Should Britain Join the Euro?

Bernie

indierocker85 wrote: »

I can't believe how close the results are, does nobody care about the sovereignty of our native currency sterling? Or its history? Or even OUR history?

Sorry chap! Nothing to do with sovereignity. Your "pounds" are really IOUs that have just been dropped in value by 33% courtesy of the people who issued 'em. It's going to be interesting soon: "Sorry Herman," says HM Government, "I know you lent me €150 for my £100 last month but I can only give you €97 back now because even I don't value my own currency that much now - oh! and would you mind lending me some more please? No! Why's that"?

On a practical and personal level, my family and I spent 13 years on and off living on the Dutch/German border when I was in the military. Before the Euro, we carried 4 currencies around as standard, Guilders, Marks, Sterling & US Dollars. You didn't know from one day to the next what product was cheaper/dearer as you crossed borders. Take the kids to MacDonalds in Roemond or Dusseldorf? Heavens knows how industry coped especially when you had to factor in the money changers' cut.

The arrival of the Euro was a blessing to everyone (once the chancers finished taking the michael).

I believe the chancers are now our UK politicians who use their powers to manipulate things. I know how badly a drop in the value of sterling affected us directly (until the military exchange rate adjusted to restore things). For the months in between, we really felt the difference. We also became little speculators, deciding whether to take all your pay in DM in Germany and pay into the bank via the Post Office when the DM rate was high, the reverse when required. Lots of admin, time and effort just to stop losing out.


Today I feel I am the only person who thinks its a bad idea to having 33% loped off the value of my wealth, my pension, my home, my salary - everything I've worked for for the past 40 years? Am I the only person who cannot see the Emporer's New Clothes? Would you have been happy to accept a 33% salary reduction from your employer for doing the same job? Err! Unfortunately - I think you have actually! and meekly to boot too.

...And judging by the "Brown Bounce" there's a lot of people quite pleased about it too.

If we'd already been in the Euro, we could not have been so effectively stiffed like this...

:beer: