EU Spectacle
The word spectacle is carefully chosen, since this is what the current drama of which Greece is the symptom, not the cause, has become. It no longer bears any relationship to coherent democratic leadership or process of governance in a workable political and currency union. The cancellation at a moment’s notice of a summit of all EU leaders is extraordinary.
There is a problem with Greece, but it is not that difficult to solve. Indeed this blog working alone would be able to negotiate a workable solution. What is proving impossible is to find an acceptable solution, because the institutions normally established to process decision making at national and international levels are not there, or there in such abundance nobody can detect who is in charge. And to make matters worse the structure of the currency itself is unsustainable as it lacks a treasury and a finance minister answering to an elected government. A committee of finance ministers at loggerheads, elected by only one member state in each case, on conflicting mandates and to differing electoral timetables will work only in the good times and becomes dysfunctional under pressure.
So all we know at this moment is that Greece may or may not go bust tomorrow, the euro looks more like an impediment to growth than an engine of it, and the reputation of the EU as a coherent political union is severely damaged. Beneath that a big gap is developing between the north and the south of Europe, between the politicians and their electors everywhere and between those in the eurozone who want to stand firm to high principle even if it brings the whole thing down, led by the Germans, and by those who feel pragmatic reality demands compromise, led by France and Italy.
At the heart of of this crisis now engulfing the whole EU are three violated principles. You cannot have a democratic political union without an elected forum from which all authority flows. You cannot have a currency which cannot be printed. You cannot have capitalism which does not permit debtors to go bust. The first is violated because the whole EU is wrongly configured. The last two are rescinded because Germany says No.
I would not trust any railway that China builds. Try the Germans instead. To have China build a nuclear reactor sounds laughable but dangerous.
I see all sorts of collections being published online these days by groups of authors some of whom have met at conferences, some of whom have never met, none of whom seem to be next door neighbors. You could do it say on Kindle. Did you get my email about Kindle Scout? Just dreadful what they are putting authors through! And when you study their contract they warn you that you might have to pay them some of your advance money back under certain circumstances. That totally contradicts the typical behavior of the traditional publishing industry. Advances are supposed to be nonreturnable no matter if the publisher doesn't sell a single book.
Yes I think you must be right. In K's case her mum is American by birth and her grandparents are descended from early settlers, so maybe she could run. Most of her cousins are American. Her main relatives here are her half brothers. Her mum is now married to a Brit and lives here.I don't know whether anyone born here is an automatic Brit. I must ask somebody.
You could do a collection of exchanges by us in book form on Kindle, but what would you call it? Any ideas?
No, but will start to think. You think too. You are good at this. Ask Gary.
Would you believe that one of our cars is a Volkswagen Jetta Sportswagen that we purchased last year in April? We are totallly shocked but not by Volkswagen. We’re shocked by the government reaction to it all. What they should do is say that all cars manufactured from now on should meet certain standards. It’s too compiicated and inconvenient for the customer to do anything else. Customers who bought the model like the gas mileage. Changes will affect that figure. I don’t know what the big fuss is about. And remember any future changes will be passed on to the customer. It’s all this government regulation that’s responsible for the high cost of new vehicles. Some of these new cars now cost what a new house cost several decades ago.
Linda wrote: "You think America was more important in Nixon's day? I think after the fall of the Soviet Union the US grew in importance, not that the Soviet Union was any real threat at any point. But clearly af..."Agree.Did you know that Burger King is British owned?
Apple, Microsoft , the Cloud, the Internet are all the real strength of America's soft power and they empower people more than states.
Linda wrote: "I would not trust any railway that China builds. Try the Germans instead. To have China build a nuclear reactor sounds laughable but dangerous."Times have changed. China has more nuclear power stations than any other country and their technology is the most advanced in the world.
Linda wrote: "I see all sorts of collections being published online these days by groups of authors some of whom have met at conferences, some of whom have never met, none of whom seem to be next door neighbors...."Yes I got you email and replied. It should be in your inbox.
It's been a month now since we got back from the trip. August 22-Sept 22 yesterday. Today is the autumn equinox. We're having our own Oktoberfest. I ordered Bavarian sausage to make with boiled potatoes. On the side we have Bavarian blue cheese and Bavarian mustard. I should write down the brand names.
Linda wrote: "Would you believe that one of our cars is a Volkswagen Jetta Sportswagen that we purchased last year in April? We are totallly shocked but not by Volkswagen. We’re shocked by the government reactio..."What has shocked us here is that Volkswagen and German engineering are highly respected as is German integrity. Discovering that VW diesels have secret software that turns on the anti-pollution system only when the vehicle is subjected to the standard emission tests, then turns it off when the car is on the open road has gobsmacked everybody. It is plain criminal fraud. In Europe 50% of all new cars are diesel. A third of the company's value has been wiped off the shares.
