2015 - Greece drops Euro?

[jk]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

the problem for the eu [besides the financial ones] is that whenever the brahmins ALLOW THEIR POPULATIONS TO VOTE, they tend to vote against further integration.

[ProdigyofZen]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

My father was born in a Greek island village in 1931. In his youth, he witnessed German and Italian soldiers conquer and occupy the island. When Mussolini was hung by the heels, the Germans on that island turned against the Italians and slaughtered them by the thousands. My father witnessed many of these atrocities firsthand. His is not an uncommon story for elder Europeans. Actually, Europe's is a bloody history.

With economic integration, and the subsequent cultural integration that is following, such tragic episodes are difficult to take root again within Europe (EU).

That was one of the major initial goals of establishing the EEC, which is now the EU. So far, since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, it has been working. There have been no major European wars. If anything, there has been historically unprecedented cooperation to be found between nations, companies, universities, and NGOs, much of it now facilitated by the internet. There's even a European Space Agency.

I used to have my reservations. But now I believe the EU is humanity's grandest experiment.

My apologies I should have clarified my statement.

Human relations in terms of intimacy,individual dating/relationships and families, not warring nations.

[touchring]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

With economic integration, and the subsequent cultural integration that is following, such tragic episodes are difficult to take root again within Europe (EU).

The EU is not the first time that integration across diverse cultures is attempted. But despite integration that is to a much greater extent than what has been planned for in the EU (unification of written languages, religion, philosophy, culture and even the color of clothing and objects), China is still plagued by countless civil wars even after two millenniums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang

Qin Shi Huang (260–210 BC[3]), personal name Zheng, was the King of the state of Qin (r. 246–221 BC[4]) who conquered all other Warring States and united China in 221 BC.[4] Rather than maintain the title of king borne by the Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty from 220 to 210 BC. The title emperor (huangdi) would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia.

Administrative reforms


Main article: History of the administrative divisions of China before 1912
In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of the political chaos of early imperial China, the conquered states were not allowed to be referred to as independent nations.[50] The empire was then divided into 36 commanderies (?, Jùn), later more than 40 commanderies.[47] The whole of China was now divided into administrative units: first commanderies, then districts (?, Xiàn), counties (?, Xi?ng) and hundred-family units (?, Li).[51] This system was different from the previous dynasties, which had loose alliances and federations.[52] People could no longer be identified by their native region or former feudal state, as when a person from Chu was called "Chu person" (??, Chu rén).[51][53] Appointments were now based on merit instead of hereditary rights.[51]


Economic reforms


A 5-catty weight inscribed with a description of Qin Shi Huang's edict to standardize weights and measures, 221 BC
Qin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China economically by standardizing the Chinese units of measurements such as weights and measures, the currency, the length of the axles of carts to facilitate transport on the road system.[52] The emperor also developed an extensive network of roads and canals connecting the provinces to improve trade between them.[52] The currency of the different states were also standardized to the Ban liang coin (??, Bàn Li?ng).[51] Perhaps most importantly, the Chinese script was unified. Under Li Si, the seal script of the state of Qin was standardized through removal of variant forms within the Qin script itself. This newly standardized script was then made official throughout all the conquered regions, thus doing away with all the regional scripts to form one language, one communication system for all of China.[51]


Philosophy
Main articles: Legalism, Wu Xing and Burning of books and burying of scholars
Qin Shi Huang also followed the school of the five elements, earth, wood, metal, fire and water.??????? Zhao Zheng's birth element is water, which is connected with the colour black. It was also believed that the royal house of the previous dynasty Zhou had ruled by the power of fire, which was the color red. The new Qin dynasty must be ruled by the next element on the list, which is water, represented by the color black. Black became the color for garments, flags, pennants.[3] Other associations include north as the cardinal direction, winter season and the number six.[54] Tallies and official hats were six inches long, carriages six feet wide, one pace (?, Bù) was 6 ft (1.8 m).[3]


While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also considered the golden age of free thought.[55] Qin Shi Huang eliminated the Hundred Schools of Thought which incorporated Confucianism and other philosophies.[55][56] After the unification of China, with all other schools of thought banned, legalism became the endorsed ideology of the Qin dynasty,[51] which was basically a system that required the people to follow the laws or be punished accordingly.




