Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Suddenly the sky was interrupted

Now when you think that the world’s banking system is on the verge of collapse because the European banking regime is totally dysfunctional, wouldn’t you want your political representative there to quiz Mario?

If you think so, please contact your MEP and ask them why they were otherwise engaged. Or maybe you think that the ECB is irrelevant? Or maybe the European Parliament is? Either way we are the losers.

You may write to them.

Is this real? Is Germany that much better than the rest of Europe? What has it discovered that no one else has?

So far I have come across two facts.

1. Since Germany joined the eurozone in 1999 its trade balance has increased dramatically. When I say dramatically I mean almost 400%. In less than ten years! Incredible. Did Germans suddenly unleash some brilliant economic miracle that no one else had discovered?

2. Germans do have a secret though, no one else has realised. They agreed that the European Central Bank was purely there to maintain price stability; no inflation. Why? Because Germany hates inflation, because it reduces the value of savings and debts. (This is a Good Idea). It also meant that employers and workers, expecting no inflation could agree on small wage rises in exchange for full employment. So Germany’s unit costs would not rise, while the rest of Europe’s would increase by 30%.

So here we have it. Germany has arranged the eurozone to increase its balance of trade by 400% and keep its cost of production to 30% less than its partners. So what do we have? A crisis!

Triassic Coast

Since 1999 Germany's trade balance has quadrupled

According to Wikipedia;

The procedure used to fix the irrevocable conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand.

Guarding the sea glass

The world is going mad. People are pretending it isn’t, but it is. It’s not only the weather, of course, that is always unknowable. Or the economy. There are other mad things which are unmanageable too. I’m thinking my mood is on the other side of the moon when it wants to be obscure. Not that it matters much. More important is the state we are in. Collectively. The rich seem to be immune to states, both individually and taxationally. Well they are, to a point. But wealth is only skin deep. When you dig down further, the wealthy are just like you and me.

Go to writtenkitten.

Conkers

There have been several contenders. None until today made the grade. Now this heavy grade beauty came my way at Exeter’s Matford antique fair. It was marked at £22. The dealer, bless her, offered it to me at £10. Now it is mine. Until it spontaneously shatters.

Victorian Glass Rolling Pin