If everyone in the Eurozone is in decline, even Germany, who IS keeping the whole thing afloat economically?

So Germany is about to go into recession. France is bankrupt and has been for years. Italy is in terminal decline. The unemployment rate for 16-24 year-olds in southern Europe is 43%. Spain is a basket case, Greece has been in recession for almost a decade. Holland is on the brink of collapse.

24 European banks have (yesterday) failed the European Bank Authority 'stress test' which gives them 9 months to shore up or be shut down. They're on the verge of collapse.

The Eurozone as a whole is about to go into its third recession in six years. The Economist calls it (The Eurozone) the world's biggest economic problem. Here.

So just who is keeping this entire busted flush afloat?

It's not the UK even though we pay in a net £28 million a day. That's chicken feed. But we are throwing good money after bad in this regard. It's not Germany, the economic powerhouse around which the EU has been designed for the benefit of Germany. It is receiving £804 million in the latest shuffling of the money around the EU bollocks that is seeing Cyprus and Greece paying in!

So who is it? Who is keeping Europe economically afloat in these difficult times?

Wonga.

Only with interest rates that Wonga would blush at.

We have this EU citadel in the sky where money is no object, where 10,000 people are earning more than our Prime Minister (£180k ish); where they'd sell their own countries for a lobster terrine and a glass of Montrachet.

But there is absolutely no connection between them and reality. They are living high on the hog, while real people in the countries they are supposed to be representing are suffering, struggling to put food on the table. Existing at all.

These people are effectively fucking everyone else and creating a massive depression here in Europe and sneering at us the voters whom they should be representing. And the price for any economy doing the right thing, cutting the deficit, creating jobs, investing in infrastructure instead of either pissing it up the wall or pursuing crazy socialist economic models that eschew any kind of industry or wealth creation, is to be punished with demands for an additional contribution of about 15% of our annual net contribution.

The emperor has no clothes. There are no economic benefits for the UK staying in the EU - and more importantly there are no benefits for other EU members staying in other than the bail-outs that just postpone economic disaster whilst perpetuating the gnawing, soul-destroying decline in opportunity or prospects for success. They were all sold a pup. Prosperity forever, free money. The world doesn't work like that. They're now fucked (technical term) and the EU say's all's well?

It's a sham. I feel for our friends in Europe but it's up to them to find a way out. As far as the UK is concerned, we need to leave now. And let them fend for themselves in the short term. We've rescued Europe many times, and our leaving will almost certainly actually achieve the same thing again: If, as I truly believe, it results in the failure of the socialist EU for the benefit of Europe as a whole, and allows countries in southern Europe in particular to devalue their currencies, rebalance their economies and begin to have some chance of optimism and prosperity again.

If the EU carries on as it is there is simply no prospect of any kind of recovery in southern Europe. If it (the EU) fails because the second biggest net contributor (UK) leaves, then Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and others have a chance to free themselves from what is already becoming not just a recession, but a lingering depression which is already giving rise to extremist political parties of all hues and growing civil unrest.

And if it does fail, the French economy will almost immediately disappear via the 'U-bend'. I wonder how French politicians (not the people) will sneer at us 'Rosbeefs' then? I'm sure they'll find a way.

Thanks for reading.