Any Americans who support the European Union

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op25aMc590g[/youtube]

That is all.

Brief summary of clip, please?

Watch it.

Basically, is as follows: the citizens of the richer EU countries do not want to continue bailing out the poorer ones; residents of the poorer EU countries don't want to pay for the bankers' mistakes and have rioted amid severe austerity measures and 40% youth unemployment; EU is nakedly anti-democratic (as has been shown in numerous referenda); the electoral success in Finland of True Finns, etc.

I could never live in a place like the EU.

The EU and anything like it was, and is, a terrible idea. I just hope we have advanced space travel before "The Earth Federation" happens.

Well, the EU was a good idea. Too bad it is falling apart.

In the USA, the states pretty much are on their own to balance their individual budgets. None have gone down the tubes quite as far as Greece or Portugal, although the federal government itself has been going down the tubes thanks to the Republican Party.

I think one of the main problems with the EU is that they keep extending membership to weak countries. By which I mean, countries where the living conditions and pay rates are low. This allows mass numbers of those countries' workers to seek employment in the more desirable countries, which lowers wages and living standards in the stronger countries.

"Support" in what sense?

Unified currency without unified fiscal policy seems now to be obviously foolhardy.

Greece, for example, is not just poor - it has horrendous fiscal policy, as evidenced by the Drachma.

It would have behooved the countries with sensible fiscal policy to block the entry of countries with lousy fiscal policy until they had fixed their own systems.

And even then, they should still have a single fiscal policy within the EU.

What the Germans don't seem to understand is that it is Germany that loaned Greece the money that Greece can't pay back, and if Greece is not saved it will be Germans who take the brunt of it.

One option is bad, so is the other. They should pick the one that is less bad. Which is essentially what the USA did with it's bad banks.

Not that US fiscal policy is any good either.

I support the concept of it, but don't agree with it for the reasons stated by blausamstag. Do they still not reproduce at replacement rates? It as we now now it is a doomed society if they don't. You think popes covering genitals of exposed statues with a fig leaf is bad, wait till the great works are fully dressed head to two by the modesty police. As it is now, it is a beautiful place with many cities I wouldn't mind calling home like Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam or a coastal city in Croatia.

That's because the EU has become as concerned with creating a one world order as the UN. It's not about post-war economic recovery anymore, it's about control.

That meme sounds familiar. Do you care to elaborate or clarify?

Union worked for the United States.

ruveyn

Ah. So Ruveyn was a union member?

The Union of States.

ruveyn

A totally different scenario. European civilisation has been around for thousands of years, with its own very distinct cultures, currencies, sub-cultures, and ways of doing things. You'd be better off comparing the EU system of government to the Soviet Union than to the United States.

Oh dear.

Tequila, Why did you even bother starting this thread at all?

The EU is not a "place" any more than NATO is a "place."



This thread is not about discussing the continent of Europe. It is about discussing the EU.

Croatia is not yet a member country of the EU.

To those comparing the EU member countries to the states within the US: you don't get it. The US is a country. The EU is not a country. It's a club. An organisation. A bit like NATO.

If you don't want to look stupid, it might be best to research what the EU actually is (and who is in it) before commenting.