The Future of the Euro

[Gawain 0]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108914/the-euros-next-battleground-spain

I've been wondering how the Euro would fare in the face of some of the significant players, even though they aren't the biggest economies. Spain, as the Euro's 4th biggest in this "consortium" isn't as simple a bailout as Greece could be (though I think it would be a mistake for the Euro zone to be the sole bailout source for Greece)...or as cheap.

Ready for a return to the French Franc or German Mark? Honestly, I don't think this is likely, but if the cracks spread beyond Spain and Greece...that's a big "what if"...

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[kelpdiver 2]

it particularly calls into question the timetables for the Eastern European members to shift to the Euro.

[BikerBabe 0]

I'm ready for it. The EU has forgotten their Machiavelli. You cannot base a "state" on so little as a single currency, and so quickly, especially with so many varying cultures and worldviews.

Like it or not, what the Euro represents is a hastily-formed "economic nation" which allows no room for national or even ethnic self-interest.

I'm not sure what will happen, but I long for the time when i traveled to Spain after college and everything there was the least expensive you could find in europe, yet still of the same or better quality. Amazing meals for less than the equivalent of $10, hotels for $20 a night, etc.

The trouble with countries like this adopting the Euro, like the article said, is that they grew too fast. I could imagine some of the eastern european countries falling into the same pattern as Greece and Spain, for the same reasons.

"States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them." -Niccolo Machiavelli

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Skyrad 0]

The cracks have already spread way beyond Spain and Greece. Ireland for example is seriously screwed. The place is a second world country. With public sector workers having their pay slashed as well as their pensions, one in four men under 25 unemployed, unemployment spiraling and the Gardai (Police) threatening to strike its getting worse by the day. If it wasn't for the Euro Ireland would have gone the same way as Iceland and gone bankrupt. The Euro is the main reason why more countries haven't. Germany and France have massive economies and while it will hurt Europe will pull through this together. Apart from anything else this is a perfect opportunity for the Germans and French to further cement pan European integration with them very firmly at the helm. As for Ireland, well I'm currently using my laptop and 3G internet connection while I wait for the current powercut to end. With a large bomb going off in Newry this week and a man tortured, blindfolded half naked and executed by the side of a country road a couple of days ago; lets just say its looking bleak.

http://www.economist.com/countries/ireland/

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca