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Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, thinks Britain should pay more towards to the Euro bailout fund.
She says that "it is in Britain's interest" to do so.
Is she right? What do you think?
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879The Euro was set up on a fraudulent basis. Even the Germans didn't qualify at the time!
It was a political decision which we didn't want to be part of, so why should anyone else have to bail them out?
However, if it is to contribute to a fund that the Eurozone will pay interest on, that would be a different matter. We all need our economies to get going again and possible defaults certainly don't help. We can't sell to them if they are broke!
Please also bear in mind that we are a major contributor to the IMF so already make a contribution through their portion.
Mike
Posted on 20 April 2012 |
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362Yes... I think we should bail them out...
I think it is only fair to increase fuel duty by another 50p a litre. Lets also increase VAT to 35%. Oh, and lets do away with the personal allowance, and increase the higher earnings rate to 95% of anyone who earns more than £12,500 a year.
And lets not forget that we should encourage anyone living in a country suffering from an economic collapse that they are welcome to come to our country, as we will provide spacious accommodation, a benefits system that will see them through to retirement without having to lift a finger to work, and an automatic right to look down their noses at their host.
I always love how these organisations make demands on a country, forgetting that a country only has the money it can legally, or illegally, demand from the indigenous population.
Why do they expect us lot to pay MORE taxes to bail out a country that has mismanaged its own finances, and why doesn't THAT country tax its own citizens to death, rather than expect the denizens of the UK to do it for them.
Are we weak, or what. It must be lovely to know that, as a European citizen, when you are in dire straits, some poor sod 3,000 miles away has to work themselves into an early grave, or carry on working till they are ninety, to support you.
Oh, and when our country finally collapses or implodes from the drain caused by our neighbours, who is going to step in to help us out, or will all our recent immigrants decide it is better to return to their original home, leaving us to fester.
In my mind, to render help or assistance is quite normal, but if these countries are literally bankrupting themselves, they NEED new management, not financial help.
Let the people of those countries revolt, and overthrow the idiots in charge (and who have no doubt been exploiting their position, like our own MPs have), and elect new leaders who can manage a country without the need to rip off their own people.
Posted on 21 April 2012 |
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25The EU was set up to benefit Germany mostly and France.
Germany has had the greatest benefit, being able to concentrate on manufacturing and selling to the rest of Europe, doing this on the backs of the USA, spending less on defence while depending on the USA for their defence.
Europe has been able to provide better benefits for their people, while keeping their defence costs below 2% at our and the Americans expense.
Libya comes to mind, where the Europeans had no air tankers to refuel their aircraft, and not enough bombs and other munitions to do the job, all this was supplied by us and the USA.
One way and another Europe has had 60 good years at our expense.
Let them sort themselves out this time.
We will profit after their collapse.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 3 loves
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2There is no way Britain should contribute anymore to the IMF. I was under the impression that George Osborne had previously stated that we wouldn't do so in order to pay towards yet another bailout. This money will never be returned, despite the assurances given. The Eurozone is doomed, it's just a matter of time before it finally collapses. Christine Legarde is relying on the various countries steeped in their traditional ways, making changes virtually overnight. It won't happen!
As far as damage to Britain, this is a decision taken by George Osborne that will plunge more of our people into poverty, and for a far longer period. The public should have the final decision, not this incompetent chancellor who has a degree in history, not economics! The decisions to date from Osborne and the coalition in general have done nothing to solve the problems of unemployment etc. All this government have created is more and more poverty and despair. This decision will plunge us even deeper into poverty and despair. None of their decisions affect the politicians. They carry on their lifestyles as before!
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 2 loves
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643Lagarde is FRENCH and has impressive qualifications in Law and Politics. Who better to be in touch with the best interests of the UK population? I hear that we will soon have Robert Mugabe advising us on our agricultural policy and the Pope advising us on child welfare.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 1 love
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270electricblue
I think Robert Mugabe has already been advising us. It's called printy, printy and in his case, has already destroyed his own currency.
Where do we get the money from to give to the IMF? We are bust. Oh, silly me, I suppose we print it.
We have idiot politicians who got us in this mess, trying to get us out of it.
How much does the EU cost, with their excessive salaries and expenses, etc?
We do not give them the money and we must pull out of the EU. UKIP next for me. Can't be any worse.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 3 loves
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643The current world financial crisis is uncharted territory. Whether our politicians got us into the mess is now a moot point as almost every other nation on the planet is being affected and some (eg Japan) are in a totally dire state yet are not in the news. The UK economy is in a better shape than many, so we're not totally broke. I've yet to see a finely detailed breakdown of the pluses and minuses of EC membership and unfortunately I tend to disagree that UKIP could not be worse because they only spout simplistic solutions to very very complex issues.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 1 love
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1The funniest thing is to read BRUTISH comments on Europe or the EURO.
