I’ve been thinking about this whole EU 2bn thing

[Suff]

It seems to me that Eurostat counts in € and the world bodies count their calculations in $. So to me the single biggest economic factor, in terms of growth, has been the recovery of the £ from around €1.05 and $1.5 respectively. Currently it’s at around €1.25 and $1.7 respectively.

So as I see it, we’ve been underpaying the EU Because our £ goes further. On the other hand France and Germany have been underpaying in € because??? Well the only thing I can think of is that they have been over-reporting their economic performance (in this case the GNI).

So let me try and work this through. The UK has been doing what it takes to recover the economy. Which recovers confidence but certainly is not recovering revenues as we are sliding further into debt again. Despite the recover. On the other hand Germany and France have been over-reporting their economy in order to keep their cost of borrowing down and keep confidence and their credit ratings up.

Now if I look at the charts, The EU has been charging too much/too little because Eurostat gave them the wrong economic figures. Were we lying? Well the ONS lies on a daily basis, but not really. We always readjust our figures to the correct value in the end and in terms of debt markets, under reporting instead of over reporting, is acceptable. The reverse is, if it were a person and not a government, Criminal. Just ask Tesco.

So we come to the politics of it. Right or wrong, Britain is being asked to stump up more money to support other EU countries. The sole reason being that Britain has bitten the bullet and enacted the austerity to grow the economy and the value of our currency. Most of the rest of the EU has not. Now Britain is being asked to fund their inaction.

If ever there was a socialist budget this is it. Punish the achievers and give the money to the underachievers.

Do we need another reason to leave? This is not an Anglo Saxon principle. We reward success. We don’t punish it. We punish failure and demand better in the future.


[edit]
Oh and adding the fact that the EU has just “aligned” our GNI calculation to include Illegal activities such as drug dealing and prostitution. They appear to be applying this retrospectively to our payments.

In the UK we do not count activities we cannot tax as part of our economy. That, to me, is common sense. But we all know the EU lacks common sense.

I just read an update from the FT. Seems this is retrospective from 2003 to 2013!!!!

You mean they can’t even get it right for a whole damned decade??? EU, born to fail. UK, not bound to support that failure.

[Workingman]

Meanwhile, in under reported news, the economy of Wales (Labour) falls below the EU performance threshold of 3/4 of the EU average and will receive £2bn in aid from now until 2020.

Give with one hand, get back with the other?

[Suff]

Yes but this is the third round of EU direct funding to Wales. Let’s not forget that if we were not in the EU, we would have some £7.5bn per year we would not be paying to the EU, net, to spend on infrastructure and jobs in the UK.

Not that I trust the UK with it, but the point is that this 200 million a year is but a drop in the bucket to what we are sending to the EU to be “well used”.

The main problem with this current mess is that neither France nor Germany was performing badly in the last decade. Only in the last 3 years. In fact they made much of the fact that the UK economy crashed in 2008/9. Go look up the GNI charts for the last decade.

So it’s more than just an insult, they are taking from the UK and using that money to inject funds into France and Germany. We are not amused takes on a new meaning. It’s like they had a team of people working on how to grab a chunk of the UK recovery for the EU and use it to fend off the inevitable for another year or two.

The UK is not going to re-float the economies of the Eurozone. They had better start working on now to fix their own problems and spend less time on trying to take our hard won gains to flush down the drain of Eurozone malaise.

[Aggers]

The sooner we break away for Europe the better.

VOTE UKIP

(PLEASE)

[Kaz]

I don't think so Aggers

[Suff]

Sadly, because there is no equivalent SNP in England, you have no choice if you do not vote UKIP. If you don't you will get what you vote for. More of the same. More EU, more excuses, more inaction at the speed of light.

The only enabling vote, today, is a protest vote.

Greens? Establishment. LibLabCon? Establishment. UKIP? Borderline headcase or, in other words, protest.

However, just like most of the press in Scotland, the UKIP has been branded as a bunch of neo BNP racists. You need to think about that. Because the press want the EU and the press want the Establishment. The last thing the press want is change. Much too exciting for them and they might actually be controlled in their excesses....

Hopefully the UK will pull even further away from the kind of politics seen in the US where people register as one vote or another, regardless of people or actions. Vote the party and all will be well.... Only 20% of Americans actually decide the fate of each election, because they are floating voters who vote on the issues.

[Kaz]

They haven't been branded as such, they are as such IMO. Which luckily I am entitled to

[Suff]

You are, absolutely.