It's not the government reacting that is causing the damage. It is the market reacting to the cheating.Once the market loses trust you are a goner. That's capitalism.
Meanwhile they seem to have no idea of the potential bill in fines and class actions. Some say it could get to $30 billion world wide.
Linda wrote: "It's been a month now since we got back from the trip. August 22-Sept 22 yesterday. Today is the autumn equinox. We're having our own Oktoberfest. I ordered Bavarian sausage to make with boiled pot..."Gosh that does sound good.I like all the German sausages. We have two German supermarkets Aldi and Lidl where you can get everything but they are not local to me. But I could make a trip.
Chinese technology isn't the most advanced in the world. It never has been and probably never will be. Look at the history of China! They've never been a military power. They've never espoused high tech. They are the most "traditional" society that's ever existed. Most of their people are still pagans, for instance. They have a terrible record building railroads. Chinese railroads in China do terrible things. I'll get the details from Gary. The US has had trouble with Chinese imports of all kinds. Nothing works right. Nothing is of high quality. It's not Japan.
I don't think it is a pure market reaction. It's a popular reaction to what they think the government will do to Volkswagen. Government involvement in autos has gone too far since the days of Unsafe At Any Speed. It's costing us too much money in increased auto costs that are passed on to the consumer. And now the government is trying to destroy an auto company that Gary says is the biggest employer in Germany. It accounts for 1 million jobs! If I were in charge I'd just say that from now on we'll build the autos differently. Maybe we'd fire the engineers in charge of the design. The CEO probably knew nothing about it. I'd forget the recalls. I'd forget fines. I'd downplay it all. It's not worth going through this idiocy. And remember we own one of these cars that's to be recalled. It has great fuel efficiency. All this environmental nonsense has gone too far.
Linda wrote: "Chinese technology isn't the most advanced in the world. It never has been and probably never will be. Look at the history of China! They've never been a military power. They've never espoused high..."
Linda wrote: "Chinese technology isn't the most advanced in the world. It never has been and probably never will be. Look at the history of China! They've never been a military power. They've never espoused high..."I did not mean that all Chinese tech is the most advanced in the world, but that related to nuclear power stations is. They also build more of them and have more on stream than any other country.
Linda wrote: "I don't think it is a pure market reaction. It's a popular reaction to what they think the government will do to Volkswagen. Government involvement in autos has gone too far since the days of Unsa..."First of all your views on pollution would not be mainstream in Europe, although there is I know a big denial lobby in America about both pollution and climate change. Second it is not just that VW cars emit 40x more pollution than the makers claim, although that is bad enough. It is the fact they engineered and fitted a cheating device. That is plain crooked and untrustworthy.
Anyway they have just announced that 11 million of their European cars have the cheating software. Both the US and European governments will fine them big time, but it is the potential class actions from customers which one city lawyer said is likely to be the biggest ever, which will do a lot more damage. My estimate of $30 billion costs could be pretty close.
As far as China goes, I wouldn't trust them to build anything at all let alone nuclear reactors, trains, or anything. Look at their record on pet food for one thing. I bought their wrapping paper a couple Christmases ago from Home Depot. Never again. A lot of their stuff should be banned.
Climate change as caused by man has no scientific backing. The climate does change. It’s proved by tree rings,etc. There have been ice ages, etc. But it’s not caused by us. And what hypocrisy to blame Volkswagen for climate change when double rig trucks use diesel and emit a lot more in the way of pollutants than passenger cars!!!! If everybody were really concerned about climate change they’d ban trucks or lorries from the highways for good. They’d use electric trains instead and use trucks only on the short hauls. This shows it’s all a political witch hunt and nothing else.
I read your blog. Yes, who knows what the scale is, but whatever it is government needs to step back a little from automobile regulation. They've done too much already since the days of Unsafe At Any Speed. This is the biggest factor in making the costs of automobiles rise. The cost of the average car is now approaching what it used to cost for an average house in the US a couple of decades ago. And all because of some myth of climate change which sounds like a medieval god with no reality to it. I still don't understand where environmentalists are coming from and why they have so much pull with politicians. Nuts!
Remember, I come from Pittsburgh which used to be black as night in the day time one hundred years ago and that was during the day time. I mention it in Key to Lawrence. But I think that would have changed anyway without environmental regulation because we moved to a post industrial economy. I don't mind common sense. But the regulation now has moved beyond commonsense to nonsense, especially in this matter involving Volkswagen.
