Pound against the euro

[christoph clark]

As the pound is nearly 1 pound for 1 euro is it now time to join the Euro.
For me this is great news as it makes things in the uk cheaper but for all those who come and invade the calais supermarkets its now not so cheap.. I also expect that the price of imported good will rise. #-o

 

[Digit]

All parties here Chris seem to agree that this would be a bad time for the UK to join.

Roy.

 

[joiner_sim]

I can see the UK using euro's before the end of the credit crunch!

 

[Paul Chapman]

As the pound is nearly 1 pound for 1 euro is it now time to join the Euro.

Joining the Euro was never a good idea and never will be.

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[MIGNAL]

Why? Without getting too political or at least party political I'd like to hear some Economic reasons why joining the Euro is a good or a bad idea.

 

[Digit]

Personally I can't think why we should want to join anything.

Roy.

 

[Rich]

Well, I am certainly no economist, but the thought of all the eggs in one basket fills me with dread, the ideology of political union was to make sure the likes of France and Germany and the rest of Europe would not be at each others throats ever again (some hope) Economic monetary union was sneaked in on us but we have not acceeded yet, we were only supposed to be joining a common market, any ideology built on lies is bound to end in tears, take the Irish referendum for example, those are my reasons for not wanting to adopt the Euro.

Rich.

 

[Maia28]

You just know that the moment we joined the euro it would all fall apart Just because there may be pound:euro parity that in itself doesn't change anything. If we wait much longer will be be discussing whether to adopt the US dollar or even Zimbabwe's? I'd rather we just left the EU and put all that nonsense behind us.
Andy

 

[Digit]

Any minute now Andy somebody will post how we can't survive without membership. If/when they do, check out Norway.
They've been failing to survive for some time, same with Switzerland.

Roy.

 

[Maia28]

That's right Roy, the ice caps would probably melt, we would cease to trade with anybody and the population would eat one another in desperation as the islands sink into the atlantic. I think this has been described in EU forecast UKOUT/DOOM/08/N0CH4N5E and confirmed by the best independent expert opinion available and there can be no valid reason to question this. It was obviously incredibly nieve and immature of me to express such an opinion and I apologise unreservedly for demonstrating such crass stupidity.
Winston Smith

 

[Digit]

If they were so sure of their case they would put it to a vote, like they did in Switzerland. Called Democracy I believe.

Roy.

 

[Maia28]

I agree, but momentaraly forgot I must learn to love big brother. Seriously though, I think now would possibly be the worst time to join the euro and effectively loose all control of fiscal policy (for better or worse). If we did though we could shift the blame for our current situation from the US to some unknown German/French/* (insert european nation of your choice here) instead of taking responsibility for our own failings.
Andy

 

[BradNaylor]

I certainly don't think we should join the Euro.

However, if Germany were ever to withdraw from the Euro I think there would be a good case for trying to join the Deutschmark!

:wink:

Dan

 

[MIGNAL]

Well I haven't heard many Economic reasons for not joining, although losing control of fiscal policy is quite a significant step. Then again with the UK debt levels being so high maybe we need to lose control of Fiscal policy!

 

[Paul Chapman]

Well I haven't heard many Economic reasons for not joining

Similarly, most of us are still waiting for the advocates of European monetary union to provide us with sound economic reasons why we should join.

Don't hold your breath :wink:

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[StevieB]

The main reason for not joining the Euro is losing fiscal control of our own country's monetary strategy. In any multiple state enterprise any decision will always be a compromise and it will not be in favour of any particular member all of the time, so some decisions would be bad for the UK, some good for the UK. The balance of these depends alot on where you stand as a Europhile or Eurosceptic, and you tend to promote those examples which best support your view.

The main reasons for joining the Euro are increased 'buying power' since you are part of a stable currency which is widely avialable and recognised as such. Along with the US dollar, and the Yen it is one of the most recognised currencies in the world. Trade transactions are simplified and currency fluctuations have less of a short term impact - no more Black Monday's for example. Goods can be accurately priced and traded without currency variations adding an extra layer of complexity.

While joining is attractive from a business perspective, it is less so from an individual perspective since UK inhabitants tend to feel a lack of control of their own currency and policy being set from outside the UK. Quite a remarkable view given our complete lack of concern that most of our energy companies are foreign owned, our rail companies, banks, car manufacturers and even Nuclear Energy likewise along with countless other examples. Take over our industry and we dont even murmur, threaten to take the Queens head off our bank notes and there is an uproar.

If everything ran as it was supposed to at the EU, and there clearly were no member state politics then it all sounds fine. However, this is an institution which has not had its books signed off as acceptable by accountants since its inception, threated to alter generous farm subsidies to benefit non-mediterranean countries and there are riots in France and Spain, member states cannot even agree on how many fish each state is allowed to catch, fiscal rules are ignored by Italy, budget deficit limits exceeded by France and Germany without censure despite explicit rules laying out penalties, the stories are never ending of malpractice and mismanagement at the highest level, and now they want to expand and centralise decision making to majority voting on a wide range of issues.

Despite assurances from politicians in the UK of all sides, the EU doesnt particularly like us and our opt-outs, and contrary to our own belief we are not still the global superpower we once were with an Empire to manage, and we would wield little power at the centre of an enlarged majority voting EU.

Personally I think we shouldnt adopt the Euro, but because I do not trust an entity the size of the EU to micromanage in the interests of every member state, not because I object to the currency per se. In theory our politicians have only the UK to worry about and they havent been doing a very good job of that lately. Scale up and the problems get larger, not smaller.

Steve.

 

[MIGNAL]

Well I haven't heard many Economic reasons for not joining

Similarly, most of us are still waiting for the advocates of European monetary union to provide us with sound economic reasons why we should join.

Don't hold your breath :wink:

Cheers :ho2

Paul

I suppose the standard answer is that it will simplify import/exports to Europe. I import wood and occasionally export my product to Europe - all on a very, very tiny scale.
I'm pretty ambivalent on the matter of joining. I doubt that our world will cave-in if we were to join tomorrow, then again it may not bring any benefits.
If the economies in the Eurozone avoid a deep recession whilst the UK plummets into a long arduous recession then I suspect that peoples attitude towards joining will shift. Being hit in the pocket usually changes peoples mind pretty quickly.
I'm not suggesting that this will happen or indeed that joining in such circumstances would be the correct thing to do, On this matter I really am sat on the fence.

 

[Paul Chapman]

This is really too big a subject to discuss on here, Mignal, but what bothers me in particular is the sheer incompetence of most politicians when it comes to economic issues. For people like Brown, Darling, Bush and others to say, publicly, that the present economic problems could not have been forseen displays an incompetence that is almost unbelievable. You simply cannot have continuous growth funded by debt.

To trust them with the European monetary union experiment, which is based, in my view, on idealistic clap-trap rather than sound economic arguments, would be a mistake of monumental proportions.

If we as individuals managed our own financial affairs in the way governments do, we'd all be bankrupt.

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[christoph clark]

Well I started this topic not beacuse I wanted a raging topic on whether or not to join the euro but more to see what your opinions were on the situation of the pound. I know that 90% of you and the UK don't whan the euro but I see that by the end of this year the pound will be equal to the euro.

Being hit in the pocket usually changes peoples mind pretty quickly

Well this will start to happen next year when you plan your next holiday.

 

[christoph clark]

AND festool could go up about 30%