Portrait of Epang palace
Beginning in 213 BC, at the instigation of Li Si and to avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin Shi Huang ordered most existing books to be burned with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of the State of Qin.[57] This would also serve the purpose of furthering the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of obsolete scripts.[58] Owning the Book of Songs or the Classic of History was to be punished especially severely. According to the later Records of the Grand Historian, the following year Qin Shi Huang had some 460 scholars buried alive for owning the forbidden books.[3][57] The emperor's oldest son Fusu criticised him for this act.[59] The emperor's own library still had copies of the forbidden books but most of these were destroyed later when Xiang Yu burned the palaces of Xianyang in 206 BC.[60]

[jk]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

the ottoman empire was a fairly successful multicultural, multilingual empire for a while. for that matter, so was rome.

[Polish_Silver]

austerity outcomes

There's no room for bluffing. . .

I have said it before - the troika, despite austerity, has served Greece well. It forced Greece to implement much needed government and economic reforms that the Greek leadership itself could never have implemented. These reforms have helped the Greek economy much more than if Greece just received a debt writedown or free money while its current political leadership retained 100% control.

That makes sense to me. If Greece had been forgiven all the debts, why change any policies?

[Polish_Silver]

The long peace

My father was born in a Greek island village in 1931. In his youth, he witnessed German and Italian soldiers conquer and occupy the island. When Mussolini was hung by the heels, the Germans on that island turned against the Italians and slaughtered them by the thousands. My father witnessed many of these atrocities firsthand. His is not an uncommon story for elder Europeans. Actually, Europe's is a bloody history.

With economic integration, and the subsequent cultural integration that is following, such tragic episodes are difficult to take root again within Europe (EU).

That was one of the major initial goals of establishing the EEC, which is now the EU. So far, since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, it has been working. There have been no major European wars. If anything, there has been historically unprecedented cooperation to be found between nations, companies, universities, and NGOs, much of it now facilitated by the internet. There's even a European Space Agency.

I used to have my reservations. But now I believe the EU is humanity's grandest experiment.

Historians are calling this period "the long peace". I agree that the economic cooperation is part of the story. But I think the fact that the governments are democracies, not monarchies, is a big factor. The communist era governments were in some respects like dictatorships, which resulted in a "cold" war.

I also think the economic integration could be done with a lot less rules and bureaucracy than the EU has. And the EURO has done far more harm than good.

[touchring]

Re: The long peace

Historians are calling this period "the long peace". I agree that the economic cooperation is part of the story. But I think the fact that the governments are democracies, not monarchies, is a big factor. The communist era governments were in some respects like dictatorships, which resulted in a "cold" war.

I also think the economic integration could be done with a lot less rules and bureaucracy than the EU has. And the EURO has done far more harm than good.

I doubt being a democracy will make a country less likely to go into war. If I'm not mistaken, Hilter was elected to power. Pre-WWII Japan was also a democracy or at least for a period of time before warlords seized power. The US is also a democracy but invaded Iraq for it's oil.

That is not to say that democracy is bad, but rather one should not have the misconception that a democracy doesn't wage war.

As with all powerful empires since the time of the Mongol empire, the biggest threat to the Western empire right now is a breakup from within - civil unrest and religious conflict.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The long peace

I doubt being a democracy will make a country less likely to go into war. If I'm not mistaken, Hilter was elected to power. Pre-WWII Japan was also a democracy or at least for a period of time before warlords seized power. The US is also a democracy but invaded Iraq for it's oil.

That is not to say that democracy is bad, but rather one should not have the misconception that a democracy doesn't wage war.

As with all powerful empires since the time of the Mongol empire, the biggest threat to the Western empire right now is a breakup from within - civil unrest and religious conflict.

And the whole "Countries that have McDonalds don't attack/invade/murder each other" thing kinda went out the window in recent years too.

