The Economic Crisis In Europe

Re: Greece, now.

Forostar said:
That's all fine but I wouldn't fool with the number of hours in advance.
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Fair enough

Will-I-Am said:
Remember, in Europe we have three things that change everything :
Small cars.
High Fuel prices.
Turns.  :D
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True, specially the turns. The small cars offset the high fuel prices a bit since they get good mileage. But in Europe I wouldn't get a car since the public transit is fairly decent and accesible.
 
Re: Greece, now.

Onhell, it really is different over there. Mav drove me from Bern to Paris a few years ago. That's 271 miles. In the US you'd figure 4 hours, maybe 5 max. It took us more like 9.

5 isn't kidding about those turns. They're everywhere and they make a huge difference.
Onhell said:
From Mexico City to Tucson AZ it takes 26 hours by car.
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If you can do it in one stretch, then it gets impressive. It's 1144 miles, so you'd only need to average 44mph. Sounds easy.

My biggest was New York to Denver with just a 2-hour nap in Iowa. 1629 miles in 30 hours, average 55mph. Although I've also done Denver to the south end of Florida in under 48 hours, twice.
 
Re: Greece, now.

Yeah our run from Mexico City to Tucson was covered quickly. We did 18 hours from M.C to Chihuahua City, spent the night and then 8 hrs from there to Tucson. Now keep in mind we lost 2 hours at the border and this was BEFORE 9/11, it's worse now.  we averaged 60mph, we hit a sandstorm in the chihuahua dessert caused by three tornados, so we had to slow down hehe. Since then I do most of my travel by bus. Sure I may spend 36 hours or more in travel, but I'll take that over being patted down and treated like cattle through an airport, not get a meal, have to wait 4 hours for my connection and then have my luggage lost or have still be in Dallas, because it didn't fit. At least the bus stops for meals or people hop on with Tamales, Burros and the like and we get to see at least 6 movies :D
 
Re: Greece, now.

Remember guys, there's nothing good about Germany (hell, even the f'cking Netherlands are better), and show some love for my anti-Libertarianism here. ;)
 
Re: Greece, now.

My father-in-law did travel once from Delft to Krakow (about 1300 km) in 9 hours. That's something I'm not even going to try!

That's an average speed of 144 km/h.

Germany lends itself well for fast traveling but such long distances I'd rather do in two days (sleeping a night in a Germany). 
 
Re: Greece, now.

A 144 km/h average is very fast, even by German standards. Your father-in-law was probably lucky to have empty motorways without any construction sites (my guess is, he drove on a Sunday). My dad usually makes the 400 km from Nuremberg to Berlin in 3.5 to 4 hours, with an average of 90 km/h. There's always good and bad days, of course, but that's what it usually takes.
 
Re: Greece, now.

Perun said:
A 144 km/h average is very fast, even by German standards. Your father-in-law was probably lucky to have empty motorways without any construction sites (my guess is, he drove on a Sunday). My dad usually makes the 400 km from Nuremberg to Berlin in 3.5 to 4 hours, with an average of 90 km/h. There's always good and bad days, of course, but that's what it usually takes.
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I think it was a Sunday indeed.
 
Re: Greece, now.

I found that interview of Joschka Fischer (former German foreign minister) in Der Spiegel.
More or less, he supports the same ideas (especially in the part I) as I have expressed in this topic...
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Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has voiced fierce criticism of the way Chancellor Angela Merkel has handled the euro crisis so far. In an interview with SPIEGEL, the former Green party leader says Merkel has 'botched' her duties and embarrassed her country.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Fischer, is (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel a great European?

Joschka Fischer: Angela Merkel has had her rendezvous with history in recent weeks. But unlike (former Chancellor) Helmut Kohl after Nov. 9, 1989 and (former Chancellor) Gerhard Schröder after Sept. 11, 2001, she pretty much botched it.

SPIEGEL: She helped put together the most ambitious rescue package in European history.

