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Topic: The euro is a disaster even for the countries that do everything right - page 2. (Read 1078 times)

legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1014
In Satoshi I Trust
...

"George Washington", a blogger often featured at Zero Hedge, just blasted the euro as well:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-17/little-known-history-euro-crisis-was-baked-start

*   *   *

As an occasional tourist to Europe, I always liked it (toting around just one currency when visiting more than one of Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.).  I imagine that in-Europe transactions costs are lower too.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time"  (to me anyway)

Yes, the euro would be a straitjacket, forcing relative conformity on economic policies of its members.  And, yes, LiteCoinGuy, some countries that are not competitive would have trouble.

Nonetheless, I will want to read the article you posted just now, but damn!, that makes two more things I have to read tonight (China & its gold, and now another piece on the euro).

I did not foresee these consequences (Greece, Cyprus), nor do  even recall reading any real warnings about the euro in 2000 or so, everything I read was pretty upbeat (or maybe I was not paying enough attention).

alot of people warned that this would happen. that one currency can fit for so many different countries. look in the history books, that did never work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Monetary_Union
legendary
Activity: 1134
Merit: 1000
The euro is a disaster even for the countries that do everything right

But despite all this, Iceland has still managed to outperform Finland and the Netherlands. How is that possible? Well, it doesn't have the euro. It has its own currency, the krona. And as much as it hurt Iceland's people to lose 60 percent of their purchasing power on imported goods when the krona fell that much, it helped Iceland's economy by making their goods more competitive overseas. That was enough to keep what could have been a depression from turning into anything other than a bad recession.

The euro, though, does the opposite. Countries can't devalue their currencies or cut interest rates or even spend more when they get into trouble, and so they stay in trouble. All they can do is cut wages, cut spending, and then cut wages some more as penance for whatever economic transgressions they may or may not have committed. The euro straitjacket, in other words, turns ordinary problems into extraordinary ones (Finland) and extraordinary problems into historic ones (Greece). And that can happen whether or not you follow the rules.

The euro is a capricious god, meting out punishment to sinners and saints alike.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/17/the-euro-is-a-disaster-even-for-the-countries-that-do-everything-right/?postshare=3261437169131539

I don't agree this. The euro is doing great for Germany. Maybe the euro has problems as a currency because of its creation conditions but this cannot make it a bad currency for all the users. The euro maybe is a questionable currency for that countries that has economic problems. This is to be discussed but for sure not for all the countries which use it.
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 1852
...

"George Washington", a blogger often featured at Zero Hedge, just blasted the euro as well:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-17/little-known-history-euro-crisis-was-baked-start

*   *   *

As an occasional tourist to Europe, I always liked it (toting around just one currency when visiting more than one of Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.).  I imagine that in-Europe transactions costs are lower too.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time"  (to me anyway)

Yes, the euro would be a straitjacket, forcing relative conformity on economic policies of its members.  And, yes, LiteCoinGuy, some countries that are not competitive would have trouble.

Nonetheless, I will want to read the article you posted just now, but damn!, that makes two more things I have to read tonight (China & its gold, and now another piece on the euro).

I did not foresee these consequences (Greece, Cyprus), nor do  even recall reading any real warnings about the euro in 2000 or so, everything I read was pretty upbeat (or maybe I was not paying enough attention).
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1014
In Satoshi I Trust
The euro is a disaster even for the countries that do everything right

But despite all this, Iceland has still managed to outperform Finland and the Netherlands. How is that possible? Well, it doesn't have the euro. It has its own currency, the krona. And as much as it hurt Iceland's people to lose 60 percent of their purchasing power on imported goods when the krona fell that much, it helped Iceland's economy by making their goods more competitive overseas. That was enough to keep what could have been a depression from turning into anything other than a bad recession.

The euro, though, does the opposite. Countries can't devalue their currencies or cut interest rates or even spend more when they get into trouble, and so they stay in trouble. All they can do is cut wages, cut spending, and then cut wages some more as penance for whatever economic transgressions they may or may not have committed. The euro straitjacket, in other words, turns ordinary problems into extraordinary ones (Finland) and extraordinary problems into historic ones (Greece). And that can happen whether or not you follow the rules.

The euro is a capricious god, meting out punishment to sinners and saints alike.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/17/the-euro-is-a-disaster-even-for-the-countries-that-do-everything-right/?postshare=3261437169131539
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