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Originally posted by Reverend_Trance The possiblities of the Europe being a nation will happen when the Christian Antichrist comes to unite the world. There are language barriers, but those are slowly being overcome due to English being the language of international business and many European nations are teaching English in their schools.

This 2nd paragraph just didn't quite mesh very well with the rest of your post, which was quite good.

Just wondering, are you being serious here?

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Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 But hell, once Croatia gets in then the war can start for real. If we chased away the Turks, we'll chase away the Americans too!

BRAVO! u got it buddy

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Originally posted by Michael19 Paris, France. No one in the European Union wants to known as that. For example i never want there to be an olympics where all EU counties represent the EU and the flag. I would neverl ike it to be a kind of american, where all the countires are just small states.

make that no one - 1. I would certainly be a supporter of a EU that is totally integrated.

I do get your point however, that differentiated states might have an advantage. From a finance perspective, a differentiated portfolio, which the EU is atm, is usually preferable to any single part.

Anyway, I am glad that I was able to pay for my Guiness and Beemish (which I prefer) in Euros when I worked in Ireland for a couple of weeks back in 2003.

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Originally posted by imokruok Yep...you've got it. China is the real deal. Europe is not a worry: a stagnant economy, high unemployment, negative population growth, increasing social burden on younger generations, increasing burden to provide for hostile immigrant populations, and complete lack of any political party or figure to deal with any of the problems.

We do have the FDP in germany, which is a quite liberal party -as in free-market economy- however, they never get much more than 7-8% of the vote. That is usually even less than the green party.

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I see your 4 Crushs and raise you 3 As The Rush Comes. - Yan from PvD's first summerstage event in '03

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Originally posted by drizzt81 make that no one - 1. I would certainly be a supporter of a EU that is totally integrated.

make that 1 a 2, i am also a supporter of a "united states of europe"

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Originally posted by MisterOpus1 This 2nd paragraph just didn't quite mesh very well with the rest of your post, which was quite good. Just wondering, are you being serious here?

I was trying to be sarcastic.

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Originally posted by St_Andrew make that 1 a 2, i am also a supporter of a "united states of europe"

Do you get to then have blue and red states?

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Originally posted by BadBadNeil Do you get to then have blue and red states?

I do not think that the unification process in europe is at a stage where such questions can be asked...

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I see your 4 Crushs and raise you 3 As The Rush Comes. - Yan from PvD's first summerstage event in '03

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Other confident-sounding things that you hear Americans say about the EU - that it's plagued by a sclerotic bureaucracy, that it squelches entrepreneurship and initiative with over regulation, that its cradle-to-grave welfare states are dragging down its economy - should be viewed with similar skepticism.

Are you paying attention Yoepus?

As the other Europeans I too think that the article paints a overly rosy picture of the EU. But I think that the author is right when he asserts that the young Europeans are feeling less like nationalists and more like Europeans - and that this trend as intensified in the last couple of years. I don't think that the Iraq war was the spark that started this movement, though. I think the reason is mainly that the price of intra-Europe flights have gone down drastically in price. 30-40 years ago it was a pleasure reserved for the few to go abroad. Today there's not much price difference to me in spending my weekend somewhere in Denmark, and travelling to Milan or Barcelona. This increased mobility has made Europe a much more cohesive block.
The Bush administration *has* helped things along, as Europeans are generally repulsed by the administration and has gained an incentive to help establishing a counterweight to US dominance in the world. The major decisions of the Bush administration on Kyoto, ICC, ABM, and Iraq all have strengthened the drive towards closer European integration.

Wrt. China: It is true that China is an economic power and probably will continue to grow as long as it has resources to spend. However, the country is plagued by corruption, and its educational system is crippled by the need to keep students from developing individual thought patterns. These two aspects would need to be cleared away if China is to become what the US was 10 years ago: A beacon to the world.

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Originally posted by trancaholic Are you paying attention Yoepus?

I'm paying attention.....
but what should I being paying attention too


Anyhoo from my recent trip to Swissland (not an EU country) I uncovered that the EU indeed does squelche entreprenuership.

To start a limited liability company, or any limited corporation you need about $20,000-40,000 that you have to put up and will never see ever again to sit in bank somewhere deriving interest for the government which holds it as a 'liability' against your company. In addition you have your huge license fees, etc, and complicated legal fees always needed when dealing with a lot of money.

In Texas you pay up to $200 once and you have a corporation.




...


Now if I were to add and say that in this European nation that 10-50% of your corporations income goes staight to government, in addition to have social security, employment protection insurances, etc levied on you, and then personal income tax later.

Where as in Texas you pay a limited franchise tax (not more than 5%) for running a corporation, and your American social security and protection, etc, with no income tax.

Where would you start your business?

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quote:

Originally posted by drizzt81 I do not think that the unification process in europe is at a stage where such questions can be asked...

sarcasm my friend sarcasm

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