Fischer: Yes, the rescue package for the euro is the right thing to do, but it should have come in February. At that point, it was already clear that Greece is merely a trigger for speculators to launch an all-out attack against the euro. Europe would have been able to act much earlier if it hadn't been for the chancellor. And now most of the action was taken by (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy and (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi, not by our government. The chancellor's role in this was simply to agree to the plan.

continue part I---> http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 20,00.html

part II ----> http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... -2,00.html
 
Re: Greece, now.

Hey, you guys have 2L glasses of beer and the bartender gave us drinks "Finnish-style" by putting an extra shot of vodka in them.  And the language is awesome, you can get 3 euro kebabs there (here... try 6), there are no speed limits on the autobahns, and some great metal bands, and I could go on.  I would probably move to Germany some day if I could speak the language. :)
 
Re: Greece, now.

Invader said:
you can get 3 euro kebabs there
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You got ripped off, mate. My local kebab place sells them for 2 Euros, and I know some which sell them for 1,50 or 1,20. Although that is in the poorer quarters of Berlin. But 3 Euros is really way too much, 2,50 is the standard price.
 
Re: Greece, now.

Perun said:
There you go, forgetting to say "in my eyes" once... I'm tired of writing disclaimers in all of my posts stating they are my opinion. They are. The fact that it says "Perun" on the left of it already states that.
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No need to get upset.  I thought that maybe you had an anecdote or two instead of just a say-so.  Never mind it is not a big deal.
 
Re: The Economic Crisis In Europe.

While in Greece there are rumors for renegotiation of the dept, Ireland starts formal talks with the IMF.

From the Irish Times : IMF staff to begin formal talks with Government.

A dozen-strong mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will begin formal discussions with the Government in Dublin today on a rescue package for the State running into tens of billions of euro.
The IMF delegation will include several banking experts who will take part in the discussions with more than 20 officials from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission.
The fund spokeswoman in Washington, Caroline Atkinson, said the focus of the discussions was “to look at whatever measures might be needed to support financial stability”.
She said talks would include the IMF’s views “on the Government’s budget plans . . . on tax and spending measures.”
Taoiseach Brian Cowen denied that the rescue plan would lead to a loss of Irish sovereignty. He also dismissed suggestions of failure. “I don’t believe there’s any reason for Irish people to be ashamed and humiliated,” he said.

Speaking earlier, Central Bank Governor Prof Patrick Honohan said he expected the talks would result in the Government accepting a “very substantial” loan amounting to “tens of billions” of euro. “The ECB would not send large teams if they didn’t believe first of all that they could agree to a package,” he said.
Mr Cowen indicated that the Government did not share Prof Honohan’s views on the figure or a deal, saying his comments were premature ahead of negotiations.
“The governor gave his view. He is entitled to give his view. I am entitled to give the view about the decision the Government will take when the necessary discussions are over,” he said.
However, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan later told the Dáil that the Government could accept an aid package for the banks after the talks with the IMF.
He said the establishment of a contingency fund would be a “very desirable outcome” but said no final decisions had been made.
It was possible that the funds would be made available but not drawn down, he added.

Full article here
 
Whatever it is, it's rather scary. I'm not sure that Euro will not collapse in the end, especially under current leadership. There is a plan (to be discussed coming December) brought up by Merkel for how to handle future crisis. This is probably the reason for which Ireland rushed up for the negotiations. I need to inform myself about that plan, for which all southern countries plus France, react violently.
 
______no5 said:
There is a plan (...) brought up by Merkel for how to handle future crisis.
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Merkel, the woman who sells her country's future for short-termed lobby satisfaction? I hope somebody else has a plan too, otherwise we're boned.
 
Yeap, the words 'lobby', 'short term' & 'satisfaction of the average German tax-payer' were mentioned in that article about the plan. It was about the involvement of private sector to handle the crisis, which seemed to me logic in a first read. But apparently this plan will lead the concerned countries to a sort of bankruptcy. I need to understand how. 
 
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