Nigel Farage (UKIP) what do we all think?

UnimaginitiveDadThemedUsername

That's just evidence of your wishful thinking.

The Euro was always going to come apart because of the way it was constructed. The level at which the Euro was pegged overvalued the currencies of Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal and undervalued Germany. So what happened was that German goods and services became cheaper, hence their export boom. The reverse of this was that PIGS goods and services became more expensive. To catch up, the PIGS would need to make their economies more competitive. But they didn't, and they used borrowing to fill the deficit shortfall.

The financial crisis brought the Eurozone crisis early, that's all. It would've cropped up within a decade.

The Euro itself isn't the cause of these three examples, either.

The Euro is the reason none of those countries can escape from their predicament.

Ironman -

Nigel Farage was castigated for years, now he seems to be on every late night or other show that talks about the EU. Farage was right about the EU 20 years ago an undemocratic 'organisation' if ever there was one! Spending our taxes (50 million a day!) and will not give the people of Britain an audit trail to the money and where it's spent!

1. Farage ends up on telly because he's more entertainer than politician. Producers hope up he'll say something outrageous. Plus, it's easier to invite him than it is to invite Nick Griffin.

2. The EU is more democratic than other supranational organisations. We vote for MEPs, and national governments (which we vote for) goes to make up the Council of Ministers (who wield the real power in the EU). Can you name who we voted for to represent us in the WTO or NATO?

3. The reason auditors won't sign fully sign off the EU accounts because the member nations won't tell the EU how it spent the funds it received (e.g. our own Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food not being able to prove that agriculture subsidies were properly allocated).

The EU has pushed member states repeatedly for this information but a number of them have refused to supply it.

The problem is with the member states (and to a certain extent with auditing rules - a similar problem applies to how the UK's National Audit Office won't sign off the Department of Work and Pensions).

flatpackhamster -

No they aren't. They're caused by systemic failures within the Eurozone. The way it's set up, it was set up to fail. If the financial services problems hadn't arisen, then the Euro would still have failed.

That's just evidence of your wishful thinking.

The banking crisis isn't the reason for Greece's failure, or the credit bubble in Spain, or the corruption in Italy.

The Euro itself isn't the cause of these three examples, either.

Nigel Farage was castigated for years, now he seems to be on every late night or other show that talks about the EU. Farage was right about the EU 20 years ago an undemocratic 'organisation' if ever there was one! Spending our taxes (50 million a day!) and will not give the people of Britain an audit trail to the money and where it's spent!

The President of the EU is a Mr. Rumpy Pumpy I believe, a man that know one has heard of, but rules over the lives of 500 million people in the EU.

Luckily for Farage, his dream of leaving the EU will probably be no more longer just a dream. I'm sure Cameron will have to give a referendum on it before the Labour party steals his thunder and states it will give one to the British people.

Well I voted for them today. They seemed to be making a good go of winning too, with a car going round knocking on people's door asking if they had been to vote yet.

It's obvious that a currency union with widely disparate economies and cultures will fail. It has happened many times in history and there was no reason to think it would be different this time.

But the Euro always was and is a political project not an economic one.

I suspect that those who set it up did so knowing full well that it would lead to terrible problems somewhere down the line, to which more centralised power for Brussels could then be put forward as the only solution.

It that somewhat twisted sense the Euro project has been a success. There are now Brussels stooges in power in Italy and Greece. The Republic of Ireland now was to submit its budgets to Brussels before implementing them.

It don't know whether I'd agree with Flatpack that it was set up to fail (which I've interpreted as the euro was created with the intention of collapsing one day). However, when European governments failed to adhere to the conditions they themselves made in the Maastrict treaty they undermined the whole system. High levels of government debt at the euro's inception and no national central banks to act as lenders of last resort meant that it was inevitable that these indebted nations would be unable to service their debts. At the moment I think the politicians have the upper hand, how long they'll hold it for is another matter.

If you want an idea what might happen if the Eurozone collapses then you could read up on the 1992 collapse of the Roublezone. Interesting to think that the Roublezone must have been in crisis around the same time the Maastricht Treaty was signed. It's not a like for like case study but it demonstrates what happens when currency unions almost inevitably fail.

