Ha Ha Europe

[Black Sunday9]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050602/bs_nm/...ets_forex_dc_14

Let's not forget it was Saddam Hussein who helped propel the Euro when he switched from the U.S. dollar as Iraq's reserve currency which had the same effect as the Opec oil embargo of 1973.

They keep trying to mess with the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar always wins.

(note: the title of this thread might seem inflammatory, but it is in jest. I don't hate Europe even though France is the one of the most corrupt nationw in the world - no offense to any French who might be reading this - note my reference to a Greek emperor in my signature line, which proves my undying love for Europe.)

[Sybil]

woa.. :fear

[SaGa]

when i think of europe i think of the band, and that very cheezy song the final countdown...now whoever went to irock to see them, really has no life

[Paper Hearts]

Wait...at the moment (you may not realize this) 1 Euro is worth about $1.23, that's about like comparing the American dollar to the Canadian or Australian Dollars: the Euro is still worth a good bit more. Another currency worth more than the US Dollar is also European, the British Pound: one Pound is worth about $1.81. What's more, getting back to my US/Canada/Australia comparison, the Australian and Canadian Dollars have made significant gound lately against our own currency, better improvement than we have made against the Euro and the pound has grown against us as well. Rueters is a terrible source for news.

*Of course Hussien switched from the US dollar to the Euro as soon as possible, The Euro will, by all forecasts, overtake the British Pound some day.

*You don't have to look all the way to France to find corruption and beyond convienience, you'll find far more in the US than most anywhere...

*French peoples have far more freedom then we do.

[Black Sunday9]

Wait...at the moment (you may not realize this) 1 Euro is worth about $1.23, that's about like comparing the American dollar to the Canadian or Australian Dollars: the Euro is still worth a good bit more. Another currency worth more than the US Dollar is also European, the British Pound: one Pound is worth about $1.81. What's more, getting back to my US/Canada/Australia comparison, the Australian and Canadian Dollars have made significant gound lately against our own currency, better improvement than we have made against the Euro and the pound has grown against us as well. Rueters is a terrible source for news.

*Of course Hussien switched from the US dollar to the Euro as soon as possible, The Euro will, by all forecasts, overtake the British Pound some day.

*You don't have to look all the way to France to find corruption and beyond convienience, you'll find far more in the US than most anywhere...

*French peoples have far more freedom then we do.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are aware Reuters is a European news agency, right?

When applying the worth of monetary denominations you also have to figure in the consumer price index. A pair of jeans cost a lot more money in Europe than it does in the United States.

The forecast of the Euro being strong was predicated on a "United States of Europe" and clearly, the people of Europe have rejected that idea.

As for corruption, if you want to go tit for tat on who has done more good in the world versus bad in the world, you certainly won't defeat the United States with France as your vehicle.

French people have far LESS freedome we do. They don't have the economic freedom we do, racism can get you fined in France - obviously racism is bad but freedome of expression is a right in the U.S., France has outlawed any form of religious expression in Schools.

Exactly what can a French person do that an American can't? I guess they are free to not work, since their unemplyment rate is nearly double ours, even using the claiment method of figuring unemplyment

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/...afx2070917.html

[The_Dark]

The EU is facing falling apart. That makes the Euro a scary investmant right now.

[Head Wreck]

euro at some point was exactly the same as USD

france and germanys economic growth last year was 1%....

the US dollar is dropping all the time. (i buy all my airsoft kit in HK for USD)

a few majour companies prefer euro to USD as well

but personaly i quite like the queens head on my money instead of monopoly money euros are. there was a big scandal year and a half ago where one forger actually put porographic images on his dodgy euros and it wasnt noticed till a bank clark in germany got bored and starting putting notes the same face up.

out high pound though does make exporting goods very expensive :(

but yank kit is dirtocheap

[Paper Hearts]

Again, Rueters is a bad source for news.

Many things in the US cost more than they do in Europe.

Many countries have accpeted the "United States of Europe" Constitution but regardless, it is not necessary for the Euro's success. The Euro is only a few years old and already kicking our ass even with these (very early) problems.

Firstly, I do not understand your Nationalism, or your bias against France-I am not French, I am American but it just seems senseless. Nor do I understand your using France to try to illustrate for us how shitty the Europeans are. I don't get that...

Brief History of the United States:

1.People so Religiously unaccepting that no normal liberty loving people will have anything to do with them leave Europe under the guise of "religious freedom"

2. Same religeous people eventually genocide Native Americans taking their religeons from them

3. Same people enslave Africans

4. Same people continue slavery all the way until 1865

5. same people continue state sanctioned discrimination until 1960's

Without getting into real details or current events, if we compared the history of say, oh, your France, durring the same period (1620-1965) then we'd have a real picture to look at. I don't even need to get into events of the last few years.

