position; creditors lending to Greece (and the other PIIGS) at rates of interest that did not reflect the risk they were taking, encouraging even more borrowing; and government institutions bailing out private creditors when Greece failed, thus transferring the risk and liabilities onto Northern European taxpayers, and by the ECB's accelerated debasement of the euro itself.
Hague arrives at the right answer but for the wrong reasons, like a maths student who receives a single point after fluking a correct result via a series of erroneous calculations.
The Euro is a distraction. The real action relating to selling out sovereignty is TTP and its variants. Nations that sign up to these have their actions constrained by unelected Corporate tribunal that makes unchallengeable decisions over disputes and can impose unlimited fines. All signatory countries will bre forced into the lowest common denominator.
Hague's government is fully on board with this treason.
@BigJim "I keep hearing this fiction that less productive people cannot have the same currency as more productive people. A moment's thought should tell you that it's nonsense. Within every polity, millions of people of varying degrees of productivity share a currency without that being the cause of any problems. The less productive people just get paid less."
A very good point.
Being poor is austerity.
The irony in this mess is that it was Mario Draghi, who whilst working for Goldman Sachs, spearheaded the process of Greece entering the Euro by "cooking their books" in order to make their entry acceptable.
Austerity is producing more than you consume until you make up for how much you previously consumed more than you produced.
The Euro get's a lot of bad press....but it's misdirected in my opinion. The fact that California and Nevada share a common currency, does not make the currency evil.
What makes the Euro toxic is the attempt to centrally plan debt management statistics and the fiat/debt money creation process. The EU should never have to care about a countries debt level...that should be the sole responsibiity of investors who buy the debt...then investors will manage the risk and adjust the interest rates to punitive levels accordingly.
But the entire monetary model is broken when a country with zero hope of ever paying back a cent of their debt gets to extend their credit 10 - 50 billion Euro's at 1% to 2% interest....when the free debt market would have priced that at 27%....or even better...no one would even buy the debt. That's the way a market works....and it's not the currencies fault.
The EU should not be telling Greece to cut their pensions! The market should be telling Greece their debt clock has run out...the internal Greece budget problems should be a Greece only issue.
And I think Nigel Farage's 4 minutes of genius in the EUP yesterday was far more eloquent a denunciation of the Euro than Hague was able to express either then or now. Only a complete loser would accept a lower position in Government after having been party leader, especially being so fucking arrogant with it.
PS I was not aware that Ed Milliband had ever been Foreign Secretary as the above posts would imply?
Because he wasn't. It was his bredren - Dave.
"He was not the worst; Milliband was 'worser.' Hague's disastrous tenure at the Foreign Ofice is because somehow, on entering that office, he suddenly became as though a ziocon puppet."
Just quoting the above.
Incidentally, if the Unions had not been so stupid, his brother David would have become leader and may very well have been elected as PM because he had much more charisma. That said, "New Labour" under Bliar (Don't get me started!) won power from the centre and the new/old Labour lost it from the Left.
I'm sure David Milliband has a hernia every time his mind wanders back to those days. Ed taking the helm of Labour was one of the weirdest twists I've ever seen, that's for sure.
This is the link to the Farage speech in the EUP I referenced above. Simply brilliant:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-09/nigel-farage-destroys-eu-group-...
"Ed taking the helm of Labour was one of the weirdest twists I've ever seen, that's for sure."
Maybe, don' t know the circumstances of how that happened. But have to say the guy who initially came accross as a bit nerdy could be surprisingly aggressive during the "question time" sessions in the House of Commons.
https://youtu.be/ZpZkPf7ogDc
Ed goes full on Eastenders on us ("lemme tell you, right..."), he resisted the temptation to drop a "cuz" or a "bruv" in there, but the audience has got him sussed - cue the sniggers.
interesting exchange, thanks
It was David Milliband, Ed Milliband's brother.
DavidC
to Phillipat:
Which might be true, but detracts from the point; whatever Hague is,or is not, his piece above was his conviction through his political life. It is in no way hypocrisy, and unlike his disastrous tenure at the foreign office in which he showed no understanding of his brief, the EU by contrast is what one might call his 'specialism.'