Barroso has had a at Nige & co in the European Parliament this week.

UnimaginitiveDadThemedUsername

The problems facing the Euro are because of a world recession caused by an under-regulated financial services sector.

No they aren't. They're caused by systemic failures within the Eurozone. The way it's set up, it was set up to fail. If the financial services problems hadn't arisen, then the Euro would still have failed. The banking crisis isn't the reason for Greece's failure, or the credit bubble in Spain, or the corruption in Italy.

A sector that Farage worked within for many years, I may add. And interestingly has absolutely nothing to say about vis-a-vis our current circumstances.

Has anyone asked his view?

Farage? Witty, but mad and wrong.

Farrage is a joke politician surely? An anti European who is an MEP? How much cognitive dissidence is going on there.

Well you may think that the Euro has failed by chace (a coin toss?) - others, like Farrage, think it was destined to fail in its current form because of its structure - so it is not at all like 'lauding someone for predicting a coin toss'. Politicians knew about the state of Greece's economy when they joined - I know it is the current fashion to blame banks for all of the ills of the world - but Greece were allowed in precisely because the Euro is a political project (and not because it made economic sense). The fault for that must lie with politicians and not banks.

Greece wouldn't have been accepted into the Euro if Goldman Sachs hadn't cooked the books in the first place.

Putting that aside, Farage is no soothsayer for the reasons I mentioned earlier. It's like lauding someone for predicting a coin toss.

The problems facing the Euro are unique and are because of the structure of the Euro. For instance, If Greece were in its own currency, the problems that the people of Greece (and the Euro) face would be far, far less. I'm not going to explain why that is - I haven't got time - but it should be obvious. The Euro project has failed - Farrage has been predicting this all along - so give him some credit instead of frothing at the mouth.

The problems facing the Euro are because of a world recession caused by an under-regulated financial services sector.

A sector that Farage worked within for many years, I may add. And interestingly has absolutely nothing to say about vis-a-vis our current circumstances.

So the Euro has been an unprecidented success has it Unimaginative? I think Farrage did warn about the scenario we are in before the single currency was formed. You may not like him but give him credit when credit is due.
IMO single currency is a politically motivated project that cannot work as it is. We will either need tighter integration between members (unified taxation systems etc., which is potentially undemocratic) or to bite the bullet and for the weaker economies to leave. One thing that strikes me about the debacle, that never seems to get raised, is that Germany benefits greatly from being in a currency with a lot of weaker economies because it makes its manufacturing exports a lot cheaper - no wonder Merkl doesn't want it to fail!

Farage is a slimy rabble-rousing twat who lies to the British public with each breath he draws.

And this idea that he is 'right' about what has happened in Europe is total bollocks. If a massive earthquake was about to fracture the earth's crust and herald an apocalypse, we wouldn't laud the nutter on the street with a "The End Of The World Is Nigh" sandwich board as being an expert geologist, would we?

Such as?

Yes, he is right on that one issue - but I would be uncomfortable with some of the other things that UKIP stand for.

He's right but you wouldn't vote for him? You'd rather vote for someone who's wrong but who's going to make 300 million people suffer for a failing political project?

I just don't get that mentality.

He tends to use gratuitous insults as part of his oratorial style - probably plays well with the nutters in his party but does not look statesmanlike to everyone else. He does address issues that others would not and is good at exposing hypocrasy in the main parties.
IMO He is right on the Euro crisis and am glad that he constantly reminds the Eurocrats of their recent predictions and statements. The Euro is a politically motivated project which cannot work in its current form - the sooner this is realised by our governments the better - we can get the pain over and move on.
Having said all that, I would not vote for him.

I will be voting UKIP in the local elections next week.

I listened to an interview with him on Test Match Special a couple of years ago. I thought he sounded like an interesting and intelligent man. I don't agree with his politics and was expecting him to be a bit of a loony but he was quite interesting.

I don't agree with a single thing he says but he came on here some time ago for a webchat and he was absolutely charming.

I refuse to be sucked in. I got conned by Clegg's brilliant oratory, and now look what happened