Eurozone Panic

Due to yesterdays French election results (round 1) the markets have dropped significantly and will continue to drop in a big way. Sarkozi isn't liked over there, but he is liked in Germany and the banks because he's toed the German line on austerity, which has stabalised the markets. Hollande who is now favourite to be the next president wnats to spend and create jobs, but to ensure he wins the election he will need to get into bed with the communists party who also had a great election result. On the other hand, the only way Sarkozi can win is if he gets into bed with the Le Penn woman, who came third in the polls with an unprecidented 23% of the vote. She stood on a platform denouncing Brussels and immigration. Wow, so its going to be fun over the next couple of weeks because Sarkozi must go even further and promise massive immigration policies, which will include identity card and lobbing out muslims, if he is to stand a chance. he will also need to curb some of his enthuism for Europe, because if he doesn't the socialist candidate wins, and France will be on strike for a long time. The markets will also implode which in turn will cause another Eurozone crisis. Most of the French debt is owned by foriegn investors, whereas only 14% of our debt is owned abroad. This puts France in some danger, because if the socialist win, and insist on borrowing more to create jobs, the price will be catastrohic to Europe and the costs to service existing debt gets higher.

It certainaly looks like the whole European thing has been a massive failure, and maybe its time we just bailed out completley and mop up after the blood has been spilt on the continent.

From what I gather Le Pen doesnt seem to have any interest in bailing out Sarkozi, though clearly that could all just be bluff. The Liberals have proved that any coalition is possible I guess...nice to see how well that one is working out, not. As if it ever could.
Re Europe there have been good times and now there is a bad time. You have to expect thats what is going to happen at various times especially ion am arket that is influenced by a global economy.
Personally I think it will at some stage turn again and it would be far better for the UK to be involved. We rely massively on the Eurozone for exports and we could well end up ostracised if we were to completely bail out now, I dont think that the Germans and French will then just let us stroll back in to enjoy the good times when they come back, nor should we be able to.

I think its going to be a fun time waiting for this election to be sorted, but all the while this is going on, the markets will be up and down like a whores drawers. We could be talking a double dip recession because of the potential turmoil. The socialist candidate has nevrr held any form of office, and needs to align with the communists. The commies are insisting on taxing the rich and by that I mean that anyone who earns more than £150k will be taxed 100% above that level. You just know that businesses and senior managers/directors will leave the country. The socialists also have a problem with the Eurozone so banks will run a mile from them. Sarkozi already changed his strategy by denouncing muslims who went against the ideals of the 'republic' and will now move much further right.

I understand what your saying regarding our exports into Europe, but if massive changes happen in France the markets implode, meaning not much business in France or other European countries, due to the financial turmoil which will ensue. Spain, Greece, Ireland, Portugal & Italy will be rubbing their hands, because if they can force out the austerity measures they would hope to get people back into work and try and get out of their debts. European economics is being seen as a paryah and has effected the US and Far East economies, and they're not happy about it.

The European model was flawed from day 1 because their was no financial allignment. If there had been it would have worked, but would have been a much smaller zone, and in effect a federal empire, with a handful of countries not able to manage their own internal policies as Brusells would rule. Its a failed experiment, that was corrupted with greed. They allowed any country to join and provided them with cash, which they cannot afford to pay back anymore in some cases. Left to fester there will be riots in quite a few european countries as unemplyment rages, industry closes and we all know that the lowest common denominater will come into play - immigration as non nationals are seen as the cause of unemployment. This is why the hard left and hard right political parties in France are on the rise. We see it over here too I'm afraid and UKIP seems to be the middle ground for many who would still feel uncomfortable voting for BNP.

Yes, its a bit of a mess alright. These things somehow have a habit of working themselves out though, I really cant see that the French economy will dramatically collapse though they could be in for a rocky ride.
But basically the French hate Sarkosi so what are you gonna do ? They just think he is a dwarf muppet with a bitch wife, and they are basically right.
We may well double dip but I have to say by and large so what. It may affect our standing with the credit agencies but we seem to be OK for now.
Life goes on, some businesses/people thrive and some suffer but quite frankly thats all going to happen through Tory policy whether we double dip or not.
We will always see a bit of growth for the minority parties in the UK in between general elections, but nothing ever comes of it in the end. Nobody is ever going to take someone like Nigel Farage seriously, and thank heavens for that.