I have zero interest in anything Hague has to say about the middle east, but on the EU, he has standing. I cannot allow myself to write him off, when I recall how he tortured Blair in the house of commons on so many occasions, and reduced him among many of us, to a laughing stock.
So Hague's greatest achievement was to bring Blair down to his own level.
Blair was pretty much untouchable in the sycophantic press and MSM. He did his deal with the devil, and was treated far too deferentially.
But Hague, for all his faults, is a great orator, and funny with it. Blair's humiliations at Hague's hands during weekly Commons question time, such as it was, was probably the greatest consequence and discomfort that Blair had to face in his career of war-crimes and deceit. The haranguing sessions largely went unreported as they were too good at ridiculing the annointed one. Every time Hague socked one to him, I felt it was a small blow for humanity.
I agree, to a point. However, the problem with Hague's manner is that it doesn't travel well - which is why he tends to come off obnoxious to a foreign audience. That, and the shit he pulled on Libya / Syria has made him a poor performer in his FS post.
His conduct as Foreign Secretary was shocking, and in my eyes, makes him akin to a war criminal just as Blair was; each in different times, trying to galvanise the world to wage war against state x, y or z, on a false prospectus.
Actors such as Dick Cheney or David Milliband, we can despise them as ziocons. But at least they believe that genocide serves their evil belief system. In the case of Blair and Hague, it is not even their own belief system, but rather they just fellate anybody who can help their careers, even if they have to promote genocide to do it.
Which ones are the worst, the genocidalist ziocons, or those that sell out to them for career gain?
Blair was always a weak character, seeking fame and fortune, without an original idea in his head. Find me one idea that we know he believed in, other than sucking up to money and power. Hague is a more tragic and disturbing case; he did have strong views on certain issues, the EU being one of them, and so the article above is legitimate. But what made him ultimately follow in Blair's footsteps? In that story, is some kind of morality tale; people are weak, even those we expected more of. Or is it that the system is too strong?
"Every time Hague socked one to him, I felt it was a small blow for humanity."
One psycho pretending to attack another. They both have been vetted and move in the same circles. The only substantial difference between them is in scale - Blair / Iraq and Hague / Libya / Syria.
As I posted above, I don't think it is as simple as that.
For the benefit of non-Brits, here is a bit of context.
Before Hague turned to the dark side as Foreign Secretary, he achieved one thing that very few politicians can do; he made politics watchable. What normal person would ever tune into the dreary posturing that is politics, and perhaps it is made dreary on purpose. But Hague brought it to life, not least in terms of injecting humour, and disparaging the mighty and turning them into figures of fun. He was an outstanding speaker and orator. And during this time, the media does what the media does, and attacked him for being bald and 'looking like a foetus.' And how the public roared with laughter; this is the popcorn-munching smartphone-zombie population; disregard his thoughts and message, and judge him on his looks. The media is bought and paid for and we know that, but the public in the round (in my experience) judged him by his looks only, and are not capable of critical thought. What value then, democracy, when the majority are idiots? I don't know the solution, I just despair at what I see.
The clip below is a classic, and here is the context. Gordon Brown, who seemed to wait a lifetime for it, is finally PM of Britain. But Hague cautions him that Blair will have the last laugh, as President of the EU, a post that is sneakily being foisted on us as a ceremonial post, but which is a trick that will come back to haunt us all. Brilliant delivery!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ26SmDzxHE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94UcyJnRcGU&feature=youtu.be&t=12
<-- Hero
<-- Liar
William Hague:
“Intelligence work takes place within a strong legal framework. We operate under the rule of law and are accountable for it.
In some countries secret intelligence is used to control their people. In ours it only exists to protect their freedoms.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y0VW2NI4g0
I can completely understand your disappointment - The US unfortunately had Madelaine Albright...The quote cited from her Wikipedia page (footnote 57) sums up her "contribution" - God saves us all
William Hague likely involved in peadophile network of U.K. "elite" (just like a lot of others)
http://21stcenturywire.com/2012/10/29/what-did-hague-know-former-ministe...
I wouldn't trust the little weasel with a sixpence.
dupe.
