Eric Clapton gets CBE

[IMM]

Anyone with half a brain can see we have to go into the euro eventually.

[Andy Hall]

Why not just go straight for the dollar and cut out the middle step.......

.andy

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[IMM]

We are in the EU. Have you noticed? We have been there for 31 years. We have no say over the dollar, we will have with the euro. And as the euro will eventually supersede the dollar, after the UK enters the euro, the euro is the currency to have. Or maybe you want us to become the 51st state. Mmmm, I thought that was Liverpool with Samuel Jackson.

[Andy Hall]

It was a tongue in cheek remark.

I am not sure that we would have any say over the Euro either. I have always thought that the notion of making a margin out of buying and selling currency in itself is a nonsense, although I think that having economic control is also important.

At least Romano Prodi was honest enough to say that the Euro has little to do with economics but everything to do with politics.

I think that it's a little bit of a stretch of the imagination to assume that the Euro will replace the Dollar.

As regards the UK being the 51st state of the Union, I thought that Israel more or less held that honour...

.andy

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[IMM]

Are you mad? The UK is one of the big 4 in the EU, and a world financial centre. Of course the UK would have a big say in the euro.

Nonsense. open borders all using the same currency will naturally increase trade.

Almost certainly it will. I worked in consultancy, and one of the lines was the euro. All the experts there were 100% confident it would replace the dollar. The beauty of the euro it is not the currency of one country. The dollar can be manipulated to suit the USA, as it is their currency. Re,member the Euro dollar? An unofficial currency. People were hoarding dollars and using it differently to the mainstream dollar. The euro stopped that.

Or Canada. Israel wants to be in Europe. It won the Eurovision song contest and enters into the European football competitions. Why? They are firmly in Asia.

[The Natural Philosopher]

# Try the economist.

[Andy Hall]

The question would really be whether it continues to operate by a defined set of rules or the extent to which those are relaxed to account for differing economic cycles.

I don't think that that was his point.

What does HVAC have to do with economics?

I don't think you got that quite right......

.andy

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[IMM]

The Economist? The Tory party figures manipulato! My, oh my!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not true Andy. Dollar is in for a turbulent time.

Just got an e-mail frm (very rich) friend of mine in California "we are trying to make sure Bush never gets re-elected, if he does we are off to Canada"

Clinton left a whole pile of shit by way of an overblown boom, and GW and teh boys are tryng desperately to not let it all go bust, BUT a lot of dirt (Enron, Worldcom et al, plus huge borrowings for the war, plus tax cuts etc) has been swepot under the carpet: If someone were to actually go down now, and the whole crony ridden frauduklent nature of what half of wall street has been up to for the last ten years coudl not be kept secret anymore, the whle thing COULD come down like a pack of cards.

Then the money flow out of the dollar into the euro - and the pound - would be stupendous.

Its perhaps not a foregone conclsuion, but it's more than a slender possibility.

Ter are signs that its happening in a slow controlled way anyway.

[IMM]

But you learned nothing at all.

Did anyone see the programme last night on property hunting in Texas. A couple who live in a terraced house in Crewe, can sell up and buy a huge house in Texas and have lots of change. A house that would be 0.5 million here was £80,000. And in very nice coastal areas too. About £200,000, about the average cost of a detached home these days in the UK, gets you a full dream house. Literally a house only a lottery win could get you here.

Why you may ask? Labours cost in the US are no cheaper than here. Land. Yes, land is the key. In the UK we are crammed into 7,5% of the land mass. They will not allow us to build on the land as it is owned by a small minority or people. The UK is big country, despite propaganda saying we are not. An artificial land shortage has been created ramping up land values to the point we live in small super expensive boxes.

[Andy Hall]

It was somewhat tongue in cheek.

I know a number of people in California with the same view. Is your friend a Democrat as a matter of interest?

Mmmm I do know what you mean. There has been more than a little nest feathering going on, and the line of legality a little blurred.

Certainly the whole issue of corporate governance has ridden high on the agenda.

Depending on where you sit, having a weaker dollar is arguably beneficial.

.andy

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[IMM]

Who mentioned HVAC?

I did! They are in Asia!

[Andy Hall]

No I wasn't.

The whole debate has been had at least five times before and all of the possible angles discussed repeatedly and ad nauseam.

I learned that I don't agree with you.

When are you leaving for Texas?

.andy

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[Andy Hall]

You're forever mentioning that you are a professional in HVAC.

.andy

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[IMM]

Yep.

[IMM]

No you do. You had a narrow minded viewpoint. I was explained to you, but you didn't want to eat humble pie and admit you had been conned all this time and agree with common sense and logic. Wake up and smell the coffee Andy.

It is tempting. Far fewer Little Middle Englanders around there. In fact the programme was centred around Corpus Christi. I spent a week there once. Nice place. They highlighted homes in Rockport where the Bushes spend weekends. The people, we stayed at had a huge lovely house. I thought it was a super expensive, by our standards, house. Now I know how much it costs.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Staggering. Simply staggering.

From teh man who claimed that Business and the City supports Laber...

[The Natural Philosopher]

Indeed. Texas has about the population of Wales in an area the size of France.

Why don't you bugger off there - or Canada, or Australia.

I know, they would make mincemeat of you, and you wouldn't last ten seconds outside the nanny state.

Thats about all teh habitable land there is. Have you ever BEEN to the welsh mountains, or the scottish Highlands? Have you in fact, ever been south of Watford, or further out of the country than Benidorm?

No, its owned by a large majority of private individuals. And regulated by the planning authority.

The UK is big country, despite propaganda saying we are

Habitable arraes contend with farming and forestry. Population clusters ariund work. Work clusters around communication.

Its the same in the USA. Fly over it, drive across it, and you will find vast areas of land with nothing on but crops and animals, or smply desert. Now you CAN live in teh desert of youi don';t mind spending $5000 a year on airconditioning, bu there ain't much to do, unless you are into weapons research...

An artificial land shortage has been created ramping up land values

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have no idea. She is a very very old ex girfriend. Her friends used to refer to her as a Rich Bitch then, last time I saw her she admited to 'still having the odd million or two stashed away'.

And been quietkly removed from it by Bush, who is too close to maost of em. They are who put him in power. Clinton as getting too close..

Market headlines today 'gold price surges as dollar falls heavily against euro and sterling'

[Andy Hall]

Common sense and logic is precisely why I don't agree with you.

Do bear in mind that there is no nanny state and no hand outs. Are you sure that you could cope with that?

.andy

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