I think the issue is actually more to do with health than climate change, in Europe anyway. Climate change is more over power stations etc, but in the UK people switched to diesel because they were told it was good for the environment so that 50% of all cars are now diesel. In the US it is just 3%. Unfortunately the diesel fuel is better for the environment but worse for health especially when concentrated in big cities.So it is becoming a political hot potato. It now turns out that the coalition government was going to toughen the emission regulations, but Angela Merkel telephoned Cameron and said German manufacturers would have a problem with that, so he backed down and ordered the status quo. Meanwhile Switzerland has banned the sale of any of the affected VW models.
Again what about diesel trucks and double rigs? They are far worse polluters than passenger cars, right? Nobody tries to crack down on them, do they? It would be impossible for big business. That shows why all this is hypocritical. What I say is "they" pick on the most unorganized, unprotected groups of people whenever there is either a problem or a perceived problem. That's why they're picking on motorists over this matter.
It's totally impractical to have recalls over something that doesn't need fixed. It would be one thing if the VW problem had to do with passenger safety like the Toyota recall of a couple years ago. But it's just political. That's not enough of a reason to inconvenience car drivers who already own the vehicle. And we own the vehicle.
Linda wrote: "Again what about diesel trucks and double rigs? They are far worse polluters than passenger cars, right? Nobody tries to crack down on them, do they? It would be impossible for big business. That s..."First of all nobody is getting at ordinary car owners.The owners will be compensated, in Europe anyway. The authorities are going after the manufacturer. And yes emission rules for lorries are just as tough over here if not tougher.
There seems to be a different attitude among the public in America. Although your emission rules are I believe tougher than in England, public opinion does not seem to back the authorities.
Here the public is on the side of the emission rules which they regard as important for health and well-being. People bought these cars because they thought they were clean. The threat to VW comes from what are predicted to be the biggest class actions in history. Every owner will be entitled to compensation if it is proved that the company fitted cheating software, which seems beyond doubt. Here is an extract from the latest BBC news:
One German newspaper has described Volkswagen's rigging of emission tests as the "most expensive act of stupidity in the history of the car industry".
To that might be added that VW could now be entering one of the longest legal nightmares in corporate history.
The legal fallout from the scandal is potentially so vast and its tentacles so international and numerous that it lends credence to the joke: "These days there are two types of lawyer. Those instructed by Volkswagen and those about to be instructed by Volkswagen."
Thus far, at least 10 government authorities around the world have opened investigations into VW. That number could grow.
Linda wrote: "It's totally impractical to have recalls over something that doesn't need fixed. It would be one thing if the VW problem had to do with passenger safety like the Toyota recall of a couple years ag..."It is not impractical to recall the cars to have the cheating software removed and it will have to be done. And yes it is a health issue. These emissions kill. Maybe not in America because only 3% of your cars are diesel. But here in Europe the concentration is much higher.
Even if you have tough rules for truckers their rigs still emit more pollutants. So as long as you allow trucks to drive on the roads at all, this faux pas at Volkswagen doesn't mean much in terms of real pollution. It's just some newspaper story that's gone political. I hate all this political crap. Remember Volkswagen is the biggest employer in Germany. You don't want to start something there. I suppose the government of Germany will have to bail them out. That's what would happen here if the situation got thorny enough. The government here bailed out both Chrysler and GM at different times.
When you say public opinion here in the US doesn't back the "authorities" who are the "authorities" you talk about? If by the "authorities" you mean the current occupant of the White House or his minions, you know what I think about that.
If they make you have to bring your Volkswagen car in for a recall, I consider that inconveniencing the car owner if it's against what he thinks and believes in. Also I understand that the Jetta Sportswomen may not have such good fuel mileage after the recall. That's one of the reasons we purchased it to begin with. We think that the recall sabotages the value of the car. There will be no compensation for that.
You notice the Russians aren't making any fuss about Volkswagen. They have all sorts of deals with the auto manufacturer. They want more plants in Russia. They don't care about pollution.
Volkswagen was supposed to be "the People's Car". Hitler was behind it. It played a part in the war. Picking on Volkswagen like this amounts to a modern reparation on Germany. You remember what reparations caused after WW1. That's not the way to go. I bet you haven't heard anybody express this view.
To be honest I think this is going to involve the whole industry eventually. There is mounting evidence that on the road pollution figures are quite different to the static tests with all makes of cars, so something is adrift all across the issue.
I think the government is too hard on the auto industry. All this stuff about emissions and other matters, too! It makes it too expensive to sell automobiles. Just look at the prices! In the US a $30,000.00 vehicle is considered average. $20,000.00 is now considered cheap. No wonder the loans extend longer than they used to. I think this trend has to stop.
What have you read? What other companies are implicated in the latest scandal?