The Euro is like Procrustes' bed. Procrustes was a bandit who would provide hospitality to those travelling through his area. If the guest was too short he would stretch the guest until he lined up with the length of the bed and if the guest was too tall he would hack off the limbs.
That's the Euro for you. One size fits all. Bit like a grave does.
You are confusing "our money your problem" Reserve hegemony in "print to infinity" with its little sister.
The Euro was created to counter "print to infinity" $ hegemony.
But it got lost along the way trying to be a look alike of her big sister, all the while she had only ONE LEG (no fiscal cohesion) and NO BIG STICK (Mutti has her nudist day tits but they are not nuclear and they could get caught in the wringer like that other lady during Watergate) !
Yeah, that's why the US supported or even pushed for it.
"Greeks are being expected to do business and compete with the rest of the world at the same exchange rate and with the same interest rates as Germany..."
no. actually, Greeks ask to have the same, harder currency, as the Germans, too
in all this fog of propaganda, don't forget that there is some 70-80% of Greeks that don't want the Drachma but the EUR
methinks there is a bit of a confusion here between what the Greek People wants and what the Greek State (and various interest groups) wants or needs
and since not long time ago this blog was called a "bat-shit crazy Austrian School blog full of goldbugs" by it's enemies...
... just explain to me how this conflict would be different if it was about gold instead of the EUR. answer: it would not, it would be just... harder
it's simple. a hard currency makes hard bargains, and leads more often to defaults
a soft, devalued currency makes it easier for the state... not the people, and not the private economy
this conflict is between Neo-Keynesians and their enemies, between statists and the private economy. there is a reason why Dr. Krugman hates the EUR, and here is it, in all it's squallid splendor
in all this fog of propaganda, don't forget that there is some 70-80% of Greeks that don't want the Drachma but the EUR
You have the stats for that, I hope?
Google it. It's been pretty much the result of every survey taken since the crisis started.
This idiot still believes in the UK being a member of this viscious and invidious organisation known as the 'EU'.
Not so much two faced, as spinning like a top.
"Three important truths - this crisis is not the fault of the Greek people."
True...only as long as you pretend that a corrupt people are in no way responsible for electing a corrupt government.
I laughed out loud when I heard the first anouncement of the intention of the thing; the "Euro", being the thing. It's ridiculous. It was designed to save face for the French so they didn't have to endure more serial devaluations vis a vis the DM. An Invention of card carrying socialists who had no more idea what reality looks like than a sparrow.
Yea, french pride of "La Grande Nation" that couldn't stand to see the "German atomic bomb" -as reverberated in the halls of the Elysee Palace, the DM, to revaluate regularly.
This is a good read on that whole process.
http://www.amazon.com/Rotten-Heart-Europe-Dirty-Europes-ebook/dp/B009UMZ...
I trust none of you will take William Hague seriously.
Jumping on the band wagon trying to pretend what he is not.
This is a man who was a crappy leader of the Tories for four years and opposed Tony Blair with all the force of sodden blotting paper.
This was the leader who went around fighting an election with the motto 'In Europe but not governed by Europe' - a complete contradiction in terms - as we were and are and he had voted for the Maastricht Treaty under John Major - which took Britain far deeper in - and made his slogan an insult to the intelligence.
There was one huge Treaty, which was a shocker, under the Tories post Thatcher.
The Maasticht Treaty which handed over to the EU a lot of fundamental British rights.
The Tory party was very split with a group of honourable men and women, John Major called 'the bastards', who fought it tooth and nail all the way.
18 of them - who must be written up in the hall of British history as honourable and great patriots.
Then were 16 other Conservative MPs.
Who, whilst not in open rebellion, refused to support the Treaty and abstained.
William Hague was not among either group.
This ghastly man was too busy sucking up to the establishment to become the next Tory leader.
William Hague - oh so very yes I said this and that - sold his country down the pan over the terrible Maastricht treaty that help to gut Britaiin's sovereignty and democratic self government.
I would give this creep the credence you would give Mickey mouse - he is a total two faced fraud when it comes to the EU.
CENTRAL PLANNING DOESN'T WORK.
But central planners don't care.
