"EU resembles Yugoslavia before it collapsed"

What goes around comes around and no truer words have been said. The EU help destroy Yugoslavia and now we are watching the implosion of the EU, LOL.
The EU has only one chance of survival and that is a very loose confederation-type union. The days of having a United States of Europe are gone to the dustbin of history. Now what is the issue here? MONEY.
During the good times it was not a problem for richer states to give money to the poorer parts of the EU, but now it’s the fact they have to take it away from their own people, cut services and programs or even borrow and hand it over to what they see as lost causes i.e. Kosovo, or should we call it a bottomless money pit, for one example.
Remember when the EU had about 15 members it only had a couple that needed a handout, but today there more with hands stretched out than those making money.
Now perhaps our little friends from the southern parts can tell me how I am wrong in declaring that the EU is running short on cash LOL.

Make no mistake EU governments are broke and they are at their debt limits now..EU governments have been trying to fight the deflationary cycle with crazy money printing, bond buying, equity buying and have only succeeded in destroying the markets with false signals. They are still coming up with crazy schemes with the latest being abolishing money. This is all about control and forcing you to keep your money in the banks, this gives the state the opportunity to take it at a moments notice. Look at the Fed last week, they were too scared to raise the base rate by even .25% and they are trying to tell us things are improving while keeping the economy on emergency measures. Very soon I think we will see trouble in the bond markets and we will see multiple sovereign defaults, there are already some obvious choices now and you could see a nation as large as Japan default. If Japan panics and starts to unload its US T Bills on the market we could be looking at a total melt down. Japan’s real estate is still 60% down today from its 1992 highs and this is what I believe will happen in UK.
The truth is the ex communist monsters who run EU are simply trying to create an updated modern version of the USSR - that's why it is failing. Forced ideologies have NEVER worked, throughout history, and always end in tears.

I find it amazing that countries that couldn't wait to get out of Yugoslavia then couldn't wait to give their newly found sovereignty away to the EU. During Yugoslav times Slovenia didn't want to pay up for Kosovo and other poorer members of YU but they now very much like the cash coming from richer EU countries. Both Slovenia and Croatia are net receivers. However, they don't like the obligations that come with it like for instance taking in migrants. Oh, and people of other EU countries don't like to pay for members such as Slovenia when they can't even show a little bit of gratitude. Doesn't this newspaper realize their position is a rather hypocritical when they mention Yugoslavia prior to collapse?

(Leonidas, 10 May 2016 13:49)
How about Donald Trump’s latest solution to the US $19 trillion debt if he becomes President. The US would pressure countries that hold US T bonds to accept less than 100 cents on the dollar.
I’m not sure what smaller nations are going to do, but I know what China will tell him and I doubt B92 will print that response. China will knock on Washington’s door asking for assets to cover that amount or else declare the US in default and then watch the US stock market plummet to depths not even seen during the 1930s and unemployment soar beyond the current 23%.
No amount of quantitative easing has helped the US or EU. In fact it’s dragged them into a deeper hole.

sj

It's too early to decide of how much of Trump's uttering is just rhetoric or potential threat to China.China holds $ trillions of US bonds and I don't think they would accept any losses on thei holdings.Moreover imagine the message that Trump will send to all those holders of US debts.
On the other hand Clinton's programme is more of the same ie low or non-existent growth,low investment,low wages,and the wealth being siphoned off to the the 1%.You and I know there is never going to be a recovery since the industrial base has been off-shored - every "recovery" will be a jobless one, where the python readjusts its grip on the victim - the working and middle classes of the Western world.We have entered an economic era where profit is driven by asset price speculation and financial engineering - and working populations are not required(their consumption is).I think Clinton is carrying a lot of baggage from the Obama period and Crazy as it sounds I actually think Trump could just give this rotten system the nudge it needs to topple.

Majority of Brits will vote to stay in EU according to the polls...
Just as Scots stayed in UK.
Referendum was held by Cameron to appease his right wing fraction of his Party.
If you have followed the history of EU is always like that with twists and turns, but in the end the wisdom has prevail.
YU was different story...it was held by pumping billions of $ from the West and after 1990 when they didn't needed it the YU collapsed.

If Germans, Brits and Austrians were as stupid as "Yugoslavia" was, they would have killed each other four or five times by now.

sj

One of the reasons why people back Trump is because the American public are so fed up with the usual run-of-the-mill mealy mouthed believe-in-nothing (running out of metaphors) politicians.Trump simply tells them what they want to hear from a politician.His oafishness seems at least somewhat sincere. If the Americans are going to be ruled by a bastard it may as well be an honest bastard who is straight up.
I don’t think Trump will head to a collision with China but I do think that he would try to extract concessions from them especially on product dumping.He will more inward looking and I reckon he will try to push the Europeans to bear most of the costs for Nato.I agree with you that not many people are aware of the true US financial balance Sheet.The debt of $ 20 trillion is just a tiny variable of the overall picture.As professor Lawrence Kotlikoff has said “The US is already bankrupt but people don’t know it”.

