#1
Well the Asian markets are up at this time as they were Friday. Now those so inclined will be up about 2AM to see what the EU has done to the rest of the world. No 9AM people anymore. Tipper history repeats itself. Spain has defaulted many times in history. Good bank account. Then easy money and credit. Then get owned. I look for a sell to grab as much profit as possible. Then after the holiday, say first of the year, we do it all over again.
[An Nahar] Belgium's new government won a parliamentary confidence vote Saturday, the last hurdle in resolving a political crisis in the linguistically divided country that lasted a record-breaking 541 days.
Of 143 deputies present, 89 voted in favor of the six-party administration headed by Elie Di Rupo, a French-speaking socialist, with 54, notably Phlegmish separatists, against.
Di Rupo's government of six ministers from thriving Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and six from struggling French-speaking Wallonia in the south was sworn in on Tuesday but faces an uphill battle to tackle problems at the root of the deadlock.
As divisions sharpen between its two parts, the country that plays host to global institutions such as the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... is struggling to remain united around a joint political and economic vision.
The 6.5 million people of Flanders resent funding the 4.5 million of southern Wallonia, and the government was only formed when the powerful separatist N-VA party was excluded from the lengthy coalition talks.
The N-VA, which refuses to call Di Rupio prime minister, the extreme right Phlegmish Vlaams Belang, a French-speaking federalist party and the Greens of both communities voted against the government on Saturday.
In his speech before the vote Di Rupo pledged, "We will be the government of profound and lasting change, but without breaking our social model, our life in common and our federal model."
He is Belgium's first French-speaking premier in more than three decades and the first socialist at its helm since 1974.
Top of his agenda is a planned 11.3 billion euros in budget cuts, the toughest austerity measures in 70 years.
It took soaring borrowing costs and a Standard & Poor's downgrade from AA+ to AA late last month to jolt Belgium's politicians to put aside their differences and clinch a coalition deal. With debt at 96 percent of GDP last year, just behind Greece and Italia in the Eurozone, the coalition has pledged to balance the books by 2015 but many economists say Belgium might not achieve the 0.8 percent growth the budget foresees.
The government, an unlikely alliance of Socialists, Christian Democrats and Liberals from both sides of Belgium's language divide, also plans further devolution of powers to regional assemblies. But having already lost a year and a half to the haggling, Di Rupo has only two and a half left.
Over-under is six months...
Or one sixth that. The Belgians have a bit of a reputation in this area.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/11/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The fate of the civilized world hung in the balance, waiting with baited breath for this critical breakthrough. Now, at last, the global economy and all those wringing their hands in the corridors of power can rest easy, for after 541 terrifying days adrift, the world is secure once again.
#2
You figure the best bet is probably for Flanders to join with the Netherlands, and Wallonia to become part of France. The current Belgian monarch would either share a dual monarchy for the remainder of his life, or he and his heir would become a lesser noble.
#3
To the external observer, yes - but the Flemish would NEVER go back to the Netherlands. Walloons would go with whomever would pay them more to be idle. The Belgian monarchy was fabricated out of whole cloth only 150 years ago, and could be exiled to the mess they made in the Congo for all anyone cares.
#4
Not to mention that all the German 10% of the Belgian population want out of life is not to be forced to join Germany, or at least so it used to be. Perhaps the excitements of the last 500+ days has changed their minds.
#5
Now that Germany is the bailer-out of all, co-signer-at-large, and meal-ticket of last resort, I'd wager that German-speaking Belgians have less appetite for some kind of Anschluss-thingy than ever.
Flanders wants to be an independent republic. As long as France pays them enough, Walloons would probably be okay with that. German-Belgians . . . ? Maybe could convince Luxembourg to annex them.
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Belgium's new government won a parliamentary confidence vote Saturday, the last hurdle in resolving a political crisis in the linguistically divided country that lasted a record-breaking 541 days.
