"most economists believe that it is inevitable that Britain will have to join the euro sooner or later"

Cobblers. Total unadulterated bullshit.

And horse manure for which there's not a scintilla of evidence. There was a time when a substantial number of British economists - mostly academics putting their anti-American bias ahead of their brains - thought Britain ought to join the € to strengthen it. But "inevitable? No preofessional economist thinks anything's inevitable, except death (Franklin got in only half right)

Do "most economists" think it's inevitable Canada will adopt the USD, that Japan will adopt the RMB, or that Switzerland will use the €?

Why do gullible fools accept such manifest hokum?

>>>>>>
Last summer, everybody was predicting a catastrophy regarding oil prices ...

Well we know what happened.

Last summer, some were predicting the USD was on the verge of collapse and was headed for $2 = €1 ....
>>>>>>

back then many britons here were also constantly lecturing americans about how their excess, stupidity, mismanagement, and a variety of other sins has caused "collapse" of their economy and their dollar. we liked to think that our greater wisdom, more measured lifestyle has rewarded us with a stable economy and a strong currency.

as old flanner would say..."cobblers".

now we are in the toilet and lacking the vision, energy, spunk, new ideas and leadership to reinvent ourselves and move out of this.

america now has the most dynamic leader in the world and is emerging from under the dark clouds triggered by 9-11 and exacerbated by dismal leadership following this event. attitudes of average americans seem to now be improving as they see the clouds parting. it does have serious problems but really now who do you want to put your money on today? old britain? no way.

so yes xyz, things do change and unfortunately even the old 'wise' posters here were unable to see the problems britain was headed for...they got far too giddy far too fast. what a bunch of old fools.

flanneruk...

Calm down it's not worth sending your blood pressure skyrocketing...as I've read it, many people suspect Tony Blair harbored feeling such as this but managed to keep them under the radar for what else but political reasons.

Actually, there is a movement about to combine the three currencies of North America, Canada, US, Mexico into a new currency to be called the amero.

There was also an interesting article in yesterday's New York Times how the financial turbulence of the last several months is having catastrophic effects on the economies of countries such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece....

None of this is good for anybody on either side of the pond, of course and there is really little consolation to be taken in this currency is strong while this other currency is weak.

I tried to make that point in one of my posts. Selfishly, the downing of sterling and the euro is good for me as I do travel quite a bit to the places that use these currencies.

OTOH, it's a little bit over a year ago as the US economy was showing its first signs of entering this malaise that the Mayor of New York was gloating that the weak dollar meant crowds of Europeans in the streets of New York with wads of euro and sterling notes not waiting to spend them. Broadway was having one of its greatest years in a while. And while the housing market in many areas of the USA was collapsing, the housing market in the New York area was booming as many Europeans were buying up property at bargain rates, for them, because of the strong euro and pound.

Now look at what's happened of course. As I noted, there must have been 15 shows on Broadway that have closed this past January. The streets of the city are empty. The New York housing market has joined the rest of the country. People are unable to travel to take advantage of the stronger dollar as their 401K plans have become if they're lucky 201K's or 101K's...the only really good news is what has happened to oil and the leverage it has taken away from such psychopaths as Chavez in Venezuela and to some degree Putin in Russia who thought the surge in oil prices would galvanize their economies. But it sure hasn't helped the auto industry.

But one has to remain optimistic. And I remember what my urologist told me during my last, very painful kidney stone attack. He told me, "This too shall pass." And you know something. He was right.

Hi N,

>Ira, how low is $!?

What's the sound of one hand clapping?<

Just a tad under $1.01.

Cla.......
.................................................. .....................
Hey MP,
>One would think......the dollar is not on solid ground..<

The GBP and the Euro are on less solid ground.

Hi; Is this for real. [1.35861] Many web sites have different numbers. www.xe.com/ucc/ ENJOY Iris

Ira, I think you mean it's a tad under $!.01.

man walkinaround is a nice breath of fresh British thought so lacking from our FodorBrit Friends.

really refreshing vis a vis the unadulterated horse crap like flows regularly from the Cotswolds down to Greenwich.

Such clarity. Cheers

When windowlickers meet.....

See the sludge does flow down the Thames from Cotswolds to Greenwich.

http://www.yviowa.org/images/photos/sunshine_coach.jpg