Discussion
gadgetmac said:
Countdown said:
You are 30% more likely to be murdered in the UK.Kinda puts things in perspective when you read on some threads on here that Germany is going to the dogs!
That adds up then!
fking statistics.
They work for the people who want them to work for them.
Pointless.
dandarez said:
Yeah, this sort of perspective: You are likely to die in the UK (as opposed to Germany) just 7.305 DAYS earlier.
Why DOESN'T that add up? It seems some posters on here want (need?) to believe that Germany is going to the dogs. It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination.
Countdown said:
dandarez said:
Yeah, this sort of perspective: You are likely to die in the UK (as opposed to Germany) just 7.305 DAYS earlier.
Why DOESN'T that add up? It seems some posters on here want (need?) to believe that Germany is going to the dogs. It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination.
gadgetmac said:
Countdown said:
dandarez said:
Yeah, this sort of perspective: You are likely to die in the UK (as opposed to Germany) just 7.305 DAYS earlier.
Why DOESN'T that add up? It seems some posters on here want (need?) to believe that Germany is going to the dogs. It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination.
1m foreigners with low skills and completely different values, probably another million over the next 2 years, it's not going to improve the country whatever happens, that's for sure.
I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Hamburg.
My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
Mr GrimNasty said:
The raw stats are misleading and other factors need to be taken into account, and even if it has gone down the drain, it'll take decades for things like life expectancy to start reflecting it.
We won't know either way for several years, if not decades. However the German economy is one of, if not THE strongest in Europe, which makes me think that the people running things have a fairly good idea about what they need to do. Probably more than a bunch of random posters on a motoring forum.Mr GrimNasty said:
1m foreigners with low skills and completely different values, probably another million over the next 2 years, it's not going to improve the country whatever happens, that's for sure.
Well no, not necessarily....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34172729
http://fortune.com/2015/09/08/germany-migrant-cris...
http://www.thelocal.de/20150327/study-germany-urge...
The reference to "completely different values" is (at the risk of sounding rude) complete b0110x. People everywhere have basically the same set of "values" but the extremists at both ends of the spectrum enjoy highlighting the differences because it justifies their prejudices.
Disastrous said:
I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Hamburg.
My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
Germany have become the bad guys of Europe almost by accident. My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
They have prospered within the Eurozone while the Southern European member states have slumped into financial decline and mass unemployment. German banks irresponsibly lent them the money that put them into serious debt and now control the painful bailouts.
The German finance minister Herr Schauble is on record as saying that democratically elected National governments shouldn't be allowed to control Fiscal policy in their own country.
Merkel has gone on record saying that further integration is essential, including more transfer of sovereign powers.
By default Germany effectively pulls the strings within the Eurozone. Merkel is always seen as the first to speak on EU policy and of course has massive influence on the direction the EU takes.
Rightly or wrongly Merkel, and hence Germany, is perceived as the main driving force in the EU and the EU is in a mess.
Given all of the above, and much more, it's not that surprising that Germany is seen by some as virtually controlling the EU and dictating EU policy, including on Immigration.
I'm not saying that the perceptions are justified but I'm surprised that your German friends can't understand why some see Germany as taking over Europe.
I'm equally offended that they think the Brits hate them. I certainly don't.
Things are looking up for Merkel. 11 years in power and she's still well liked and will probably be re-elected for another term later this year - that kind of uninterrupted power is pretty rare in modern western democracy. She's obviously doing something right.
BERLIN — Voters in Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, handed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party an unexpected victory in a state election on Sunday, suggesting that Germans were willing to back the center-right in a year when the chancellor is seeking a fourth term.
France might just have voted to shake up its political establishment with reformist president-elect Emmanuel Macron, but Germans look increasingly happy to stick with more of the same. That’s what the polls say anyway: After a bounce for the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) following the appointment of their new leader, Martin Schulz, in March, Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently on course to win a fourth term in office. (There are no limits on how many terms a chancellor can serve.)
