“Draghi saved the euro”.
I can’t tell you how many times I have read that phrase or similar in the last decade and every time, I’ve thought “no, what he did was preserve the euro for the time being, kicking the can down the road to create breathing space for reform – which was never used to good effect and at some point the chickens will come home to roost”. And here we jolly well are.
Katharine, I think you know that the EU bureaucrats never have any real plan to “reform” anything that’s broken. Not with the Euro debt crisis. Not with the CAP. No, they just double down and keep going with even greater determination. To put it politely, this is not a “learning organisation”. It is one that sees no need to learn.
You might imagine they would be familiar with Dennis Healey’s First Law of Holes. It seems not – their motto might as well be “keep digging”.
R S Foster
1 year ago
In terms of Italy, the risk is as much of a pro-Putin government on the left as of a populist one on the right. Or some combination of both…
…I’m glad we have a moat. We need to get tooled-up for it’s defence..!
Nancy Reyes
1 year ago
In the USA, we have 50 states with 50 governments. Some states are extremely productive while others are not. With a single currency, the less productive states could literally run out of dollars. Our federal government, however, redistributes wealth to poorer states. It’s accepted.
In the EMU, your trade deficit countries are always exporting Euros for goods and services. Since they are part of a single currency, they can’t print money to make their goods less expensive, so they face recession or depression. Without a wealth transfer, they can run out of Euros.
The question is: are the wealthy countries willing to redistribute their wealth to the trade deficit countries?
…much the same in the UK, despite the wailing of the Sturgeonistas…emphatically NOT the same in the EU, unless by stealth…although there is an extent to which the market is being jollied-along to believe it might happen. But when the crisis really hits, it absolutely won’t…and it will hit…
“Draghi saved the euro”.
I can’t tell you how many times I have read that phrase or similar in the last decade and every time, I’ve thought “no, what he did was preserve the euro for the time being, kicking the can down the road to create breathing space for reform – which was never used to good effect and at some point the chickens will come home to roost”. And here we jolly well are.
Katharine, I think you know that the EU bureaucrats never have any real plan to “reform” anything that’s broken. Not with the Euro debt crisis. Not with the CAP. No, they just double down and keep going with even greater determination. To put it politely, this is not a “learning organisation”. It is one that sees no need to learn.
You might imagine they would be familiar with Dennis Healey’s First Law of Holes. It seems not – their motto might as well be “keep digging”.
In terms of Italy, the risk is as much of a pro-Putin government on the left as of a populist one on the right. Or some combination of both…
…I’m glad we have a moat. We need to get tooled-up for it’s defence..!
In the USA, we have 50 states with 50 governments. Some states are extremely productive while others are not. With a single currency, the less productive states could literally run out of dollars. Our federal government, however, redistributes wealth to poorer states. It’s accepted.
In the EMU, your trade deficit countries are always exporting Euros for goods and services. Since they are part of a single currency, they can’t print money to make their goods less expensive, so they face recession or depression. Without a wealth transfer, they can run out of Euros.
The question is: are the wealthy countries willing to redistribute their wealth to the trade deficit countries?
…much the same in the UK, despite the wailing of the Sturgeonistas…emphatically NOT the same in the EU, unless by stealth…although there is an extent to which the market is being jollied-along to believe it might happen. But when the crisis really hits, it absolutely won’t…and it will hit…