Brexit may send EU 'down the drain' - German vice chancellor

[Naam]

2 hours ago, AlexRich said:

 

Turkey? Now I'm laughing ... you actually bought that?

 

 

he is entitled to his opinions, he is BRITISH!

[AlexRich]

1 hour ago, Naam said:

he is entitled to his opinions, he is BRITISH!

 

Of course he is!

[MJP]

3 hours ago, Grouse said:

 

IKEA would like to do more manufacturing in the UK because of the weak GBP. However, they can't find people in the UK who can assemble furniture

 

No, this is development. Nothing to do with flat pack furniture.

[Grouse]

15 minutes ago, MJP said:

 

No, this is development. Nothing to do with flat pack furniture.

 

Do I have to raise a flag every time I crack a joke?

[MJP]

2 minutes ago, Grouse said:

 

Do I have to raise a flag every time I crack a joke?

 

It's the way you tell 'em. 

[Seraphina]

On 29/08/2016 at 9:57 PM, Red Parrot Fish said:

 

And sterling continues it's downwards path. You think this is a success? 

 

Unless you're living in the eleventh parallel universe or you're only 15 years old, you must know that currencies go DOWN as well as UP. 

 

If you want to quote currencies, you could have quoted short term, medium term, long term and very long term trends for context. Alternatively, you could have chosen to quote sterling movement using an index with July 2016 as 100. However, choosing a short time period after a particular event as proof of a sustained currency devaluation is both erroneous and misleading. It's what we researchers call, "cherry picking".

 

From an every day, EU perspective, France is one of many countries which suffered terribly - and is still suffering - from the effects of converting from its local currency to the euro.  Local prices in France rose by some 20% or more: the cost of a local cup of coffee rose from 2 euros to 3 euros (it's now 4 euros or more) and the cost of an ordinary 'baguette' - something we buy every day, not every week like they do in the UK, became ridiculously expensive overnight.

 

I would suggest that such price increases on every day items have a genuine adverse impact on the spending power of the common man on an everyday basis and therefore money circulation. To the best of my memory, the UK has never suffered from this type of event, though I wasn't in the UK when decimilisation occurred. Nowadays, the UK continues to import inflation from France, mainly due to the amount of wine and champagne it buys annually, based on euro prices rather than French francs. The point I'm making is this: if you earn in sterling and spend in sterling, you probably won't feel any difference, even over the medium term, unless you take 5 holidays a year in countries with stronger currencies.

[Naam]

40 minutes ago, Seraphina said:

From an every day, EU perspective, France is one of many countries which suffered terribly - and is still suffering - from the effects of converting from its local currency to the euro.  Local prices in France rose by some 20% or more: the cost of a local cup of coffee rose from 2 euros to 3 euros (it's now 4 euros or more) and the cost of an ordinary 'baguette' - something we buy every day, not every week like they do in the UK, became ridiculously expensive overnight.

 

the same thing happened in Germany and other countries Seraphina. changing to a formerly unknown and suddenly unfamiliar currency provided an ideal opportunity to dupe consumers with totally unjustified price increases. changing from Franc to EURo did not cause the price increase of coffee and baguettes.

 

biggest cheaters in Germany were the restaurants who thought they can charge the same amount of EURos quoted before in Deutsche Mark. but it was too obvious and did not last, at least not in the restaurant business. many consumers were treated like stupid cattle because they were stupid enough to believe the fairy tale "it's the EURo stupid!" and of course some consumers still believe this ridiculous claim.

[Naam]

55 minutes ago, Seraphina said:

if you earn in sterling and spend in sterling, you probably won't feel any difference, even over the medium term, unless you take 5 holidays a year in countries with stronger currencies.

 

please don't forget that this is a forum where a lot of members post who earn GBP, USD, EUR, AUD and what not currency but their expenses are in Thai Baht. and if these expats crave for some imported stuff they are punished double. the strengthening THB should make imports much cheaper mais... au contraire!  merde alors! 

[AlexRich]

1 hour ago, Seraphina said:

 

Unless you're living in the eleventh parallel universe or you're only 15 years old, you must know that currencies go DOWN as well as UP. 

 

If you want to quote currencies, you could have quoted short term, medium term, long term and very long term trends for context. Alternatively, you could have chosen to quote sterling movement using an index with July 2016 as 100. However, choosing a short time period after a particular event as proof of a sustained currency devaluation is both erroneous and misleading. It's what we researchers call, "cherry picking".

 

From an every day, EU perspective, France is one of many countries which suffered terribly - and is still suffering - from the effects of converting from its local currency to the euro.  Local prices in France rose by some 20% or more: the cost of a local cup of coffee rose from 2 euros to 3 euros (it's now 4 euros or more) and the cost of an ordinary 'baguette' - something we buy every day, not every week like they do in the UK, became ridiculously expensive overnight.

 

I would suggest that such price increases on every day items have a genuine adverse impact on the spending power of the common man on an everyday basis and therefore money circulation. To the best of my memory, the UK has never suffered from this type of event, though I wasn't in the UK when decimilisation occurred. Nowadays, the UK continues to import inflation from France, mainly due to the amount of wine and champagne it buys annually, based on euro prices rather than French francs. The point I'm making is this: if you earn in sterling and spend in sterling, you probably won't feel any difference, even over the medium term, unless you take 5 holidays a year in countries with stronger currencies.

 

I'm not sure what the significance is of being 15 years old, as Sterling would have been fairly volatile to the US $ during that period?

 

Anyway, a weak currency is no problem if your source of income is in a, now stronger, other currency ... for example, company shares that pay dividends in US dollars or companies that earn in dollars and spend in Sterling. However, if you earn in Sterling and spend in Sterling you are not only affected by the increase in the cost of your two week annual overseas vacation. As retailers will soon show, the buying budget will have to increase to buy the same number of items, so we can expect our prices to increase - for most goods that we buy. 

 

But it's not just currency ... interest rates for savers will be lower for longer, the Government budget is likely to expand, so as a nation we take in more debt, and our recent impressive growth relative to other countries will come to a grinding halt in 2017. We were doing pretty well within the EU ... immigration won the day?  

[Seraphina]

19 hours ago, Naam said:

 

the same thing happened in Germany and other countries Seraphina. changing to a formerly unknown and suddenly unfamiliar currency provided an ideal opportunity to dupe consumers with totally unjustified price increases. changing from Franc to EURo did not cause the price increase of coffee and baguettes.

 

biggest cheaters in Germany were the restaurants who thought they can charge the same amount of EURos quoted before in Deutsche Mark. but it was too obvious and did not last, at least not in the restaurant business. many consumers were treated like stupid cattle because they were stupid enough to believe the fairy tale "it's the EURo stupid!" and of course some consumers still believe this ridiculous claim.

 

All very good points. I believe you 100%. ....and poor Germany received a double whammy because it had to bear the colossal cost of reunification - yet look where they are now....still ahead of everyone else. 

[Seraphina]

The Head of Deutsche Bank, who was initially against Brexit in the run-up to the referendum, and who later changed his opinion has recently states that London’s role will be “very different”, but it will remain at the centre of the financial world. Edited by me - for full story, refer:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/706117/joseph-stiglitz-eurozone-depression-brexit?ref=yfp

[Laughing Gravy]

Has anyone else noticed that the Biased BBC and the <deleted> Sky news  never mention the reason why many people voted Brexit. I did and over 300 friends did was for the reason of having laws made by an unelected body of people in another country.

Politicians seem to forget that and 17 million people who voted for Brexit were aware of this.