The honeymoon is always too short. Martin Schulz, the so-recently-celebrated chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has lost hard-earned ground to Angela Merkel in the opinion polls. The latest poll by Germany's main public broadcaster ARD put the SPD at only 27 percent - four points down on mid-April - while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) managed to increase its score by three points to 37 percent. Even worse for the Social Democrats was the personal polling for the two candidates. Asked who they would vote for if the chancellor was elected directly (which he or she isn't - Bundestag members do that), 49 percent of Germans polled said Merkel, while only 36 percent said Schulz. In mid-April, the score had been much closer: 46 percent for Merkel, 40 percent for Schulz.
BERLIN — Voters in Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, handed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party an unexpected victory in a state election on Sunday, suggesting that Germans were willing to back the center-right in a year when the chancellor is seeking a fourth term.
France might just have voted to shake up its political establishment with reformist president-elect Emmanuel Macron, but Germans look increasingly happy to stick with more of the same. That’s what the polls say anyway: After a bounce for the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) following the appointment of their new leader, Martin Schulz, in March, Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently on course to win a fourth term in office. (There are no limits on how many terms a chancellor can serve.)
The honeymoon is always too short. Martin Schulz, the so-recently-celebrated chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has lost hard-earned ground to Angela Merkel in the opinion polls. The latest poll by Germany's main public broadcaster ARD put the SPD at only 27 percent - four points down on mid-April - while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) managed to increase its score by three points to 37 percent. Even worse for the Social Democrats was the personal polling for the two candidates. Asked who they would vote for if the chancellor was elected directly (which he or she isn't - Bundestag members do that), 49 percent of Germans polled said Merkel, while only 36 percent said Schulz. In mid-April, the score had been much closer: 46 percent for Merkel, 40 percent for Schulz.
BlackLabel said:
Things are looking up for Merkel. 11 years in power and she's still well liked and will probably be re-elected for another term later this year - that kind of uninterrupted power is pretty rare in modern western democracy. She's obviously doing something right.
BERLIN — Voters in Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, handed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party an unexpected victory in a state election on Sunday, suggesting that Germans were willing to back the center-right in a year when the chancellor is seeking a fourth term.
France might just have voted to shake up its political establishment with reformist president-elect Emmanuel Macron, but Germans look increasingly happy to stick with more of the same. That’s what the polls say anyway: After a bounce for the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) following the appointment of their new leader, Martin Schulz, in March, Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently on course to win a fourth term in office. (There are no limits on how many terms a chancellor can serve.)
The honeymoon is always too short. Martin Schulz, the so-recently-celebrated chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has lost hard-earned ground to Angela Merkel in the opinion polls. The latest poll by Germany's main public broadcaster ARD put the SPD at only 27 percent - four points down on mid-April - while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) managed to increase its score by three points to 37 percent. Even worse for the Social Democrats was the personal polling for the two candidates. Asked who they would vote for if the chancellor was elected directly (which he or she isn't - Bundestag members do that), 49 percent of Germans polled said Merkel, while only 36 percent said Schulz. In mid-April, the score had been much closer: 46 percent for Merkel, 40 percent for Schulz.
The Germany economy is still plundering the poorer EU states, so why wouldn't she be popular at home?BERLIN — Voters in Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, handed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party an unexpected victory in a state election on Sunday, suggesting that Germans were willing to back the center-right in a year when the chancellor is seeking a fourth term.
France might just have voted to shake up its political establishment with reformist president-elect Emmanuel Macron, but Germans look increasingly happy to stick with more of the same. That’s what the polls say anyway: After a bounce for the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) following the appointment of their new leader, Martin Schulz, in March, Chancellor Angela Merkel is currently on course to win a fourth term in office. (There are no limits on how many terms a chancellor can serve.)
The honeymoon is always too short. Martin Schulz, the so-recently-celebrated chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has lost hard-earned ground to Angela Merkel in the opinion polls. The latest poll by Germany's main public broadcaster ARD put the SPD at only 27 percent - four points down on mid-April - while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) managed to increase its score by three points to 37 percent. Even worse for the Social Democrats was the personal polling for the two candidates. Asked who they would vote for if the chancellor was elected directly (which he or she isn't - Bundestag members do that), 49 percent of Germans polled said Merkel, while only 36 percent said Schulz. In mid-April, the score had been much closer: 46 percent for Merkel, 40 percent for Schulz.