Lets-reminisce-about-Yugoslavia-season has started again has it? For all the faults of the EU, still more people who happen to be member states of it support its continuation than don't.

If that renowned pollster Nikolle says so then it must be true??

(Leonidas, 10 May 2016 16:06)

Trump’s camp have already retracted that statement on the T bonds. Trump is not stupid and if he becomes President he will be briefed on the real financial situation in the US. Manufacturing is gone and all this talk of bringing it back is only political rhetoric soon to be forgot after November.
Beijing has warned the Trump camp about imposing tariffs on imports because Asia can do even more damage to the US economy than the other way around.
The 1% have drained the US dry for their further enrichment while the rest are left to survive with the only jobs being created at the $7.80 per hour level. A friend told me that several Silicon Valley companies are moving their operations overseas and taking away those high paid jobs.
The US as an economic power is coming to a conclusion, but Trump is certainly nudging the system.

The EU will slowly organize itself into 4 levels.

Rich boys
Middle class boys
Poor boys
Overly Indebted boys

If the UK stays in, it'll once again pick and choose what it wants and what it doesn't want.

The indebted boys dont want to pay debt down.... and the rich boys don't want to pay other people's bills.

This is a joke. Not even close.

SJ,

The Valley is a huge balloon, ready to burst at any time. The wages of engineers in the Valley are at least 120K/year, more in the 160K - 180K/year.

This is good merely to make a little money for living. The cost of living across entire US is beyond any reason. Such high wages are essentially for few - average people in the Valley and many engineers do not live in their houses anymore the way as it used to be - they have to rent out parts of the house. Cars park everywhere on the street because now in a house built for one family there are two-three households (by intent, I am not saying "families") living.

The lack of reasonable rentals and the price of a more-less inhabitable home being in $1mill range was actually created by the lawmakers with the intent to patch the budget of California. They did patch, but we do not see any penny in return.

I am glad, I do not live in the States anymore and have absolutely no intent to go back.
I just hope, at the time I retire the Social Security is worth something. I just can't wait to retire. It's all total BS over there and there won't be any recovery ever. The jobs are gone forever and sooner or later these high-paying jobs (see above) will re-locate to their home countries (India, in most cases, very few Europeans are left).

Probably that would be the best, than Cupertino will be again more about apple orchards than Apple.

Lets-reminisce-about-Yugoslavia-season has started again has it? For all the faults of the EU, still more people who happen to be member states of it support its continuation than don't.

If Germans, Brits and Austrians were as stupid as "Yugoslavia" was, they would have killed each other four or five times by now.

What goes around comes around and no truer words have been said. The EU help destroy Yugoslavia and now we are watching the implosion of the EU, LOL.
The EU has only one chance of survival and that is a very loose confederation-type union. The days of having a United States of Europe are gone to the dustbin of history. Now what is the issue here? MONEY.
During the good times it was not a problem for richer states to give money to the poorer parts of the EU, but now it’s the fact they have to take it away from their own people, cut services and programs or even borrow and hand it over to what they see as lost causes i.e. Kosovo, or should we call it a bottomless money pit, for one example.
Remember when the EU had about 15 members it only had a couple that needed a handout, but today there more with hands stretched out than those making money.
Now perhaps our little friends from the southern parts can tell me how I am wrong in declaring that the EU is running short on cash LOL.

(Leonidas, 10 May 2016 13:49)
How about Donald Trump’s latest solution to the US $19 trillion debt if he becomes President. The US would pressure countries that hold US T bonds to accept less than 100 cents on the dollar.
I’m not sure what smaller nations are going to do, but I know what China will tell him and I doubt B92 will print that response. China will knock on Washington’s door asking for assets to cover that amount or else declare the US in default and then watch the US stock market plummet to depths not even seen during the 1930s and unemployment soar beyond the current 23%.
No amount of quantitative easing has helped the US or EU. In fact it’s dragged them into a deeper hole.

Majority of Brits will vote to stay in EU according to the polls...
Just as Scots stayed in UK.
Referendum was held by Cameron to appease his right wing fraction of his Party.
If you have followed the history of EU is always like that with twists and turns, but in the end the wisdom has prevail.
YU was different story...it was held by pumping billions of $ from the West and after 1990 when they didn't needed it the YU collapsed.

This is a joke. Not even close.