Linda wrote: "I think the government is too hard on the auto industry. All this stuff about emissions and other matters, too! It makes it too expensive to sell automobiles. Just look at the prices! In the US a $..."If customers were willing to accept lower performance and simpler specifications for cars the prices would be lower too. There would be less pollution as well. Hybrid cars, part electric and part petrol are getting more popular. The engine cuts in to keep the batteries charged but it is the electrics that drive the car.
Linda wrote: "What have you read? What other companies are implicated in the latest scandal?"There is nothing specific yet. But there is a recognition that the pollution levels of cars in normal driving conditions is far higher than the tests show. This has implications in big cities which suffer from smog. So far VW is the only one shown to be deliberately cheating and that covers also Audi, Scoda, and Seat.
But various governments are now ordering tests of all makes in both testing stations and then in driving conditions with portable equipment. This should throw more light on what is going on and if any more cheating it will show up.
I have sent a cattle picture via my phone to your cox.net.
Electric cars wouldn't make it in the western US with the terrain and long miles between stops. They wouldn't make it anywhere in the US where you have to drive long distances. California may be setting up charging stations for electric cars, but there are probably long lines and delays. Also I wonder if the charging stations really are everywhere. I haven't been there now in over three years. And that was a very brief visit. I haven't been to California for a long visit since 2007. Also I wonder about the quality of the A/C in electric cars. In addition I doubt if they make electric minivans. The cars which are electric are too small.
Scoda or Skoda is I think the car model we were driving in Europe this summer. We rented a Skoda Octavia. So this model must be involved, too. It was certainly a diesel vehicle. We discovered that there were different grades of diesel not just one grade like here in the US.
I'll look up the pastoral cattle picture.
Did you send one or two cattle pictures via your phone? I received only one.
I don't think there are any hybrid minivans either. And what we would be looking to buy is a minivan. Can hybrid engines or electric engines pull larger vehicles? What about RV's?
Linda wrote: "Did you send one or two cattle pictures via your phone? I received only one."Just the one.
Linda wrote: "I don't think there are any hybrid minivans either. And what we would be looking to buy is a minivan. Can hybrid engines or electric engines pull larger vehicles? What about RV's?"To be honest I am not sure what there is in the US. There are some biggish 4x4s around with hybrids, all Japanese. You would have to check out your US market.
Where you are you would be surely best off with a fairly large engine low stress American petrol vehicle. Your fuel is cheap and they are always good for long distance touring at steady speeds.
There is now a massive rethink about diesel over here.It is clear the VW were cheating because the standard could not be reached. They have admitted they have to fix 1.2 million cars in the UK. Then they will have to compensate owners for higher consumption, loss of value, increased emission taxes etc and face heaven knows what fines for declaring the cars clean when they were not. People went over the top over climate change because diesel is better for that, but the emissions kill people. That is not good news.
If emissions kill people , why drive at all? Outlaw all vehicles: cars buses, trains, ships, planes, etc. We could all go back to the 18th century and the days of carriages pulled by horses and ships with sails. We could all return to the pre-Industrial Revolution times. Gee, I always wanted to wear a long dress. I bet you wanted to wear a powdered wig. Sounds like costume dress up or one of those romance novels, huh? I remember being at the Grand Canyon when a tourist from Paris with a French accent looked at the trail where the mules walked up and down to the bottom of the Canyon and said to me, "Are the people supposed to walk there, too?" The trail was replete with manure droppings from the mules, and he turned up his French nose at it. It sounds like everybody's ready for a return to the 18th century.
People here bought German cars for looks and for style, I'd say. A lot of the SUV's and hybrids, crossovers, etc are ugly. It's aesthetics, too, not just fuel consumption. We face having to buy a car which doesn't look very attractive just to get one big enough for the pets. Also there's the difference about whether you climb down into the vehicle or just sit down in it the way you do on a chair. And Gary complains that with the German car you don't get as good visibility. You're too low down to the road. Many taller vehicles surround you. You can't see traffic as well. However, when we were in Germany this summer we didn't have the same problem. We didn't need a car as big. We didn't have the pets with us. Also the visibility issue was solved because all the other vehicles were closer to the road level, too. It's built for German driving conditions, not American. What's your car like?
Hang on! The issue is diesel emissions are better for the environment but worse for people.In heavy concentrations like cities it can be a real problem for asthma sufferers and anyone with a chest or heart condition.Unfortunately people were encouraged to switch to diesel before this was realised and now half all cars in the uk are diesel.So they tightened the emission rules.
Lots more people take trains and busses and all major cities are upgrading their public transportation systems so people need their cars less in built up areas.
Mine is a tiny fiat 500.But if I were in the US I would have a big high car to get visibility as you say.
What cements it all together unfortunately is the threat of force. When the US gets angry such as during 9/11 it acts with amazing and sudden force.