Re:Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to ...
by CrLf on Tuesday July 14, 2015 @09:52AM
(#9884852)
"the Euro has massively lifted the economic prospects of tens if not hundreds of millions of people in a measly 10 or 15 years"
Actually, no. The Euro has been mostly negative for all but a few of the eurozone countries. Portugal is a good example of this, as it has its economy has regressed to pre-Euro levels and there is a growing consensus that the Euro will keep its net-negative effect for the forseable future.
Nobody wants to get out of the Euro because of the exit shock and uncertainty, not because they see anything positive from staying inside.
The Euro was built basically as a renamed Deutshe Mark and this has never been fixed. Right now it's clear that it never will. A strong currency is always bad for weaker economies, which is pretty evident in the Greek case.
Re:Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to ...
by bokononon on Tuesday July 14, 2015 @09:29AM
(#9884686)
> Ask the Polish how bad the Euro has been for them, for example.
Poland isn't in the Euro, its currency is the zloty.
Re:Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to ...
by roel_v on Tuesday July 14, 2015 @09:37AM
(#9884746)
Uh oh, you're right and I was even in Poland not that long ago, I meant in the EU, but still an egg on my face.
Re:Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to ...
by parasubvert on Tuesday July 14, 2015 @09:45AM
(#9884805)
The projections of what "playing by the rules" will do for Greece in terms of recovery have been time and again completely wrong. "Follow by my rules and you'll only be subjected to a depression for a decade and a generation of people will be unemployed". When Europe implodes, again, we definitely know who to thank.
Oh wait, no.
Despite all the 'omg the Germans are holding poor pplz hostage!', the Euro has massively lifted the economic prospects of tens if not hundreds of millions of people in a measly 10 or 15 years. Ask the Polish how bad the Euro has been for them, for example. The fact of the matter is - if you want to play, you have to abide by the rules. And I for one am glad that at least the Germans have the spine to say 'this is what we agreed on, no you're not special and we're not going to give you special treatment that we wouldn't give to many other countries that are in much worse shape' (like in Africa or Asia). Ffs, even some of those countries are less corrupt than Greece.
So, just because the Germans have gotten so much flak over the last few weeks, here's another sound: thank you, you guys do what others talk about but fail to uphold. (much like how the US is the only one with enough spine to actually go to war when it's necessary, but that's another topic...)