The more people centrally planned for, the worse the results. The less people centrally planned for, the better the results. No central planning works best of all. End of story.
are you from Taiwan ?
Depends on who you ask. Born in China, but spent a few years in Taiwan as well.
http://albainternazionale.blogspot.it/2015/07/wikipedia-made-in-langley....
CIA, Langley, Wikipedia FAKE ?
At the end of the day all the political cretins named above work for the Zionists.... Humanity's enemy.
Why is he only now speaking out after his time in office. Is he scared something comes this way in not such a distant future or has this been written "for him" by Langley?
We've had a lot of people speaking out of late, even Alan Jewspan's been at it....
something bad very bad for us is taking place & we're all soon going to find out what that is!
William Hague? William fucking Hague is now a authority ZH cites? For fucking fuck sake next you'll be lionizing Jimmy Savile. This Tyler needs a new drug connection.
The rest of us in Europe should just do what the Bank of England has done over the past 7 years - create hundreds of billions of pounds out of thin air and then go around telling the rest of the world how great we are.
Let's not forget Bernanke/Yellen/TheFed as the leadership in these efforts.
The real trouble is that it seems to work like a charm. For the moment, at least.
They aren't mowing each other the fuck down with machine guns anymore. I'd say the thing is working so far.
One of the great things about William Hague is his humour. For a politician it's pretty good and his Conservative Party conference speeches always go down well.
That said, he made a complete mess of being Party leader and his time in the Foreign Office under Cameron after 2010 was a disaster.
It included the destruction of Libya, plans to bomb Syria, many public statements blaming Russia for MH17and allegedly the signing off of a "Section 7" which authorised the murder of Gareth Williams, a GCHQ/MI6 operative because he knew too much about British gov/MI6 involvement in terror plots inside the UK used to justify ever more anti-terror/anti-liberty laws and surveillance.
It's difficult to know where he went wrong.
We all know that the EU is one gigantic scam.
Stop telling us what's wrong and DO SOMTHING ABOUT IT.
How come there are no articles about this in ZH?
Turkmenistan says Russia's Gazprom has not paid for any gas this year"Since the beginning of 2015, OAO Gazprom has not paid for its debts to state concern Turkmengas for the shipped volumes of Turkmen natural gas," Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry said in a statement on its official website
"Russian company Gazprom has become insolvent on its natural gas purchase-and-sale contracts due to the continued global economic crisis and economic sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia," the ministry's statement said.
Gazprom Cancels Italian Contractor’s Deal for Black Sea PipelineLONDON — The Italian oil field contractor Saipem said on Thursday that Gazprom, the Russian natural gas exporter, had canceled its 2.4 billion euro, or $2.6 billion, contract to build a pipeline under the Black Sea.
Nicholas Green, a senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London, said that while the Turkish Stream project might still proceed, searching for a new contractor with the required pipe-laying ships would delay the project at least six months.
He also said that Gazprom’s treatment of Saipem probably had damaged the Russian company’s reputation with other contractors. “I would imagine that international contractors would definitely think twice” about working for Gazprom, he said.
Gazprom postpones gas pipeline expansion for Turkish StreamThe news about Gazprom’s decision to stop the expansion of the single system of gas pipelines for gas injection into the future Turkish Stream was announced by Member of the Management Board of Gazprom Sergey Prozorov in his letter addressed to the executives of the three daughter companies of the concern, Caspian Energy News (www.caspianenergy.net) reports with reference to RBK. It involves Gazprom invest, Gazprom centrremont and Gazprom komplektasiya companies. S. Prozorov asks their directors to stop (starting from July 1 until the reception of the special permission) investment projects on expansion of the system of Southern Corridor gas pipelines, which was required for linking the offshore and onshore sections of the South Stream. The South Stream was replaced by Turkish Stream last year. It was supposed that the Southern Corridor would be built for its needs (part of the route and the major parameters of both streams were the same – 4 lines of the pipelines with total capacity of 63 bcm per year).
For those who understand russian - here is more info:
https://youtu.be/4BOQR4AWmXs
" "Russian company Gazprom has become insolvent on its natural gas purchase-and-sale contracts due to the continued global economic crisis and economic sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia," the ministry's statement said."