BlackLabel said:
Things are looking up for Merkel. 11 years in power and she's still well liked and will probably be re-elected for another term later this year - that kind of uninterrupted power is pretty rare in modern western democracy. She's obviously doing something right.
Yep I think some people were hoping/praying that she'd get booted out because of her immigration policy. It looks like the majority of German people either support her or think other things are more important.Countdown said:
BlackLabel said:
Things are looking up for Merkel. 11 years in power and she's still well liked and will probably be re-elected for another term later this year - that kind of uninterrupted power is pretty rare in modern western democracy. She's obviously doing something right.
Yep I think some people were hoping/praying that she'd get booted out because of her immigration policy. It looks like the majority of German people either support her or think other things are more important.Sway said:
Or are completely unaware of the ststorm being built up under Target2, which is helping keep German business ticking along while merely building up a further trillion euros of unpayable debt across the Eurozone as a hidden loan...
You mean foreign countries are buying more from Germany than they sell to it, making Germany a very successful economy,and that's why Germans should vote against Merkel? Countdown said:
Sway said:
Or are completely unaware of the ststorm being built up under Target2, which is helping keep German business ticking along while merely building up a further trillion euros of unpayable debt across the Eurozone as a hidden loan...
You mean foreign countries are buying more from Germany than they sell to it, making Germany a very successful economy,and that's why Germans should vote against Merkel? So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
Sway said:
No, I mean that under utterly ridiculous intra-Eurozone regs, monetary transfers do not occur - the central bank of each nation involved build a matching debt and credit. Money never transfers.
So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
Without wishing ti turn this into a finance debate, how is that different from how any bank operates? Your bank has several thousand accounts. Some of those accounts will be in credit, some will be overdrawn. Hopefully those in debt will be able to carry on servicing their borrowing. Like any bank - if bad debts > amounts deposited the bank is up a certain creek without a certain paddle. But that's a problem with having a single currency. Target2 is only the mechanism. It's not the cause - that's down to countries running deficits.So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
Countdown said:
Sway said:
No, I mean that under utterly ridiculous intra-Eurozone regs, monetary transfers do not occur - the central bank of each nation involved build a matching debt and credit. Money never transfers.
So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
Without wishing ti turn this into a finance debate, how is that different from how any bank operates? Your bank has several thousand accounts. Some of those accounts will be in credit, some will be overdrawn. Hopefully those in debt will be able to carry on servicing their borrowing. Like any bank - if bad debts > amounts deposited the bank is up a certain creek without a certain paddle. But that's a problem with having a single currency. Target2 is only the mechanism. It's not the cause - that's down to countries running deficits.So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
These aren't loans. They're as you say the banking transfers during the day, which work as below for the UK:
Customer of RBS makes a payment to someone banking with Lloyds. This doesn't occur immediately, what happens is the accounts RBS and Lloyds hold with the BoE register the transfer. Millions of these happen throughout the day. At the end of the day, after the cutoffs, the overall picture is calculated, and transfers equalling the net transfers are conducted. The money has actually transferred.
With Target2, this has deliberately been excluded. Rather than there being that overnight reconciliation between all of the central banks of the Eurozone, the IOUs merely stack up, day on day, month on month, year on year.
So you have a scenario as now where the central bank of Germany is owed nearly a trillion euros by the central banks of the other Eurozone countries. This hasn't been subject to any form of credit scoring, repayability, etc. These transfers are never usually considered loans as in every other system they last less than a day, and the net picture is usually relatively neutral.
It's not in the Eurozone - if Germany ever tried to actually receive that money from the other central banks, it would and could not be paid. The entire system would grind to a halt - it's a similar scenario to the retail liquidity crisis that formed the basis of the credit crunch, but at a central bank rather than retail level, and an order of magnitude or two larger.
The people who wrote and agreed those regs should be strung up - they have literally destroyed the possibility of financial stability in Europe with these regs...