[touchring]

Re: The long peace

And the whole "Countries that have McDonalds don't attack/invade/murder each other" thing kinda went out the window in recent years too.

And you thought who were the invaders?

Extending territory while unrest is brewing across the empire? Ferguson, Mosul, New York and now Paris? Not a wise decision.

[verdo]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

More surprises to come. For example, North Korea will within two years time join the modern world. The young leader is working out a way to do it.

You know, i heard jim rogers say this a few times lately but i just thought he was bring crazy (well actually, he has been saying that north and south korea will unite in the next few years). I can't fathom how this could possibly happen in 2 years time.

[EJ]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

You know, i heard jim rogers say this a few times lately but i just thought he was bring crazy (well actually, he has been saying that north and south korea will unite in the next few years). I can't fathom how this could possibly happen in 2 years time.

Jim's brand as Mr. Commodities Boom is likely a negative just now. Hope he's in a position to ride it out because I think he's an honest and hard-working guy.

But even if North and South Korea kiss and make up I doubt that will have much material impact on the global commodities demand picture.

[verdo]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

Jim's brand is Mr. Commodities Boom is likely a negative just now. Hope he's in a position to ride it out because I think he's an honest and hard-working guy.

But even if North and South Korea kiss and make up I doubt that will have much material impact on the global commodities demand picture.

Oh trust me, im a fan of Jim. When i first began my research into all of what is going on today, I actually sent Jim Rogers an email, and was surprised that he even emailed me back, let alone the amount of info he shared. I remember you saying that you wanted to bring him back again for an interview. I think the current environment would be an awesome opportunity to have another interview with him. If you do pursue it though, I just ask that you guys ask him the right questions (which im sure you would), and not the sort of superficial ones that he keeps getting asked by the MSM. He has a wealth of knowledge, but he'll only give it to you if you ask.

Anyways, I'm still curious to learn about what you two seem to know about North Korea that the rest of us don't. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Korea National Diplomatic Academy released a report saying reunification was possible, but by 2050. Granted, North korea joining the modern world as you say is different from reunification, but i still don't see how North Korea can do such a thing so quickly. I did a quick search and I found a presentation Jim did (in south korea i believe) where he talks about his thoughts on North Korea. He's basically saying that the genie is out of the bottle, sort of speak. The effort to keep North Koreans closed off from what the outside world is like has been getting harder and harder, and parts of the leadership is more aware of the progress going on in the world and potentially may want in. I understand that part of the argument, but I feel like the drive for change isn't strong enough amongst North Korean leadership to support a quick change of policy. I mean, to enter the modern world, they would have to dismantle a good portion of their military complex and actually redirect funds to nation building wouldn't they?

[lektrode]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

Jim's brand is Mr. Commodities Boom is likely a negative just now. Hope he's in a position to ride it out because I think he's an honest and hard-working guy.

But even if North and South Korea kiss and make up I doubt that will have much material impact on the global commodities demand picture.

well... ya never know what could happen over there, eh Mr J?

....esp considering our new 'ambassador'... or maybe rather... emisary:

Dennis Rodman Invites ‘The Interview’ Creator Seth Rogen to N Korea

© AP Photo/ Kim Kwang Hyon
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150127/1017408267.html

[Polish_Silver]

NK on PBS

Jim's brand as Mr. Commodities Boom is likely a negative just now. Hope he's in a position to ride it out because I think he's an honest and hard-working guy.

But even if North and South Korea kiss and make up I doubt that will have much material impact on the global commodities demand picture.

According to Frontline (PBS), there are many in North Korea's privileged class who want to make a change. The dear leader will not be alone.

North Korea corresponds to Animal Farm better than any country I can think of, although the whole Warsaw pact bore some resemblance.

[vt]

Re: 2015 - Greece drops Euro?

EJ did mention this possibility:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ea_837537.html

These type of situations occur from time to time as there have been past negotiations, and back channel communications are a normal part of diplomacy.
Progress may or may not occur.

Perhaps Dear Leader has come to realize there are more spoils to plunder from a free market economy than from a communist one