Japan tells UK to stay in EU. But, FLASHBACK.
The story can be found here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/1...in-the-EU.html, Japan saying many jobs could be lost due to Japanese investment etc etc and so on and so on.
Of course, that sounds pretty serious right? and we should listen to our Japanese friends. But before you think this and assume it's true just because the Japanese say it, see the following article from 2007 -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/m...e-or-else.html
Honda tells UK: Join eurozone or else
Quote:
Originally Posted by Telegraph (2007)
Honda's president Takeo ***ui has threatened to cut off future investment in Britain unless the country joins the euro, admitting that the Japanese car producer had made an "error" building its car plant in Swindon.
"The exchange rate of the pound against the euro is very difficult to forecast. Unless the UK joins the eurozone, we can't add to plant in Swindon. We're not planning to withdraw from the UK because it is a major market, and Swindon supplies it," he said, speaking at his luxurious penthouse office overlooking Tokyo.
"Swindon is close to full operation, but we made one slight mistake: we thought the UK was in Europe. Now we find that it is reluctant to join and that has become a big problem," he said.
"We're not doing any lobbying on this but every time we meet officials they say there is no interest in joining for the meantime. We have to take this at face value and reconsider our strategy."
His comments echo the growing frustration among Japan's industrialists over the strong pound, now trading at multi-year highs against the dollar, the Swiss franc and other currencies, although it has moved in tandem with the euro over the past three years.
Mr ***ui, a small, wiry man bursting with energy and revered in Japan for straight talking, said he believed the hydrogen fuel cell engine would one day sweep the world's car markets.
"Hybrid cars alone cannot deal with global warming. The ultimate solution is the fuel cell but our engineers are struggling with this technical challenge and a breakthrough is not going to be easy," he said.
"At the moment it uses a massive amount of precious metal [platinum] and I don't think it's realistic for the next 10 years."
Mr ***ui said the technology would not be viable until consumers could re-supply the fuel cells at home from solar batteries that are carbon neutral.
The very same people telling you it will be a disaster to leave the EU with thousands of jobs being lost are the very same people who said that if we didn't join the Euro we'd lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and we'd be an economic backwater.
Why listen to a group of people with a 100% record in being wrong? just think about that when you hear these scare stories.
Thoughts?