-More economic freedom than France? France is Socialist. Maybe you're part of that priviledged 2% of the population with 80% of the wealth in this country, but most aren't. Try that one on one of our inner city families in Detroit, you won't find poverty anywhere near that in France. Racism is freedom of expression perhaps for you, but you'd be surprised to find out that you have no right to it and that it's actually illegal here as well. Religion has no place in public schools, obviously. France has and honors their seperation of church and state. The minute the government tells you how to worship is the moment your freedom religeon is gone. The seperation of church and state is there to preserve religeon, the French government realizes that.

The French? The French can drink Absinthe, go to the beach naked, umm...don't have to get too detailed. I'm not French, and i don not understand, again.

Oh, and Unemployment is a bit different there, they are socialist for one and...their currency is still worth .23 more at the moment.

[Black Sunday9]

paper hearts if you don't like the source I gave for the story you might want to check out the wall street journal, who has been harping on the same subject as well, and really if you think most products are cheaper in France than in the U.S. you should probably go there and see, I think you'll be suprised at how much cheaper everything is in the U.S. Also, racism is not illegal in the US, it's an ugly thing and I don't like it, but even the KKK is protected by the ACLU.

As for 2% of the US controlling 80% of the currency, you might want to recheck your sources for that.

but if you want to know if the average French person has more economic freedom than the average American, you can go to www.worldbank.org and look at the per capita income, number 1 on the list only has 500,000 people and number 2 has a small population as well, so it's almost not comparable.

Rank Country Per Capita Income in US$

1 Luxembourg 54,430

2 Bermuda N/A 36,000

3 United States 37,500

4 Norway 37,300

5 Liechtenstein N/A 25,000

6 Channel Islands N/A

7 Switzerland 32,030

8 Denmark 31,210

9 Ireland 30,450

10 Iceland 30,140

11 Canada 29,740

12 Austria 29,610

13 San Marino N/A 34,600

14 Cayman Islands N/A 35,000

15 Belgium 28,930

16 Hong Kong 28,810

17 Japan 28,620

18 Netherlands 28,600

19 Monaco N/A 27,000

20 Australia 28,290

[The_Dark]

1.People so Religiously unaccepting that no normal liberty loving people will have anything to do with them leave Europe under the guise of "religious freedom"

1. Perhaps you should read a history book. There was nothing "liberty loving" about GB and France in those days. You were either Protestant or Cathloic... anything else was heretic (read as fire wood)

2. Same religeous people eventually genocide Native Americans taking their religeons from them

2. You will note that the native Americans learned how to scalp each other from the FRENCH! Again, read a history book.

3. Same people enslave Africans

3. Again, read a book. France was a major player in the slave trade.

4. Same people continue slavery all the way until 1865

4. France did not abolish slavery completly until 1848.

5. same people continue state sanctioned discrimination until 1960's

5. France is even now still trying to figure out how to cure itself of discrimination and bigotry against Muslims and other Non-French peoples. Not to be insulting, but try gettting some facts before you try to make a point.

Unemployment in France....

Try looking at the World Socialists Website and see what they think....

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/uned-d13.shtml

Seperation of Church and State:

Perhaps you missed where France is passing laws limiting religious freedoms and is being critisied by the rest of the world...

[phee]

Thank you Dark... that is very interesting stuff.

[The_Dark]

Anytime...

[Paper Hearts]

Firstly, here's a story from a more reputable and nuetral news source, it's a little different in some key areas http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4602229.stm

Secondly, mainly, the majority protestants and catholics who stayed in europe were far more accepting people's than our American "puritans". They left because they were freaks. Read something other than what they force fed you in school.

Next, i see no point made here, but again, genocide is one thing we didn't have in France at that same time and if we are having a discussion on the evils of diabolicle France (sic), than that's a fair way to compare the civility of either country.

Moving on, the US was the biggest player in the slave trade and continued it the longest. Sorry fellas, but France still has us on that point, and again, since you've made that the point, it's important to note. Same Thing goes for your next line.

lastly, You've got bigotry confused with Freedom, same as our anscestors.

Big nice ol' U-S of A, right? Kick aSS! Once i get this pride that you guys have, once you teach it to me, what then shall i do with it? Don't understand why we'd laught at anyone else's hardship, beyond me and that's my point. I'm not saying France is great or innocent, I'm just saying look at your own country first, it'll do you a lot more good than worrying about France.

[The_Dark]

Next, i see no point made here, but again, genocide is one thing we didn't have in France at that same time and if we are having a discussion on the evils of diabolicle France (sic), than that's a fair way to compare the civility of either country.

Because they were committing it in Canada, Michigan, Haiti and a few other of thier colonys. Did you forget French Colonys? Did you forget that France actually owned MORE slaves than the US?

[Black Sunday9]

I never said that the U.S. didn't have it's own problems.....but as far as economics go, well I studied Friedman in college, that's the way I lean and I think enough statistics are out there to indicate that it works, at least here in the U.S. I am not sure what slavery has to do with anything since it is not practised now in either country.

