I'm talking about people in the inside who actually know what it takes to process this amount of information. Americans tend to underestimate how deep the EU runs in these countries, how it affects every business, product and person. And by the way, the stock market has declined if adjusted for the value drop of GBP.
I look for Germany and France to exit soon. You can't have a union where all the countries hate each other and will eventually be at war again.
Countries all need to have borders and people all need a country to identify with. Sometimes, this leads to war. That's just the way it is and it will never change.
I just saw this and thought it was relevant...... For the first time, the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has conceded the possibility that the EU may fall apart. Draghi came out and said that any member leaving the Eurozone would need to settle its claims or debts with the bloc’s payments system before severing ties. This statement reveals the heated discussion at Davos and the rift that is beginning to spread. This statement, released on Friday, was made in a letter to two Italian lawmakers in the European Parliament. Sentiment in Italy is turning very anti-euro and this view is beginning to emerge in other Eurozone states. While they are blaming Britain, the real issue is the insane management of austerity and negative interest rates. This has created a massive depression in Europe and the unending Quantitative Easing has destroyed the European bond market. Whenever the ECB has to give up, interest rates will soar, for private buyers will not be willing to risk it all when the EU is clearly doomed. Based on data to end-November, Draghi is saying that Italy would have to pay €358.6 billion euro to leave — an exit tax. What Draghi fails to comprehend is that such demands will not keep the Eurozone together, and are more likely to cause it to disintegrate and just default on the ECB. Up until now, the very threat of defaults on cross-border debts has tended to keep the Eurozone together throughout the financial crisis. But pushing this too far will lead to default. Southern Europe, which are the weaker economies including Italy, Spain, and Greece, have accumulated huge liabilities to keep the euro afloat while Germany stands out as the biggest creditor with net claims of €754.1 billion euros. This alone may set off the massive capital flight to the dollar. We are looking at the complete collapse of the Quantitative Easing carried out by the ECB since 2008 without any success. This will cause Trump problems with trade and currency, which he is not likely to understand. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/.../draghi-admits-eu-may-breakup-for-first-time/ ------ The European Parliament elected a new speaker last week in an unusually hotly contested vote that could strengthen Euroskeptic forces at a time when the EU faces Brexit and questions about its future role. Meanwhile, Europe’s leaders were going at each other’s throats in Davos as the dispute over how to stop the EU from collapsing exposed divisions that are deep within Europe following the British withdrawal. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte lashed out at the whole idea of a single federalized government for Europe. “The whole idea of an ever-closer Europe has gone, it’s buried,” Rutte said. A single government ending European wars has been a highly dangerous romantic fantasy. What they fail to comprehend is that one government will fan the flames of division. Rutte continued his warning, “The fastest way to dismantle the EU is to continue talking about a step-by-step move towards some sort of superstate.” What Rutte was saying tore at the heartstrings of Europe’s elite. Martin Schulz, the former European Parliament’s president as of January 17, 2017, could not resist the bait. Martin Schulz is a German Social Democratic politician who previously ledthe Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Mr.Schulz jumped up saying, “If it’s Angela Merkel, or Mark Rutte, or whoever else, they must have the courage to say that we needever-closer union more than ever in the 21st century, and withoutit the EU has no future.” Indeed, the EU has no future for this has all been about federalizing Europe when they promised that would never happen when they first began. ------------- https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/...economy/davos-exposing-eus-date-with-destiny/