German architect of Euro currency dies aged 85

TheLocal.de ^ | 28 December 2016 16:55 CET+01:00 | AFP

[Olog-hai]

Former Bundesbank president Hans Tietmeyer, a key architect of the euro who oversaw its introduction in Germany, has died at the age of 85, the central bank announced Wednesday.

Tietmeyer ran the mighty Bundesbank from 1993 to 1999, a period that straddled the aftermath of German reunification as well as the launch of the single European currency and the creation of the European Central Bank. […]

A fierce defender of the independence of central banks, Tietmeyer was credited with ensuring that the same principle was enshrined in the statutes of the ECB, which was modeled in large part on the Bundesbank and is likewise based in Frankfurt. …

[Olog-hai]

“It should be remembered as an axiom of eternal truth in politics that whatever power in government is independent is absolute also.”

— Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane, 1819

And those central banks are a power in central government, not to mention highly unwieldy.

[billorites]

Lived long enough to see the Euro reach parity with the USD.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[jerod]

Hold on... This must be fake news. Hitler committed suicide in 1945... UNLESS!... THAT was fake news too... Now I’m confused.

[Gay State Conservative]

Glad to see that he lived long enough that he could watch his crowning achievement start its slow (or,maybe,not so slow) slide into the trash heap of history.

[Arthur McGowan]

It should be a capital offense to advocate, conspire, or in any way act for the creation of a fiat “currency.”