In fact some of my favorite figures from history are French, Louis XIV, the Huguenots, Joan of Arc (ok Joan of Arc was british but you know....)

I have nothing against French people, I do however dislike their Government, I believe that Jaques Chirac is likely an anti-semite, I believe He knowingly sold illegal missles to Saddam Hussein and it appears that his government participated in the food-for-oil scandal.

I know, I know, you hate our President and you have a long list of reasons why. That's fine, but I think my dislike for the French government has some merit.....

i also have issues with how France has treated poland, the country where my parents are from.

I have issues with France doing nuclear testing in Mangareva.

But mostly I hate france because of this:

[Paper Hearts]

-France's bigotry towardsr Muslims? -Really...that's laughable coming from an American. You can just feel the religious freedom in this country, can't you? Just because instruction manual they dictate to you on the news or force feed you in school says "we are really right, it's those terrible French who are wrong", doesn't make that attitude necessarily correct.

It might have been "innocent" but just because someone finishes a xenophobic, fascist or nationalist statement with "no offense" doesn't make it okay. Try walking into the NACP and trying a couple slurs and see if it softens things much for you to finish with "no offense". -Don't see why you'd type it in the first place if it wasn't meant for that, and again, i am very surprised by this mentality that laughs at others when things happen to them. Look, i like you both, alright, but it's just one of my things.

Another note-We wouldn't be an independent country today without France and as far as that is concerned, you could search the world over and have a difficult time finding a more terrible place available-we're just as repulsive and shit-like as almost any other country, but no, comparitivly speaking, we've always been a shade behind the French when it comes to being considered the seat of civility, not that Frence is the best as far as that is concerned (although quite arguably to many), but just that at least the French have always had a bit more dignity.

[The_Dark]

I might add I have no problem with the French as a people too. I dislikethe French government and it's policies over the years. I dislike the fact that they started, or played a major part in the start of, almost every major conflict in moderen history and then have the USA come bail them out. WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam...

[The_Dark]

Who exactly considers France a seat of civility? From my experiance, most people think the French to be extremely rude and self centered.

[Black Sunday9]

-France's bigotry towardsr Muslims? -Really...that's laughable coming from an American. You can just feel the religious freedom in this country, can't you? Just because instruction manual they dictate to you on the news or force feed you in school says "we are really right, it's those terrible French who are wrong", doesn't make that attitude necessarily correct.

It might have been "innocent" but just because someone finishes a xenophobic, fascist or nationalist  statement with "no offense" doesn't make it okay. Try walking into the NACP and trying a couple slurs and see if it softens things much for you to finish with "no offense". -Don't see why you'd type it in the first place if it wasn't meant for that, and again, i am very surprised by this mentality that laughs at others when things happen to them.  Look, i like you both, alright, but it's just one of my things.

Another note-We wouldn't be an independent country today without France and as far as that is concerned, you could search the world over and have a difficult time finding a more terrible place available-we're just as repulsive and shit-like as almost any other country, but no, comparitivly speaking, we've always been a shade behind the French when it comes to being considered the seat of civility, not that Frence is the best as far as that is concerned (although quite arguably to many), but just that at least the French have always had a bit more dignity.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here is my reply to that:

[Black Sunday9]

Who exactly considers France a seat of civility? From my experiance, most people think the French to be extremely rude and self centered.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hey you gotta check out this French soccer player named Thierry Henry, he is sweet! There's also this guy named Youri Djorkeoff from France, playing in New York right now.

[Shade Everdark]

I think it's a little unfair to imply blame to the French for World War II. Yes, they were appeasement namby-pambys (I seem to remember a certain Chamberlain being the same way), and none of us really cares to remember the Vichy government, but they still didn't have anything to do with bringing that scruffy Austrian corporal to power.

And, how did France figure into Korea? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I honestly don't know. Any websites available that provide a brief history?

[Paper Hearts]

Well, sometimes the French are considered rude by Americans but to anyone esle, Americans are the most callous people on Earth.

We mainly misunderstand French culture because we are so un mannored and comparitivly, their ettiquite is so much more refined and complex, so it's natural that when a fatass American talks out of turn or something a French person might cringe. Maybe Only a English person would consider themselves more proper than the French.

[Black Sunday9]

Well, sometimes the French are considered rude by Americans but to anyone esle, Americans are the most callous people on Earth.

We mainly misunderstand French culture because we are so un mannored and comparitivly, their ettiquite is so much more refined and complex, so it's natural that when a fatass American talks out of turn or something a French person might cringe. Maybe Only a English person would consider themselves more proper than the French.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Paper Hearts]

[The_Dark]

Just a few links from the only source you see as reputable:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4599681.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4604411.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4602229.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4538249.stm