But they have been branded. You will know this after the next election when the press start running stories about how they are such "ordinary blokes/women" and how they are "misunderstood", because they will, then, be a force in politics and nothing the press can do will keep them out. So, having failed to keep them out, they will fall back on the old standby and punt them some good words hoping that stories will fall out. Because people who are angry with you will cover you in body fluids before giving you news you can sell.

Then you will find reasons to change your opinion. Fortunately I won't....

You might want to think about the fact that it was not the UKIP who suggested that we do not rescue illegal immigrants who might be drowning in the med. Those same people who pilloried the Australians for doing the self same thing. Had the UKIP said this it would be in the press as "RACIST" right up to May. Yet the story is already dead. Think it through. The politicians and governments, in power, in the EU, today, said they would leave people to die because they don't want to deal with the problem. Not the UKIP, the people who are branding the UKIP as racist.

You might want to consider that the information you get about them comes solely from the press. The information I get from about their aims and goals comes direct from the party, multiple times a week. Usually followed by a request for more money, but, still, I see what they are saying internally.

Personally I'm sick and tired of branding and labelling when what is being said is nothing more than an attempt to stop me from following someone else. In the end you get to the absolutely ludicrous situation we had in the Scottish EU elections immediately followed by the Referendum. Where the SNP were shouting to the rooftops that UKIP were "RACIST" during the EU elections only to find Labour and the Tories shouting to the rooftops that the SNP were "RACIST" during the referendum.

At some time it has to stop. I've decided, for me, it is now.

[Kaz]

Sorry I will never vote for them, nothing about them appeals to me - you can preach all you like As to how I might like to think about it, well I do think already, and rather resent the fact that you seem to be saying that I don't, just because I don't agree with what you think

[Suff]

No Kaz, I made an assumption as to why you formed that opinion and then made another assumption as to why you might change it.

If you resent the assumption, then I've offended you and I'm sorry.

Personally I resent the race word and the way it is used today. I've been called a racist by people who know nothing about other races or cultures. In fact they are bigots as my "other race" friends would tell you. Those "other race" friends are totally bemused by our fixation on racism, in a country which has one of the best tracks on racial tolerance today. Right behind the Scandinavians. Yet, Sweden, This Year, voted more than 12% of its vote to one of the most racist parties in the entire EU. Giving it 3rd place in their parliament.

UKIP is nothing, absolutely nothing, to Sweden Democrats. If you were a US citizen, everything the UKIP says would be a no brainer. They all believe that borders are a good thing and that immigration needs to be closely watched and controlled. Probably because the US, over the last 2 centuries, has had the largest immigration of any country in the world. If you were an Australian citizen you would, generally, think the UKIP are a bunch of wimps.

Whilst I could understand you being offended by Farage, who, honestly, is a bit of a buffoon (but actually no more than Boris), I can't see it being any more so than many Scots are offended by Salmond. Salmond is trusted by few Scots, but that's not the issue is it?

Let me give you an excerpt from the 2011 Census report.

The population of England and Wales has grown by 3.7 million in the 10 years since the last
census, rising from 52.4 million in 2001, an increase of 7.1 per cent. This was the largest growth
in the population in England and Wales in any 10-year period since census taking began, in
1801. It compares with a rise in population of 1.6 million between 1991 and 2001.

We all know that the Census only reports on those who choose to reply to it. It does not report on those who are not registered, either EU citizens or others.

So let me run some figures for you. I know the 2010 figures because I researched them closely at that time.



People 16 - 64 in the United Kingdom.

2010
Working 27 million
Unemployed 2.2 million
Inactive 4.5 million
Total 34 million

2013
Working 31 million
Unemployed 2 million
Inactive 9 million
Total 42 million

Difference in people 16 - 64 in the UK between 2010 and 2013? 8 Million. Or an increase of 23.5%. Over 3 years!

Is it any wonder that the UKIP is getting votes? Of those statistics above, "Unemployed" is categorised by someone who is in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, which is only available for 6 months. Once you exceed 6 months, you are transferred to benefits and you become "not actively seeking work" and inactive.

Did we see a 23.5% increase in NHS funding? In doctors? In Dentists? In fact did we see a 23.5% increase in any state funded service which we pay for?

UK jobs are moving permanently to cheap immigrant labour who are willing to work long hours for the same pay, be flexible and work overtime at little notice. But, they're going home with the money. For them it is not permanent. They work hard and go home to live off the benefit in an economic climate which is cheaper than the UK. This kind of high value work consumerism has been going on for decades in the EU. Today we see the impact because the UK has the highest value pay rates in the entire EU, when compared to tax load.