The whole situation with Greece kind of reminds me of a marriage gone bad. Instead of having a divorce, the parties drag things out and air their dirty laundry. They involve the larger families, (even more distant relatives) and things get ugly, real ugly. Instead of trying to save the marriage, maybe a swift divorce would have been the more appropriate option. Such a move is frequently is better for the kids. Now those kids will have serious need for years of counseling.
“By any legitimate measure, Greece was unworthy of eurozone membership. That it achieved card-carrying status was down to the sleight-of-hand skills of its Brussels fixers and the acquiescence of central bank bean-counters. Now we know the truth, jet-hosing it with yet more debt makes no sense. Another dose of funny money will delay but not extinguish the need for austerity.
This is why the euro, in its current form, is finished. The game is up for a monetary union that was meant to bolt together work-and-save citizens in northern Europe with the party animals of Club Med. No amount of pit props from Berlin can save the euro Mk I from collapsing under the weight of its structural dysfunctionality. You cannot run indefinitely a single currency with one interest rate for 16 economies, when there are such huge fiscal disparities.
What was once deemed unthinkable is now, I believe, inevitable: withdrawal from the eurozone of one or more of its member countries. At the bottom end, Greece and Portugal are favourites to be forced out through weakness. At the top end, proposals are already being floated in the Frankfurt press for a new “hard currency” zone, led by Germany, Austria and the Benelux countries. Either way, rich and poor are heading in opposite directions.” This was taken from “Whatever Germany does, the euro as we know it is dead” here is a link to the full article.
I mention this because Greece’s recent escapades in economic disaster are a sobering example to the United States of the consequences of allowing government spending to far exceed revenue. Like these comments will do any good, but there I have said my peace. Even the The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released a report that the United States’ debt could surpass 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as early as 2015. So, while these comments here are mine, they needed to be said, if only to allow me to spit out the bad taste in my mouth. I’m concerned about the situation and believe it is worse than is being presented in the major media in our country.
