Belgian minister of finance in Australia

[eurofox]

Hello friends from Australia,

Now you got a Belgian to manage the finance in your country 

eurofox

[tszaboo]

Run for your life! Do I remember correctly, that national debt was only decreasing here when there was no government for some months (word record time)? 

[eurofox]

We have a small country but a plenty of minister 

Below an example of one of our top rated minister in the Belgian parliament   



Now we send them out abroad   

eurofox

[EEVblog]

Well, we can't get into more debt, because it's a liberal led government, they just cut, cut, cut everything until the country has no long term future.
Death by a thousand cuts.

[nctnico]

Well, just borrowing until the bubble bursts isn't going to work either. Just look at how (not) well that worked for Greece. AFAIK the unemployment rate is around 30% over there. Better cut a little bit every now and then than getting your head chopped off.

[free_electron]

We have a small country but a plenty of minister 

Below an example of one of our top rated minister in the Belgian parliament   



Now we send them out abroad   

eurofox

you owe me lunch and dinner.. both came out ... opposite sides...

[eurofox]

We have a small country but a plenty of minister 

Below an example of one of our top rated minister in the Belgian parliament   



Now we send them out abroad   

eurofox

you owe me lunch and dinner.. both came out ... opposite sides...

I'll ask our new king, I'm sure he will be glad to invite you for a lunch and a dinner 

We are very fortunate in Belgium, we have a king and 3 queens and the tax payer need to pay for all of them including the complete family 

eurofox

[peter.mitchell]

I don't know why but this is the only belgian person i recognize http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachir_Boumaaza, so that minister seems like a pertty normal guy by comparison...

[alrj]

We are very fortunate in Belgium, we have a king and 3 queens and the tax payer need to pay for all of them including the complete family 

We actually have two kings because Albert II keeps his title. Two kings and three queens, that makes a full house! 

[G7PSK]

Australia need not worry about dept, in another 50 years it will just be a big hole on that side of the world where Australia used to be, every thing dug up and shipped to China.  

[Wytnucls]

We are very fortunate in Belgium, we have a king and 3 queens and the tax payer need to pay for all of them including the complete family 

We actually have two kings because Albert II keeps his title. Two kings and three queens, that makes a full house! 

That will be handy when the country splits in two. Sorry Brussels, you only get one queen..

[free_electron]

I'll ask our new king, I'm sure he will be glad to invite you for a lunch and a dinner 

Oewaarde landkenoten...he was actually in SFO a couple of months before he became king.

No thanks... It's already bad enough i received a letter detailing my voting options for next year. Here are the options:

- pay my own ticket to fly to a belgian embassy to go vote there (that's not gonna happen..
- make sure the voting ballot arrives in belgium. They will send them 10 days before the vote and they have to back in time. 10 days for a letter roundtrip from belgium to usa and back ?
- i have to appoint somone to vote in my place. What if i dont have any relatives there anymore ?(luckily i still do)

But the thing i really don't understand : i am required by law to cast a vote , making a decision for the people of a country i don't live in (and never will again), know nothing about the political parties and their programs (i left 9 years ago... Have no clue who does what there) ... That's a bit absurd...

[Marco]

Well, just borrowing until the bubble bursts isn't going to work either. Just look at how (not) well that worked for Greece.

Australia's trade balance is fine and if they really get too deep in debt they can just print to pay the debt, neither was true for Greece ...

European countries are crucified on a cross of Euro.

PS. free_electron, I don't see how it's absurd ... if you really without reservation believe what you say then just let your citizenship lapse or renounce it ...

[free_electron]

PS. free_electron, I don't see how it's absurd ... if you really without reservation believe what you say then just let your citizenship lapse or renounce it ...

it is absurd. i don't live there, haven't been there in 9 years. know nothing about the political parties and their programs, yet i get to cast a vote who will control... That's like picking a random guy and tell him : here , you get to color a dot and help decide the future of a country you don't live in.

It would be like me going to color a dot in germany , or france ...
if anyone gets to do that : what prevents 5 million zimbabwese people to go color a dot in belgium ?

i know it is my birthplace and by law that entitles me to cast my vote. and that is all fine by me. but should it be mandatory ? it simply feels wrong to me. i have to color a dot for something i have no binding with, does not impact me..

as for that other thing you mentioned : a few more years ...

[nctnico]

Can't you vote blank? BTW I never knew it was mandatory to vote in Belgium. What if you don't vote? They won't let you into the country again? You could opt to apply for a US citizenship. Some relatives of mine who entered the US as illegal immigrants now have US passports.

[eurofox]

PS. free_electron, I don't see how it's absurd ... if you really without reservation believe what you say then just let your citizenship lapse or renounce it ...

it is absurd. i don't live there, haven't been there in 9 years. know nothing about the political parties and their programs, yet i get to cast a vote who will control... That's like picking a random guy and tell him : here , you get to color a dot and help decide the future of a country you don't live in.

It would be like me going to color a dot in germany , or france ...
if anyone gets to do that : what prevents 5 million zimbabwese people to go color a dot in belgium ?

i know it is my birthplace and by law that entitles me to cast my vote. and that is all fine by me. but should it be mandatory ? it simply feels wrong to me. i have to color a dot for something i have no binding with, does not impact me..

as for that other thing you mentioned : a few more years ...

When I was living and working in SK for a Belgian company as an expat,  during one of those elections I did my best to behave as a good citizen and got a lot of fuz even ran after DLH carrier to provide my voting documents in time, I was very disapointed to hear lather on  that many foreing votes where not taken into account due to a problem (I can't recall what problem it was) 

Voting is mandatory by law in Belgium.

eurofox
 

[eurofox]

We are very fortunate in Belgium, we have a king and 3 queens and the tax payer need to pay for all of them including the complete family 

We actually have two kings because Albert II keeps his title. Two kings and three queens, that makes a full house! 

That will be handy when the country splits in two. Sorry Brussels, you only get one queen..

I'm political involved, I'm VP of the largest party in my city, I'm a liberal minded person, certainely not nationalist, I feel confortable in both comunities, I speak both languages without accent. My party was originaly a nationalist party with liberal roots, we got so many new members with profiles like mine because it is the only party that could change something, people that don't want to split the country and I don't understand why foreign medias are making all this fuz about splitting the country. Politics in Belgium is very complicated due to history and cultural origine of the country.

eurofox

[free_electron]

When I was living and working in SK for a Belgian company as an expat,  during one of those elections I did my best to behave as a good citizen and got a lot of fuz even ran after DLH carrier to provide my voting documents in time, I was very disapointed to hear lather on  that many foreing votes where not taken into account due to a problem (I can't recall what problem it was) 

exactly.
And if you don't get the papers in on time you can be fined or even end up in jail.

I understand voting is mandatory in Belgium , but it should be optional for Belgians that have been living abroad for a long time. After 9 years i have absolutely no clue what party's represent what nor what their programmes are. I'm not going to spend a few weeks reading all those programmes.
I'm hoping the next election is the last one i have to go through.

Luckily i can give approval for a relative to cast a vote in my place. because the other options are nonsense. Come on , they expect you to buy a plane ticket to go to a Belgian embassy to cast  vote ? good luck if you live in idaho. You can buy a plane ticket to Los Angeles, take a day off work and fork over a bunch of money to color a dot ?