The world's weakest currency is likely to be the euro as US exporters increase their global market share mainly at the expense of European rivals
many would like it to be, for various reasons, certainly, but where is the evidence the USA is going to suddenly retool for major industrial exports in the near future. GM?
even such a low dollar has only mildly tweaked up exports, many still think the dollar overpriced, so this crystal ball gazing at the euro moving from the strongest to the weakest seems over-pessimistic (if a strong euro suits you, obviously.)
i'm sure the euro has some severe trials ahead, but this prognostication smells like fishful winking.
ireland will be a drag on the euro until policies improve, just as latvia, greece, portugal and the rest of the usual suspects, (though i don't see italy on the basket-case list as much as i would have expected.)
but the main axis countries will provide the muscle to drag along the economically weaker countries, they knew that would happen, and exchanged that for easier access to juicy new markets ripe for investment, croatia et al.
ireland and iceland are extreme cases only because of the depth of their commitment to bubblicious casino capitalism, based on creative accounting, rather than creating something real that people could actually use to get richer with, and not just in virtual zeros. england would already have suffered the same fate, were it not bigger and still having some vestiges of its once great industrial machine functioning and as yet not totally globalised out of existence... going fast though...
as for italy, i suspect they're in just as deep doodoo, but have tighter lockdown on the facts, government transparency here being a pravda style fiction, and cosy crony-covening to ring-fence the goodies at the top, the norm. the recent events at rosarno are more indicative of how much of the italian economy is funny money controlled by very unfunny people, and built on illegal immigrant slave labour, and how thin the membrane between biz as usual, and street violence a la Twank.
could be wrong, but i think there's a bunch less of that in ice- or ire-land, though england has its chinese winklepicker issues. is that true, or is some of ireland's wealth built on sweatshops? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Many of these issues are being tackled and I would expect a turnaround to sustainable growth (though not on the Celtic Tiger model) within the next 2 years. That's poor consolation to those on the dole or in negative equity, but at least there is a basis for real economic growth in the future.
A lot obviously depends on how the global economy and the rest of the EU performs. I would expect the UK decline (and £ devaluation) to be a continuing problem for us.
Overall, Ireland is too small to have much impact on the performance of the Euro, but we do need the EU, post Lisbon, to get its act together. We are poorly positioned if, as I expect, the current global recover turns out to be something of an illusion and a longer term recession takes hold in all but China and a few resource intensive countries. notes from no w here
but where is the evidence the USA is going to suddenly retool for major industrial exports in the near future. GM?
You'd better believe. Damned furreners and your gay man-steps.
Howie Long and Chevy judge you, melo! Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Plus, it's apparently going to be built in Detroit at an old SUV plant. Can't beat that, right? Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
But, assuming away the affordability and frustration issues, the 5 series is a nicer car on day-to-day driving.
Cadillacs and Lincolns would be the more apt comparisons with BMWs and Mercedes. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
The VW 2.0 Litre turbo diesel which you can get in the Golf or Passat is supposed to be v. good too. notes from no w here
Regulatory: As I understand it (as always, I may be wrong), we don't have diesels due to the way diesel emissions are regulated in the US.
Can't see it being because of old associations with the engines. At least not beyond pushing the cars for a couple years until people see that they're not all those things anymore. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
granted, the distances are another dimension entirely, but i wonder if that's why american suspensions, even in luxury cars, seem suspended in sponge, compared to the equivalent euro guzzler.
i also remember the astonishing number of dead (especially truck) tire shells littering the sides of highways in the USA, something which is rare over here. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
