Sunday, Dec 14, 2008
Gordo, why don't we just join the euro? You know it makes sense.
BBC: Pound 'buying less than a Euro'
The falling value of sterling means some people are getting less than a euro for every pound when changing money, The Observer suggests. After commission and handling fees were charged, customers at some airports got just 197.13 euros for £200 on Saturday.
Posted by harold @ 10:03 PM (1123 views) Add Comment
21 Comments
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1. Planning4acrash said...
Didn't do much good for Ireland.
2. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.
3. enuii said...
Harold, in the Gordon Brown sponsored race to the bottom we are winning hands down, it would be the height of lunacy to jump from one currency to another that given six months or so is going down as well.
The question that should be asked is whether the euro is too big to sink and how much dead-weight i.e. spain, ireland, greece, austria, hungary, and other peripheral countries is it carrying.
If we join it should be on the way up and not on the way down where we will get shafted by the terms of the deal.
4. montesquieu said...
@ ennui
Totally right. Membership makes long-term sense but timing right now is about as awful as it gets.
Of course if Broon is a secret eurosceptic he's done exactly the right thing to torpedo membership for the foreseable, as we have bugger all chance of making key convergence critera such as the borrowing/gdp ratio.
The foaming at the mouth BNP/UKIP brigage really ought to be celebrating this masterstroke ....
Whether there will be a Euro to join by then of course if ireland and spain end up in flames just like Greece is anyone's guess of course.
5. crunchy said...
The one off cost of introducing the Euro currency to UK will be significant.
Such changes include educating customers, changing labels, training staff, changing computer software and adjusting tills.
Are we ready for this, with the retail sector about to go to the wall?
The weak pound is sucking in foreign money and helping to stop the pound being spent elsewhere.
I can't see it happening anytime soon
6. str 2007 said...
If the timing to join is the worst it could be and Gordon Brown is in charge - then it's a dead certainty we will join isn't it ?!
7. str 2007 said...
Crunchy
Did you see the article posted earlier today about Oill going to £10 a barrel - thought you'd have to pay that for the barrel !
Also did you see the Hinda Clarity on Top Gear.
Hydrogen Fuel cell on board - not quite what S2R1 was predicting from Honda but definately a huge move away from oil for the mass market over the next 10 years.
Basically 136 bhp, 200 miles on a tank, same price as petrol, fill up at petrol garage, 1 main moving part so virtually no servicing and cheaper to build than petrol/diesel car.
8. str 2007 said...
Have posted 2 articles about above in case anyone's interested (you should be).
Unfortunately they haven't come up on site - don't know why.
9. Maihem said...
@str 2007
Did top gear say 136 bhp? I thought they said 136 hp? Manufacturers have been moving away from bhp ratings for some time as the gearing technology improves or even disappears in the case of some all-electric drive trains.
AIUI bhp is the power at the engine, while hp is the power at the ground.
10. fahrenheit451 said...
Dropped in to post the following, but it just doubles up this article anyway:
http://money.uk.msn.com/investing/articles/john-stepek/article.aspx?cp-documentid=11823803
Hey it's a wonderful time to join the euro, Exports will boom, the tourist industry will thrive, all Costa prperty holders will sell (for anything they can get ...) and we will never be able to go on holiday again, but who cares, GBH, our friendly government, you must be joking.
If they really think that they do care, well, they ought to take some lessons from the Germans, they must be doing something right, they've rescued the other part of their country, and now even have a massive surplus. So should we rescue England, Wales, Scotland, or how about taking over the rest of Ireland ...
Er, please do not take this seriously, it’s getting worse by the minute. Now where's that bottle ...
11. gone-to-colombia said...
Words fail me in my anger about what is happening with the fall of sterling, is there nothing this govenment would not do to support the
idiotic actions of borrowers?
12. crunchy said...
5. str 2007
I wonder at the idea of other energy possibillies some of which we could have had years ago, if allowed to be developed, Oil is not great.
However, oil is not still being used for no reason. There are very strong reasons for it to be around for some time yet.
I will buy some and if it gets cheaper I shall buy some more.
The cheaper oil gets the more reason for it to rise. IMHO.
Stanley Mayers would have loved the Honda Clarity. I missed it. BROWNED OFF!!
13. mountain goat said...
What a miserable sight! My only hope is that this parity with the Euro will be a psychelogical moment that gets the average person angry so that Darling Crash drop their borrowing plan. Personally I think interest rate cuts were not outrageous given that the market has fled into Gilts and inflation is falling. It's the increased borrowing plan when tax revenues are set to fall in a recession that is madness. Borrowing yourself out of a debt crisis is absurd.
14. tyrellcorporation said...
Surely Interest Rates will have to rise again soon if the Sterling crash gathers momentum?
15. str 2007 said...
Bet the Germans are shorting GBP heavily at present.
If only to see even more egg on World Chancellor Browns face.
16. bellwether said...
This is getting retarded. Interest rates will be close to zero in BOTH the UK and in the Euro Zone next year. Complaining about this is (a) to misunderstand the situation and (b) a waste of time anyway.
The short term currency movements between the Euro and Sterling tell you next to nothing about the longer term prospects of either the UK or the Euro Zone so obssessing about them is the equivalent of sucking your thumb.
If you have savings and think the Euro is a good bet relative to Sterling then buy the currency. If not (and in any event) you would be better spending your time working out what you are going to do rather than bitching on here.
17. bellwether said...
sorry suspect I must be hormonal today! The point stands tho, this crash gordon rubbish is really a waste of time. You really would be better focusing on how you can best read and survive the situation than moanining about it
18. notaneconomicsguru said...
14. Bellwether - well said and quite true
19. harold said...
Personally, I think the Euro is just another fiat currency dung heap, that will go the way of all fiat currencies: oblivion. IMHO, however, due to his globalist aspirations Gordo is itching to get the UK into the Euro. Just look what he did in respect of the treaty. Joe public will sooner or later be presented with an economic fait accompli.
The sooner we wake up to real money, the better.
20. letthemfall said...
It may seem daft to borrow more when the national debt is so big (although Germany's is much bigger) but the idea is to stop economic activity slumping to such an extent that many more end up unemployed, which no doubt would include some of us here. An idea of the alternative may be gained from studying the policies of the Conservatives in the early 80s - not attractive. The pound has dropped steeply before (under Lab and Cons). At some point it will bounce back as before.
21. Maihem said...
@lethemfall, the only solution is for those without net debt to work less and those with net debt to pick up the slack.
1) Since there are so many people that want to pay off their debts, net production must decline - if it doesn't, the entire economy breaks down.
2) To allow the expected economic effect of credit to work, thus allowing trade to continue normally, those with debts must work for those that lent them the wealth - ie those without debts. This is achieved simply by those with debts repaying their loans - but it requires that those people work a bit harder than everybody else (after all, everybody else worked harder than them for the same lifestyle while they were spending those loans).