Make no mistake EU governments are broke and they are at their debt limits now..EU governments have been trying to fight the deflationary cycle with crazy money printing, bond buying, equity buying and have only succeeded in destroying the markets with false signals. They are still coming up with crazy schemes with the latest being abolishing money. This is all about control and forcing you to keep your money in the banks, this gives the state the opportunity to take it at a moments notice. Look at the Fed last week, they were too scared to raise the base rate by even .25% and they are trying to tell us things are improving while keeping the economy on emergency measures. Very soon I think we will see trouble in the bond markets and we will see multiple sovereign defaults, there are already some obvious choices now and you could see a nation as large as Japan default. If Japan panics and starts to unload its US T Bills on the market we could be looking at a total melt down. Japan’s real estate is still 60% down today from its 1992 highs and this is what I believe will happen in UK.
The truth is the ex communist monsters who run EU are simply trying to create an updated modern version of the USSR - that's why it is failing. Forced ideologies have NEVER worked, throughout history, and always end in tears.

I find it amazing that countries that couldn't wait to get out of Yugoslavia then couldn't wait to give their newly found sovereignty away to the EU. During Yugoslav times Slovenia didn't want to pay up for Kosovo and other poorer members of YU but they now very much like the cash coming from richer EU countries. Both Slovenia and Croatia are net receivers. However, they don't like the obligations that come with it like for instance taking in migrants. Oh, and people of other EU countries don't like to pay for members such as Slovenia when they can't even show a little bit of gratitude. Doesn't this newspaper realize their position is a rather hypocritical when they mention Yugoslavia prior to collapse?

sj

It's too early to decide of how much of Trump's uttering is just rhetoric or potential threat to China.China holds $ trillions of US bonds and I don't think they would accept any losses on thei holdings.Moreover imagine the message that Trump will send to all those holders of US debts.
On the other hand Clinton's programme is more of the same ie low or non-existent growth,low investment,low wages,and the wealth being siphoned off to the the 1%.You and I know there is never going to be a recovery since the industrial base has been off-shored - every "recovery" will be a jobless one, where the python readjusts its grip on the victim - the working and middle classes of the Western world.We have entered an economic era where profit is driven by asset price speculation and financial engineering - and working populations are not required(their consumption is).I think Clinton is carrying a lot of baggage from the Obama period and Crazy as it sounds I actually think Trump could just give this rotten system the nudge it needs to topple.

(Leonidas, 10 May 2016 16:06)

Trump’s camp have already retracted that statement on the T bonds. Trump is not stupid and if he becomes President he will be briefed on the real financial situation in the US. Manufacturing is gone and all this talk of bringing it back is only political rhetoric soon to be forgot after November.
Beijing has warned the Trump camp about imposing tariffs on imports because Asia can do even more damage to the US economy than the other way around.
The 1% have drained the US dry for their further enrichment while the rest are left to survive with the only jobs being created at the $7.80 per hour level. A friend told me that several Silicon Valley companies are moving their operations overseas and taking away those high paid jobs.
The US as an economic power is coming to a conclusion, but Trump is certainly nudging the system.

sj

One of the reasons why people back Trump is because the American public are so fed up with the usual run-of-the-mill mealy mouthed believe-in-nothing (running out of metaphors) politicians.Trump simply tells them what they want to hear from a politician.His oafishness seems at least somewhat sincere. If the Americans are going to be ruled by a bastard it may as well be an honest bastard who is straight up.
I don’t think Trump will head to a collision with China but I do think that he would try to extract concessions from them especially on product dumping.He will more inward looking and I reckon he will try to push the Europeans to bear most of the costs for Nato.I agree with you that not many people are aware of the true US financial balance Sheet.The debt of $ 20 trillion is just a tiny variable of the overall picture.As professor Lawrence Kotlikoff has said “The US is already bankrupt but people don’t know it”.

If that renowned pollster Nikolle says so then it must be true??

The EU will slowly organize itself into 4 levels.

Rich boys
Middle class boys
Poor boys
Overly Indebted boys

If the UK stays in, it'll once again pick and choose what it wants and what it doesn't want.

The indebted boys dont want to pay debt down.... and the rich boys don't want to pay other people's bills.

SJ,

The Valley is a huge balloon, ready to burst at any time. The wages of engineers in the Valley are at least 120K/year, more in the 160K - 180K/year.

This is good merely to make a little money for living. The cost of living across entire US is beyond any reason. Such high wages are essentially for few - average people in the Valley and many engineers do not live in their houses anymore the way as it used to be - they have to rent out parts of the house. Cars park everywhere on the street because now in a house built for one family there are two-three households (by intent, I am not saying "families") living.

The lack of reasonable rentals and the price of a more-less inhabitable home being in $1mill range was actually created by the lawmakers with the intent to patch the budget of California. They did patch, but we do not see any penny in return.

I am glad, I do not live in the States anymore and have absolutely no intent to go back.
I just hope, at the time I retire the Social Security is worth something. I just can't wait to retire. It's all total BS over there and there won't be any recovery ever. The jobs are gone forever and sooner or later these high-paying jobs (see above) will re-locate to their home countries (India, in most cases, very few Europeans are left).

Probably that would be the best, than Cupertino will be again more about apple orchards than Apple.