4th December, hold your breath

[woolybanana]

4th December, Italian referendum, ostensibly on constitutional reforms, in fact on the Government and on membership of the EU.

So far, the polls suggest the prime minister will lose and resign an that Italy will be in chaos whcih with most of their banks apparently bankrupt should cause the Mona Lisa to adopt a distinct pout.

Which will be a great fillip to Greta Garbo (not his real name), leader of the effective oopsyition (sic) who will cause ever more populist chaos, maybe leading to a real banking crisis and a second or worse Greece.

So, Brexit may no longer be necessary as there wil no one to negotiate with.

Happy days.

[mint]

TBH, I had thought that we didn't need to hold the Brexit referendum and only needed to bide our time.

I have mentioned here on the forum that I think Europe will no longer exist in a couple of years or so.  No Europe to brexit from and just neighbouring countries to stay friends and trade with.

Sure as eggs is eggs, the Italians are not in love with their government.

[powerdesal]

I really really hope Europe continues to exist, I'm not so hopeful about the European Union though.

[mint]

Of course, PD, I meant the EU.  I said "Europe" to be a short cut to mean Europe as a political and economic entity and not a physical Europe which of course I hope will last for as long as the planet earth exists[:)]

[Gluestick]

Fingers aloft to Bruxelle?

See here

All rather hilarious, since the original Stability and Growth pact has been junked, revised, junked and revised, fine tuned and utterly ignored time and again, even by those member states who now shout loudest at Italy et al!

See Here:

Oh dear, silly me. There I go again citing facts and numbers, rather than opinions...

[mint]

By all means, have all the facts and figures you like.  I still think that all raw data need to be examined in the light of what else is out there before jumping to conclusions.

As you will have heard during your many business meetings, you could say a glass is half full or half empty.  So, even physical "facts" can be interpreted in different ways.  Depends on the person's outlook and also, of course, on what the person is trying to "sell".

To brighten up your Sunday evening, or not as the case may be, here are a few figures for you to ponder on:

[url]http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/overview-of-the-november-2016-economic-and-fiscal-outlook/[/url]

See, I can quote them too![:D]

[PaulT]

All these facts and figures and then the next with that magic word 'REVISED'. So the wonderful upward figures are 'revised downward'.

[Gluestick]

[quote user="mint"]By all means, have all the facts and figures you like.  I still think that all raw data need to be examined in the light of what else is out there before jumping to conclusions.

As you will have heard during your many business meetings, you could say a glass is half full or half empty.  So, even physical "facts" can be interpreted in different ways.  Depends on the person's outlook and also, of course, on what the person is trying to "sell".

To brighten up your Sunday evening, or not as the case may be, here are a few figures for you to ponder on:

[url]http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/overview-of-the-november-2016-economic-and-fiscal-outlook/[/url]

See, I can quote them too![:D]

[/quote]

Oh dear old Minty!

If you did actually look at the webref I included reference the laughable "Stability and Growth pact" then you would see which major and minor EU states exceeded the benchmarks; which includes , err, Germany and Italy follows Greece on the worst offenders. Note date - 2014.

I must advise my clients, when they have drastically exceeded their overdraft limit, to use your "Half Full- Half Empty" analogy..........

Sadly, I fear, I would be sued, as they shortly afterwards, collapse in bankruptcy.

[:-))]