EU, resort to extortion.

[Zirjin]

The Airbus A380 has finally been released. It was developed with the help of billions of dollars of EU government help.

Now, in order to make it appear that their socialist spending sprees are a wise investment and a commercial success, the European Union is blackmailing other nations to purchase it, or face tariffs on their exports.

Their first victim is Thailand.

Tsunami-hit Thais told: Buy six planes or face EU tariffs

[BurgessLau]

From the article:

"The EU has instead slapped a tariff of 12 per cent on its fish - three times that imposed on prawns from Malaysia, its neighbour. This is still less than the US tariff on Thai prawns: 97 per cent.

If the 12% tariff from the EU is extortion, then what is the 97% tariff imposed by the U. S.? I would say it is another sign of the Right/Left U. S. government's War on Efficiency. The enemies are the Axis of the Productive.

[Elle]

It's a bad sign when they build planes for the damn glory of Europe.

[oldsalt]

I watched the unveiling ceremonies on Monday. The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, and Spain were present (along with 5,000 invited guests). The four countries "invested" heavily in the $13 billion project (which went some $1.4 billion over budget). They all stood on the podium with their beaming smiles and puffed out chests:

"EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verhengen said Monday, 'The Super-Airbus demonstrates that working together in the EU pays off.'"

http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/01/18/airbus.30/

They were all such proud little collectivists. The speeches and the hearty back-slaps -- indeed, the whole atmosphere -- made me think I was witnessing a scene right out of Atlas. Little Jimmy Taggarts and Wesley Mouchs all over the place.

Edited January 20, 2005 by oldsalt

[Inspector]

They were all such proud little collectivists.  The speeches and the hearty back-slaps -- indeed, the whole atmosphere -- made me think I was witnessing a scene right out of Atlas.  Little Jimmy Taggarts and Wesley Mouchs all over the place.

I share this impression of the EU. I predict that we will see a lot of economic boondoggles coming out of it in the coming years. It will be interesting to see just how far they will collapse.

[Oakes]

At the risk of sounding biased, I prefer Boeing's vision of the future of passenger aircraft far more than Airbus'. While Airbus is promoting the concept of one 555-seat monstrosity, Boeing prefers a smaller, more efficient 217-seater that can go to smaller airports more specific to your destination.

[Inspector]

A comment on the thread title: The EU is resorting to extortion? I thought that extortion was their entire raison d'etre. Isn't that a bit like saying that the electric company is resorting to generating electricity?