The Eurozone and the Obvious
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Aug 16, 2011 at 3:18am
I'm looking at this BBC report about the news that German growth has been a "serious disappointment," as they put it, and struck by the language of the sidebar:
The puzzle for Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy is how to keep the eurozone system intact, in its present form of 17 member states, without promising endless bailouts if weaker economies continually fail to put their finances in order.
It seems to be unsayable that this is not a soluble problem.
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Apr '11
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
Of course not, that would be the end of Democratic Socialism. They will take down the world before they admit that.
Feb '11
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
It sure looks as if there's not enough money to keep it all together. From the beginning the idea of separate fiscal policies and one monetary policy seemed unworkable. "Ever closer"?: Unity under Brussels with Germany footing the bill? More llikely is that some nations will leave the euro. Will it be the weak or the strong?
Aug '10
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
I read a very good article in 2010 that likened this Eurozone Crisis to "The Prisoner's Dilemma" concept in game theory.
Here is a relevant quote, "The first prisoner who cooperates, gets the deal. In order to avoid having one prisoner betray the others, they must all have confidence that none will cooperate.
And among the Euroland nations with the ability to have a strong currency, the situation is the same. If any one suspects that another is about to leave, the only thing to do is leave first..."
This is an example of a breaking point problem. Stress is added without much problem until a breaking point is reached then it collapses extremely rapidly and without warning.
The first strong country out will retain more of their wealth.
May '10
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
The Eurocrats of Brussels take the Rahm Emanuel approach to this crisis. There is a solution: a European government to set fiscal policies for every country in the eurozone. It is not overly cynical to believe that many foresaw this endgame upon setting up the currrency union.
The Eurocrats have assumed throughout the process that the people can be ignored, by circumventing democracy via treaties. They are going to try unification, and they will have badly misjudged the people.
When they attempt to impose a German model on the more profligate countries, the London riots are going to look like a Coffee Party protest rally. Brussels is so out of touch, they will actually be surprised to see Europe in flames.
DOOM!
Feb '11
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
In the case of Germany this another example of politicians ignoring their constituents and imposing their will in the name of the greater good. German citizens have a healthy fear of inflation and were staunchly opposed to adopting the Euro but were forced to do so by their leaders.
Sep '10
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
You're quite right, Claire. With Ireland, Greece and Portugal paying credit card rates on their bonds and Italy and Spain up to 6-7%, the game is over as far as the Eurosocialist model goes. There's still a solution, however.
If the Euros decided to change completely to a free market, capitalist, small government model and scale government programs and spending back to where it was in, say, the 1950s in the US, the ECB could do a one-time printing run and cover all of the debts. In one fell swoop, they could eliminate the debt overhang and eliminate the insolvency problem.
Other than that, they're doomed.
Edited on Aug 16, 2011 at 6:44amJun '10
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
K T Cat: If the Euros decided to change completely to a free market, capitalist, small government model and scale government programs and spending back to where it was in, say, the 1950s in the US, the ECB could do a one-time printing run and cover all of the debts. In one fell swoop, they could eliminate the debt overhang and eliminate the insolvency problem. · Aug 16 at 6:43am
Edited on Aug 16 at 06:44 am
OK let's all get our whale bone corsets on and sing "Some where over the rainbow…"
Re: The Eurozone and the Obvious
The range of “sayable” things in European politics has been very narrow for a long time, and Europieties more unquestionable than most.