Mrs. Lagarde didn't ask for more money for the EUROZONE, she wanted to increase the funding for the IMF. But Brutish people just cannot read. They are too obsessed to blame others for their own failure. Structurell problems should to be solved and not this permanent lamento. The UK economy is in a mess. The lazy Brutish people have to work harder. They time is over when wealth grow by sitting in the sofa and watching how the house prices are going up. Or the extensiv use of Credit Cards. Look what the Bank of England is doing. Sponsoring the people getting inti debt and savers are loosing money. It's called QE. What a stupid way. The next bubble will be again built on debt.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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1Perry525
Thank you for IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN. If a fuzzy small country like Britain wants to play Policeman around the world please do so. And BRUTISH LAND wants to be Americas Poodle ok. But don't think the rest of Europe should take part in murder, torture and Human Rights abuses.
BRUTISH LAND has a problem. It lost an Empire and still thinks the CANNON BOAT POLICY should work. It's over! And the Jubilee this year won't change the reality that the QUEEN was the biggest looser. Empire ist gone under her reign for EVER!
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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62We're selling our assets to foreigners of dubious origin and still having to borrow to pay for our essential services so now we have to borrow more to give it away. Unfortunately, the club we belong to is in deep doo doo and that is a situation in which we are complicit. What options do we have? Pay up, step up the fight for joint responsible and fair recovery plans or withdraw from the rest of the world and go it alone doing our own thing. Unfortunately, the last two options require us to act as one as a nation and have clear headed capable and honest leadership. My guess, based on past experience, is that the only realistic action is to grit our teeth and pay up. I don't like it but we are too far in to get out now.
My real concern in all of this is that all of this money/wealth is going somewhere and i am convinced that it is not really going where it should be because there are a load of well established and disguised scams whereby the already wealthy are just pumping more and more wealth into their own grossly overfilled coffers and they are virtually immune from any form of retribution because of the power that they already have.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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643Britain is in less of a mess than France and Germany is only stronger because we bankrupted our nation fighting them in two wars and then forgave their debts while we continued to pay for the wars for decades. Only a complete idiot could disregard the massive industrial strength and influence the UK still has, quite disproportionate to the population number.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 3 loves
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78Until our politicians learn to stop "introducing" this, "setting up" that, opening "new initiatives" or allowing or approving any new that costs public funding, and learn to accept that they must severely prune back existing elements of government (central and local) then we will be following the euro with the pound.
The standby loan to the IMF should have been made provisional that it was not used to support any euro countries until they got their budgets actually ballanced and entered an operating position where they could repay their debts without further borrowing.
There is suffucient wealth within the Eurozone nations to rescue the defaulting nations without external borrowing from the IMF or World Bank but the wealthier nations are not willing to completely shoulder the burden created by the Euro.
Posted on 21 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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362Bengilda has hit the nail right on the head, and others have also mentioned that the UK economy is quite stable, even though the recession is obviously hitting our country.
Put simply, the burden of taxation is enough to see critical and standard services of this country survive, but the biggest burden to our resources (which is our own money we pay to the chancellor as tax) are the hair brained schemes MPs and Civil Servants keep coming up with.
Why don't they take a leaf out of the book of everyone who is quietly suffering from the slowdown, which is to pull their belts it. Many people restrict their visits to the pubs and clubs, or eat less prepacked food favouring home cooking instead, or are keeping their existing car even longer than normal, delaying the purchase of that new car by a margin. In fact, many people up and down the country are cutting back, like only having a take away once a month, instead of once a week.
All our politicians have to do it to stop spending, or coming up with schemes that drain our resources. They can still have the bright ideas, but file them away for a day when we CAN afford to throw several billion at an idea that has no hope of fruition.
Just look at the recent calamities. Fire control centres that just don't work. An NHS computer system that has more bugs than one thousand used mattresses, and which still has outstanding debt (£2 billion, if I remember correctly).
It's OK for the government to tell Civil Servants that their pensions are being adjusted, but the government needs to tell itself that their MPs no longer have a bottomless wallet to spend on stupid ideas, or perks that they are not entitled to.
If our government just cut back for a year or two, there would be no need for all the worry that our governments are giving us.
Posted on 22 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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0The answer to the question is "no"; The "euro" bailout fund I think not. It appears it is becoming exactly that.
Let's remember what the fund is for! It is to help Euro countries in financial need. What it is definitely not for (and I suspect it will be used in this way) is to bail out the Euro.
We use the Pound remember!
We contribute more than most and benefit least! How would it be in our own interest to contribute more? Is that a threat?
Posted on 22 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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43@didigermany
Are you Stanley Unwin, in disguise ?
Posted on 22 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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0@ electricblue
Lagarde is likely no less in touch with the people of this country than the multi-millionaire buffoons we have in government at the current time...
Posted on 24 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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20Last month the Government borrowed 2 billion more that it planned. We are not giving the IMF money that we have. We are giving them borrowed money and then the tax payer has to pay interest on it. It is ridiculous. No way should we be giving more money to the IMF. Let the IMF borrow it itself.
Posted on 24 April 2012 | Love 0 loves
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