There's your answer: sanctions being applied by your friends across Europe and Washington.
How would YOU advise Russia to deal with that?
I give you the floor .................................................
"How would YOU advise Russia to deal with that?"
1.) Stopp aggresion in Ukraine (sending tanks, BPMs, troops, financing DNR & LNR)
2.) Start paying compensation to Ukranians for killed Ukranians by russian troops (without recognition singatures / on "retirment") and it's financed terrorists and destroyed & stolen infrastructure
3.) Accept UN tribunal for shooting down MH17
4.) Leave occupied Crimea
Than sanctions would be lifted and justice restored.
You cannot be serious on any one of those demands, including the final implicit assurance.
"Ukraine pilot shot down MH17"
"MH17 cockpit damage-I"
"MH17 cockpit damage-II"
The holes are from 30mm shells fired from a Ukrainian warplane.
Ha ha ha :D that's just great! What an evidence! Go straight with that to UN tribunal :D
So where is the problem? Only country reject UN tribunal is Russia.
putin regime: Ukraine shot down MH17, but we will reject UN tribunal for that although we have this sweet evidence created by this dude in his blog :D
Where is logic?
"Where is logic?"
Right Here:
<logic>
I don't know why Russia declined to agree whatever it was you say but the evidence available is that MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian airforce warplane. The hi-res images of damage to the fuselage clearly show 30mm cannon shell holes all over it near to the cockpit area.
The radio exchanges between MH17 and Kiev air traffic control were removed by Ukraine security service thugs immediately after the shoot down to hide that MH17 was ordered to a lower altitude to ensure it was within range of Ukraine's warplanes.
And of course, the pilot of the Ukraine warplane is on record admitting that he shot down MH17.
</logic>
Instead of instructing the Tylers, you could always write your own blog. I'm sure that a substantial number of ZH readers will flock there to read your incisive thoughts.
Snigger...yeh, I'd definitley go over and read it...what's the leading article gonna be
"Putin flies in on a Pheonix and fires laser beams from his eyes on defenceless children in Kiev"
William Hague
Now there's integrity standing before you with a capital "I"!!!
William Hague, just another U.K. politician who likes to fuck young boys asses, while spouting shit about the middle east and Russia...die already you pathetic excuse for a human being.
die already you pathetic excuse for a human being
.
And it begs the question... Why is it that the ones at the seat of power are always the most vulnerable financially and morally corrupt with with abnormal and abhorrent tastes.
At the time of introduction of the Euro I did not understand (and still do not) how they could give countries like e.g. Holland and Italy with different rates of inflation (2% and 7%) the same currency. I fail to imagine how this cannot go wrong.
Hague's message is accurate, but a gold backed Euro could have worked - preventing the counterfeiting and bubble economy socialist
buildup that's at the heart of this global cluster caused by the takeover of our money by the criminal central bank counterfeiters.
Also pretending that Greece doesn't have to compete in this hyper-competitive overpopulated world caused by counterfeited paper currency is ludicrous.
We all have to become Germany and even leaner as they have 30% government sector employment making them uncompetitive also.
Let the great shakeout and culling begin.
Well said. The sooner people realise it's more Germany we need, not less, the better.
"...more Germany we need, not less..."
Yeh? Cool, how about the U.S. giving them their gold back then, so they can get their financial house in order?
Nein. O.K. We the united nation of Germany will continue to suck U.S. politicians and oligarchs dicks for as long as it takes...Das is gut, ya?
Soros uber alles!
"There are two things infinite. The universe and stupidity of mankind and I am not so sure about the universe". Albert Einstein.
Closed banks, 50% unemployment, starving people, suicides, " exacerbate(d) recession"??????
" if you fix together some things which naturally vary, such as interest rates and exchange rates, other things, such as unemployment and wages, will vary more instead."
This is an important insight as to why collectivism always fails.
Good article ZH.
When you have the power to print money and steal from others, economics is what you read when trying to fall asleep.
The simple act of lending and expecting the loan to be paid back is not terrorism. However, when that money is created out of thin air, and interest is attached to it, that is economic terrorism.
