Comments by optimal_R

Just look at Brussels. Van Rompuy, Barroso, Schulz, Verhofstadt, Reding, Lady Ashton... and the rest of 40.000 (or so) useless, overpaid eurocrats.
Saying EUthanasia is a no brainer.

So far I thought Germany mainly relies on industrial products that can be sold at a premium, whereas China on a huge pool of cheap labour and large scale investment. In other words, both countries are pretty competitive because of their merits, not their currencies.

And in a world where trade balance depends on currencies alone, the US of A is surely an export champion while Switzerland suffers of a huge trade deficit.

What I suggest is that debtor countries should take measures to become more competitive. Produce stuff that can be sold on the market, and pay wages according to that price.

The logic that creditor nations are the sinners seems pretty weird to me.

Countries are competing on the world market in a similar way as companies do, so requesting to reduce their surplus is like asking Toyota to produce less and poorer cars or asking Samsung to hand over some of their LCD screen business to the Americans.

Buttonwood, isn't it simply a Tier-2 Pound designed for financial markets?

And another post of the Eastern Approaches. Am I wrong when I say, that less and less click on "recommend"?

I assume it must be the Faroe Islands, where whaling is part of the culture.

It is a beautiful place, I spent memorable two weeks there - saw many places, including the magnificant northern islands, and also took part of the Olafsoka.

Anyway, also happen to know that there were huge number of seabirds, and that most of them disappeared due to unsustainable hunting and plunging fish stocks.

My point is that whales armed with human-like rights opens new ways to enforce the protection of their natural habitat.

Or perhaps admit, that giving them more rights could provide powerful tools to protect the seas.

It seems from the comments that many simply do not understand what this is all about, and also that such an extension of rights would benefit them as well.

I'm afraid one can extrapolate the issue on the Western governments. Every time when there is an uproar China and Russia backing Syria, I think on Bahrain...

Is there anyone, who still genuinely believes in Western moral superiority?

By the way, I second the motion, that Ecclestone killed F1. To fellow petrolheads, I would recommend the excellent FIA GT series.

"Anyone who buys a gasoline powered car is not only misinformed and a polluter (global warming, etc) but not very smart."

As usual, dark-greens underestimate the pollution caused by producing new cars, and as usual, telling tales about super batteries and 100% renewable energy.

For everybody else -since the article already referred to Autocar- here is the cruel reality of living with a Nissan Leaf, the "smart people's choice".
http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/whyilove/archive/2012/02/06/snow-joke.aspx

For the record, I'd rather buy naturally asprated petrol cars that tend to last much longer - and also fun to drive.

"In recent months he has been foraying into various forms of Euroscepticism, including criticism of Greek bail-outs and a recent pandering to growing anti-Polish sentiment."

One of the worst aspect of this is that euroscepticism and extreme views can be mentioned together, even though Europe needs genuine discussion about whether to continue the European Project...

Well, I tried to be sarcastic here. But after all the news being published some may actually consider it serious?

Hungary is indeed such a country. As we know from EA and other reliable sources, Hungary is drifting toward right wing authoritarianism, minorities are living in fear and neo-nazis regulary marching on the streets. Opposition media has been silenced and the new consitution now looks like that of a medieval country.

I would consider forcing the government to resign and form a caretaker government made up by eurocrats in Brussels, since democracy is finished anyway.

Think tanks are indeed there to preserve the status quo. May I recommend this bright article on the subject by Adam Curtis?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/09/the_curse_of_tina.html

As to the author of the article:
"I am disgusted by the obesity and religiosity of Americans... Please don't hate me."

No we don't. But we may be disgusted by you. (Please don't take it personal)

Some of Malev's flights were actually cheaper than those of competing LLCs while offering full service.

Of course Malev missed the opportunity to become a regional carrier/hub, but it's worth noting that former ex-communist finance minister Peter Oszko and his friends are hugely responsible for bringing it down - partly by assuring that state money that had to be repaid as ordered by EU. Massive scam.

And that very Peter Oszko is member of the board at Wizzair. Now I will not fly them again, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a massive boycott against Wizz in Hungary.

"UPDATE: Sorry to add to a very long post but another thought occurred to me. Of all paper money systems ever devised, the vast majority are still in existence and haven't collapsed yet. One could argue that "all previous bipedal apes have become extinct" on the grounds that Neanderthals and australopithecus are no longer around. But that would ignore the 7 billion humans still walking around."

Buttonwood, I think we can pretty much consider hyperinflation as a collapse. And according to (the now live) Wikipedia, the list goes quite long. Of course these have been replaced by other floating currencies, but only because there was no better alternative.

As for your arguments, in many ways the (stability) monetary system still rests on benchmark values, and currently that is the USD. But given the financial situation of the US and monetary policies of the Fed (like the QE, that is according to Bernanke does not increase money supply) how long will that continue?

"The recent temporary boost to consumption is down to a fall in the household savings ratio, which he thinks is not sustainable."

At last someone actually said this. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this news on the BBC as "adds to the string of good news".

"He pointed out that many of the signs of bubbles - an uncritically assumed growth story, overconfidence in the authorities, rapid credit expansion, an investment boom - are currently present in China."

These opinions always ignore the fact, that GDP per capita is still very-very low in China.

Having travelled accross China exclusively on train I can not disagree more. The bulk of the Chinese trains are economical ones, and when it comes to raising ticket prices... well, despite what The Economist writes, most Chinese are stilly buying standing tickets even for long haul trips.

Once I had to take an 18 hours long trip in a seater carriage, and literally for 12 hours I could go to the toilet, it was that crowded. So sure, raising the ticket prices is a good idea.

I have a feeling that your criticism is entirely based on speculation, as in Hungary -so it seems to me according the link at the bottom- the media law does not even apply to comments.

Abrosz having been moderated just a few comments earlier just puts this criticism on an even worse spot.

And though I'm no lawyer, I am quite sure, that any case of defamation of a public (or a natural/legal for that matter) person does not belong to the NMHH, but is a normal legal case.

http://index.hu/belfold/2011/07/03/a_kommentekre_nem_vonatkozik_a_mediat...

"If the ex-Commie youth decide that calling someone a "criminal" has "insulted human dignity," you can be fined a shitload of money, depending on what kind of media you publish in."

Funny stuff. Our fellow user, Abrosz Tisztakosz's previous post (calling András Simor a criminal) was deleted by The Economist's editor citing that the UK's libel law does not allow to use the word unless he/she is convicted.

Now what is your take on this?