in current elections to the european parliament, one vote from malta is as powerful as 12 votes from germany or france. one vote from austria is still almost worth 2 votes from germany or france.

this kind of misrepresentation is ok as long as the european parliament is just a sidekick to the national parliaments, but this form of so-called "degressive proportionality" would be completely unacceptable if there were "united states of europe". even more unacceptable would be a parliament or other form of governing body in which each nation has the same weight irrespective of size. it's already a disaster that the german national bank is liable for 27% of all euro debts, but only sends one member to the ecb council with its 19 members.

in general, the nation which pays for X% of the expenses or debts of a multinational union must also have roughly equal to X% in political power within this union.

well alright they have to give some seats to the very very small countries, but in no way this can be compared with the U.S.
not to mention this: The seat calculation system can be changed anytime: it's not written in a shit-stone.

No, its not. Thats the whole point.

Yes, and Germany is benefiting quite a lot from the union, it having the main export surplus is making it the strongest economy of Europe at this time (combined with it population ofc).
It is likely to be the best bank in a Union to bear the debts at low costs. (apart from it being able to print Euros when needed..)


This post was edited by Knaapie on Jul 17 2017 07:05pm

ofc it is, why you think people concentrate in towns ? to be close to their jobs.

Oh let me know, the only true voters are farmers maybe ? (the one from east of kentucky ? )

Weren't my explanations about how the Electoral College works, simple enough for a Frenchman?


/e Btw, did you have a bad experience in Kentucky by chance?

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 17 2017 07:13pm

the german export industry is benefitting. the average german worker not so much, since he is suffering from

a) a falling euro which makes goods from out of europe, oil in particular, more expensive.
b.): extremely low interest rates, most of the time below the official inflation rate, since the ecb is keeping them artificially low.
c) explosion of housing prices and rents as a result of the ecb's quantitive easing and b.).
d) huge oustanding debts of the other euro countries with the german bundesbank via the target II system, at the moment 860 billion €. yes, I'm not kidding, the other euro countries at the moment have outstanding debts of 860 billion (!!) € with the germans. which essentially means that the german bundesbank and thus the german people are indirectly paying for their own exports. this also means that a huge chunk of our export surplus is currently still in the air and not yet secured and converted to something that boosts our wealth. if this bubble ever bursts, the german people will lose a huge chunk of the wealth that our export surplus has supposedly created over the years. and I havent even talked about the catastrophic potential of blackmailing that this causes, which will make things even worse as time goes on...

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jul 17 2017 07:11pm

a ) Is oil more expensive ? I remember buying gas for 20% more than the price now, about 5 years ago. And we are moving towards renewables that are allowed to be a bit more expensive and become cheaper the next 10 years. I havn't seen an increased price yet.
b ) true, it's to get out of a crisis. Ppl suggest to not raise it too soon afterwards, expect another 1-3 years at this rate.
c ) yep, giving countries massive death taxes everytime a house owner dies. We can hopefully deflate the bubble with policies in the future, The Netherlands desperately needs one. (and is moving towards it).
d ) yes.. We've had a massive crisis. any bubble bursting now can cause even further regression of the standards of living in our countries. I think we've stabilized and hope we can increase our economy before the next bubble bursts. Even better: prevent a burst.

This post was edited by Knaapie on Jul 17 2017 07:29pm

nope, just trump won due a deprecated system that cant change.

It can change. That's why we have amendments.

But don't hold your breath, waiting for an amendment that forces the US to only elect someone you like.



/e Obama was systematically trying to quietly destroy this country. We survived him and he had 8 years in office.

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 17 2017 07:34pm