Although William Hague makes nice neat pithy case, I think he has entirely comprehensively missed the point - he just talked all around it and did his best to avoid it.
Try this, which I posted earlier today, Mr Hague:
Complete bullshit!
The cause of stagnation is debt load, the cause is not Germany, and the cause is not a mere currency [or transfer payments even], the cause is 100% the result of high debt growth.
Because if you take away 90% of all the debt --> AND CHANGE NOT ONE THING ELSE <-- economic activity and trade will rush back so fast that it will make your head spin.
It is the bankers and harlot media that want everyone to think it's something other than unaffordable debt, owed to thus rendered INSOLVENT BANKS that's 100% of the economic stagnation, and also the tendency to geopolitical destabilization.
Germany and "more Europe" (whatever that is supposed to mean) has nothing at all to do with the reason for economic stagnation, settling-in, all around Europe, and the globe, and the conflict that associates with it, and is exploited by people looking to do that.
Anyone telling you the cause of the malaise is something else, someone else, some currency, some state, is talking complete bullshit, to try and distract from the clear and obvious reason that it has occurred - UNAFFORDABLE DEBT GROWTH.
Germany being branded as "the problem" is pure red-herring and concerted mischief-making, at best. There is a potential good Germany, and a potential bad Germany, and I prefer the good one, thanks, I don't want to see Germany pissed-off and disenfranchised again, for entirely false, fraudulent and malicious reasons (i.e. trolls and provocateurs).
90% global haircut = zero stagnation anywhere = demand everywhere = trade out the wazoo
Anyone telling you otherwise is a deceiver.
@Element: a welcome post to offset the anti-German hysteria doing the rounds.
Webster Tarpley's excellent summary of the euro crisis and its real cause should be required reading here at ZH. It will tell people all they need to know about the real culprits behind the anti-German and anti-euro hysteria we have to put up with on a daily basis. People who have something to hide often try to get away with it by pinning the blame on someone else. Next time you have to listen to the howls of protest and/or derision coming your way from London bear that in mind.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the euro. The problem is that its existence has always threatened someone else. We should spend more time establishing who this someone else is, and checking whether they really did launch all-out economic war on Europe to protect their own interests.
The world will never be the same again if that story ever makes it to the front pages.
Tarpley is a fellow zh reader and former commenter here, he 'gets it'.
I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.
It is sad that this otherwise very courageous and educated gentlemen cannot politically state the unvarnished truth, which is that the flaw in the Euro is the flaw in Europeans, and indeed all people, in that we have culturally varying tolerance for fraud and theft.
It was fraud that allowed the Greeks to enter. It is theft that is committed when a one borrows without intention to repay. It is fraud and theft when one loans money that they do not have, with the intention of producing only the portion immediately needed, as it is immediately needed, but intends to collect each interest payment on time and in full.
The different Euro countries not only have differing tolerances for theft, they also have differing conceptions of which thefts are acceptable, and which not.
In general most in Europe believe currency devaluation to pay debts, which impoverishes savers and producers to the benefit of debtors and unemployed, is not theft. The high and expanding number of debtors and unemployed indicate otherwise.
The Germans disagree. But the Germans are not consistent on the subject of devaluation. Germany believes devaluation for the purpose of enhancing exports is acceptable.
I would submit, that no theft is acceptable. And I submit that for one to get something-for-nothing, another must get nothing-for-something. That is particularly problematic when the obtaining of 'something' entails its own discincentives in the form of costs.
The grand problem in accepting theft in any form, is that once accepted the punishment for productivity is certain and inherent, and the rewards uncertain, while the punishment for theft is uncertain, and the rewards certain.
Shortly, accepting theft means that crime pays...more and more until eventually a collapse in productivity halts it...which impoverishes everyone. The thieves are eventually defeated because there is nothing left to steal.
Where theft in some form, is acceptable, productivity collapses as more and more become thieves in one form or another.
Sir James Goldsmith in 1993 on Why the Euro Will Not Work
https://solari.com/blog/sir-james-goldsmith-2/
best excuse ever, much more erudite than "who cudda knowed" is- these results were unforeseen.