Britain... Europe Divides us all

Let me set the scene... It's a classy restaurant in West London, the lights are dim and a British couple prepare for the arrival of a luxurious meal when suddenly a taste abomination arrives - it is cooked OK, maybe a little cool but the taste is repulsive, it may be a little crusty as well... the waiter arrives:

                Waiter: Excuse me sir, madam, is everything is alright with your meal?

                Man: Oh (he coughs and looks around nervously) Everything is fine, thank you.

Now what happens is the British couple finish the food and head for the exit thanking the staff once again as they leave with forced smiles... only as soon as they exit to complain at great lengths and make a vow never to return... the irony of this cliche is they might have just had a bad example, that given the chance the restaurant could have made amends and shown the couple what they really could have gained from their dining experience.

Now lets turn the cliche into a crude metaphor where the restaurant becomes Europe and the couple become Britain. We have not complained for long enough or bothered to get involved in the politics strongly enough to make a difference... in short we trade with Europe, have an opinion and sit firmly on the fence... and the result: Germany and France get stronger... and Britain loses any chance of a seat at the table... When Tony Blair went for the first European Presidents position did the backing of Germany and France for a more neutral candidate not thwart his efforts? 

Now we sit there and makes comments and suggestions as to how to run the Eurozone. We are not involved and have no right to comment (mind you it's not the first time we have interfered in someone else's affairs). Yes we can comment on the IMF, Europe, the EU but not the Eurozone... and what was the response... Sarkozy tells Cameron to shut up. He is apparently sick of his interference and as far as I can tell he has a point... 

So our premier is challenged... and how do we back him... well his own party decide to stage what in all essence looks like a vote of no confidence... 83 people demand a referendum that will never happen... Britain sits there weakened as she enters for new rounds of who's going to bail out who... 

The issue is Europe is changing and we are growing distant... Germany and France a few days ago sparked after demanding Italy reduce it's debt the Italians demanded an emergency session where nothing was decided... and how did the British Media react.. by saying Berlusconi 'actually' attended... but what will Italy do? While Italy's debt accounts for 120% of their GDP they have no choice... they cannot pull out of Europe - it will cripple them as it would Britain. They will accept any demands the EU makes in the end... 

Herman Van Rompuy (the EU President if you've never heard of him) has declared there will be an "Economic Government" to control the finances of the members of the Eurozone... and while some people are declaring the rise of the German Fourth Reich (Reich refers to a great age and this time is through finance over bombs or swords) that will dominate the economies of Europe my only question I have is if we ceased putting as much money into the development of other countries and bailing out others would Britain still be seen as such an important member... The way we go on about how we deserve to be at the top table feels painfully close to our delusions of Grandeur in Football (Germany, Italy and France have all won far more major titles both Continentally and Internationally) but hey we do have the latest golden generation since the last tournament.

And what are Britain's options? Not a lot - it's no coincidence we 'went into Europe' around the same time as  our Empire was being dismantled... the truth is we need the common market. So we should be getting more involved, and demanding more from the EU... looking at what options we can take that benefits Britain as Cameron said when he declared Europe thinks we are pussy cats and not the proud lions we claim to be (A Richard the Lionheart reference who, although our king, ironically did not speak English and hated Britain)... instead we sit there and rather than tackle the issue head on, we complain and moan at home about the raw deal we are getting and get to listen to crude metaphors of cats from Politicians.

Written by @roywoodhouse

(please click on my name and follow me on Twitter)

Credit Crunch: A Recession Inducing Buzz Word

Fact: A recession happened...

But what the hell seemed to go off... well in lamens terms it seems that someone said there was such an amount of money in the world... and they lied...

But where did it start...

I would suggest that the person who invented the term credit crunch touched on a source of pure power... A credit crunch quite simply became a self-fulfilling prophecy... so thanks for that...

I remember hearing people saying... oh no I can't buy that - there's a credit crunch... I was stood behind some people at a cash point who said "I'm only taking out a tenner - credit crunch mate!" And what a snazzy term it is, sort of roles of the tongue... the alliteration really setting it off.... it's almost like it's designed to get in our heads and without us even question, make us fear it....

People who had no debt, no mortgage and no loans heard the term credit crunch and how they did tremble... so what happened... everybody whether they had debts or not stopped spending... they reined in the money like there was no tomorrow. Well the businesses started losing money and sooner or later cuts had to be made and people started having to go... People stopped being able to pay money to the banks, and well the little old banks who had given so much bad debt out in the first place to people who couldn't afford it started to panic and before long people and banks and businesses were fucked cause everybody panicked and everybody wanted to keep their little bit of gold... cause if they didn't there would be no tomorrow...

Well let me break a little news - ... if the financial structure of the world collapse tonight ... we would still wake up tomorrow... the world would not end, it would just be a little different. The US government has a plan in place in the event of a Nuclear war to allow it to still collect taxes... but if there was no money, no finances and no debt there could be no taxes....

Now  this is all a very simple version of the events... and it did not hit everywhere... we only have to look to Brazil... unlike us (Great Britain) who lowered our VAT rate... 17.5% to 15% and now it's back to... oh no wait it's 20% which is like 2.5% more than it was instead of less... I wonder when that will go back...

Well in Brazil they lowered the taxes on everything from cars to fridges and houses and the public went crazy... they spent their money and the economy kept turning and no-one panicked... The recession barely hit Brazil... The banks kept steady lending... the people bought things and jobs stayed as available as ever...it wasn't just Brazil but is there any correlation between this and the fact that the best google translate has to offer as a translation of Credit Crunch is Crise de Credito... (hardly as snazzy)- Probably not but maybe with a little education, support and some real enticing benefits we might not be quite as fucked.