A few months ago, I had some involvement in the current Euro crisis. For most of my life, I was a staunch EEC federalist. For me it was quite simple. EEC members would be allocated seats according to a formula of GDP and population in a central government. Sadly, democracy got in the way of this and we landed up with a complete circus. A common currency could never be sustainable unless there was a central government controlling fiscal policy. Equally, the criteria for EEC entry should have been much more demanding.
So we landed up with a huge community of many members who fudged their acount books to gain entry. We then went Euro even though fiscal control would be an impossibility. The entire financial mess depended upon continued growth of all economies. This is something that just cannot sustain itself. The reality is that the third world is catching up with us and we are going backwards. How could it be otherwise? They have been manufacturing while we have concentrated upon the service industries.
A consumer economy which actually considers that things are getting better if people get more in debt!
So where are we? The run on Greek banks will within a short while, force the Greeks out of the Euro whether they wish it or not. What idiot would keep Euros in Greek banks when they could be converted to local currency any moment and lose 75% of value? Spain thought that endless growth would fuel the ridiculous housing boom which now has collapsed. Similar problems exist in Ireland. The Spanish and Italian economies cannot be bailed out due to their size. Germany, understandably has become reluctant to bail out useless economies. Some in power still hope to control all of this but these Euro elitists are completely disengaged from the democratic viewpoints of member countries.
So there we have it. It is quite likely that the Euro will collapse by the end of the year. A painful prospect but the faster this happens, the quicker some sense will prevail.
Topic: Pop goes the Euro! (Read 311 times)