Consign the euro to the dust of history | 42 comments (42 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (4.00 / 5)

Certainly, at some point the French drowning man (Sarkozy or Hollande, same difference) will have to give up the straw of the Franco-German axis. Much better that should happen sooner rather than later.

I never thought I'd see that on ET.

Where's Jerome?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 10:40:14 AM EST

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (4.00 / 2)

Heh.

But there's no need to be a "declinologist", or to join the choir of competitiveness capitalists who want to pay less into redistribution, to consider that the euro as managed by Germany (in other words, the euro) will slowly stifle the French economy.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 11:38:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (4.00 / 2)

Of course not. But the allure of the Franc Fort is strong, and moreover the political will to maintain the Franco-German axis is the lynchpin of the EU.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 11:41:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (4.00 / 2)

'Franc Fort' reminds me of the misadventures of Bush Sec Treas. Paul O'Neil. He apparently had not grasped what Junker indescretely made clear later in his famous dictum and let go with an unfortunate burst of candor:

``When I was Secretary of the Treasury I was not supposed to say anything but `strong dollar, strong dollar,''' O'Neill said today. ``I argued then and would argue now that the idea of a strong dollar policy is a vacuous notion.''
The U.S. currency today fell to a record low against the euro, and has declined 15 percent against its European counterpart in the past year.
``The markets actually have control over those relationships. When people say strong dollar, if they don't mean that `we believe intervention can work and we're prepared to intervene,' then `strong dollar' is ridiculous.''

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 12:05:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (none / 0)

ARGeezer:

then `strong dollar' is ridiculous.''

well it makes sense when you de-newspeak it. strong dollar then means 'trades low against the euro'.

strong for american domination of world markets.

the penny's dropping...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 01:21:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (4.00 / 3)

Actually Robert Rubin, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, was concerned that foreign deposits keep flowing in to Wall Street for the benefit of the Financial Sector - too feed what Yanis Varoufakis dubbed 'The Global Minotaur'. Rubin was totally indifferent to the fate of US manufacturers, who were faced with an overvalued dollar in export markets, as Wall Street was making money out of buying them up, liquidating their physical assets, firing their workers and sending the machine tools to China where they would grind out products at a lower labor cost. Regardless of the actual value of the dollar Rubin wanted the financial sector, but especially their US customers, to think that the dollar was as strong as possible to keep the confidence fairy exuberantly fluttering over them. That was what all of the trade agreements were about.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 02:11:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (none / 0)

thanks ARG, good synopsis

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 02:47:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (none / 0)

which means france has to crash before germany has to accept reality.

they're all crazy except you and me, but you're acting weird lately!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 12:31:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (none / 0)

Migeru:

But the allure of the Franc Fort is strong, and moreover the political will to maintain the Franco-German axis is the lynchpin of the EU.

but who is so removed from reality to think that's a viable proposition, and will this make us focus on a europe where the lynchpin could be something other than the franco-german axis? that rift is healed by now, surely, no need to keep bandaging it at the expense of the periphery?

with greece in ruins, italy teetering towards the same fate, how long can the reality of the euro's massive fail (as presently mismanaged) be denied? no PR is that good...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 12:37:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Consign the euro to the dust of history (none / 1)

If all the French entrepreneurs who complain that taxes are too high had been trading with a lower euro, there wouldn't be much of a price-competitiveness problem.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Mar 7th, 2014 at 12:54:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Consign the euro to the dust of history | 42 comments (42 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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