Edit to add - I'm by no means an expert on these things, but do have friends that are. Equally, there are posters on here who make my friends look like utter amateurs - any errors are mine, but I'm certain I'm not too far off the mark and welcome those posters providing corrections.
Disastrous said:
I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Hamburg.
My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
You are a good observer. Glad you like it in Germany. My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
Disastrous said:
I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Hamburg.
My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
Are your fiancé's parents high level bureaucrats in the EU? If they are then they should understand why many people in Europe, especially those also in the EU, think they are trying to bend the continent in their direction. My fiancé' parents live in nürnberg, just up the road from Ansbach (where the most recent bomb went off).
It's really absolutely fine over there. The people are calmly getting on with it, most acknowledge that immigration is required whilst accepting the most recent round has been pretty badly handled.
They aren't trying to 'take over' Europe and everyone I've heard has been bemused and a bit offended that the Brits seem to hate them so much that they want to see the EU collapse.
It just rally isn't at all like so many on here desperately want it to be and I can't understand the need to paint them as a villain in all of this.
NP&R continues to disappoint.
If not then they are misunderstanding the situation, as are you. No one thinks the German population per se is trying to dominate Europe and no Brits hate them, as far as I am aware. You do us a disservice by spreading that malicious tale.
I'm not sure that anyone wants the EU to 'collapse' either; they just want it to change direction and become more what it was always meant to be, not some politicians wet dream.
The lack of understanding on NP and E continues to disappoint.
Sway said:
Countdown said:
Sway said:
No, I mean that under utterly ridiculous intra-Eurozone regs, monetary transfers do not occur - the central bank of each nation involved build a matching debt and credit. Money never transfers.
So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
Without wishing ti turn this into a finance debate, how is that different from how any bank operates? Your bank has several thousand accounts. Some of those accounts will be in credit, some will be overdrawn. Hopefully those in debt will be able to carry on servicing their borrowing. Like any bank - if bad debts > amounts deposited the bank is up a certain creek without a certain paddle. But that's a problem with having a single currency. Target2 is only the mechanism. It's not the cause - that's down to countries running deficits.So Germany currently has a 'credit' under Target2 of over €800Bn. That can and will never be repaid. If it had to be reconciled (as every other developed world regs require, overnight daily) then it would never have been funded. It's a complete sham, and is merely building a level of systemic risk that can (and likely will) bring down the entire banking system across the entire Eurozone.
Beggar thy neighbour is in full force, and Germany's economy is nowhere near as strong as it appears when it is only being successful by being pretty much the only provided of both the loans and the goods...
These aren't loans. They're as you say the banking transfers during the day, which work as below for the UK:
Customer of RBS makes a payment to someone banking with Lloyds. This doesn't occur immediately, what happens is the accounts RBS and Lloyds hold with the BoE register the transfer. Millions of these happen throughout the day. At the end of the day, after the cutoffs, the overall picture is calculated, and transfers equalling the net transfers are conducted. The money has actually transferred.
With Target2, this has deliberately been excluded. Rather than there being that overnight reconciliation between all of the central banks of the Eurozone, the IOUs merely stack up, day on day, month on month, year on year.
So you have a scenario as now where the central bank of Germany is owed nearly a trillion euros by the central banks of the other Eurozone countries. This hasn't been subject to any form of credit scoring, repayability, etc. These transfers are never usually considered loans as in every other system they last less than a day, and the net picture is usually relatively neutral.
It's not in the Eurozone - if Germany ever tried to actually receive that money from the other central banks, it would and could not be paid. The entire system would grind to a halt - it's a similar scenario to the retail liquidity crisis that formed the basis of the credit crunch, but at a central bank rather than retail level, and an order of magnitude or two larger.
The people who wrote and agreed those regs should be strung up - they have literally destroyed the possibility of financial stability in Europe with these regs...
Edit to add - I'm by no means an expert on these things, but do have friends that are. Equally, there are posters on here who make my friends look like utter amateurs - any errors are mine, but I'm certain I'm not too far off the mark and welcome those posters providing corrections.
If Merkel wins, the Eurozone is going to crash hard, because she wont compromise with the French to build a more sensible currency that works for the rest of the Eurozone.
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