Merkel ready to let Greece exit eurozone: report

TheLocal.de ^ | 04 Jan 2015 10:16 GMT+01:00 | (AFP)

[Olog-hai]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is prepared to let Greece leave the eurozone if Greeks elect a government that jettisons the country’s current austerity course, according to German media reports.

The report in the Der Spiegel daily, which cited sources close to the German government, comes as polls show a radical leftist party leading the field three weeks ahead of a snap election in Greece.

The Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras has pledged to reverse reforms imposed by Greece’s international creditors and renegotiate its bailout deal. …

[SunkenCiv]

Hmm, population just bit north of 11 million — the per capita debt (based on that chart) of each Greek is $21221.97.

[Olog-hai]

The euro’s only purpose was to remove countries’ sovereignty and establish a pan-European hegemony for the member states (one in particular) that the euro’s structure has been most amenable to.

Take note of what was said about the euro and those that controlled it back when the 2008 financial (beneficial) crisis hit:

The European Commission’s top economists warned the politicians in the 1990s that the euro might not survive a crisis, at least in its current form. There is no EU treasury or debt union to back it up. The one-size-fits-all regime of interest rates caters badly to the different needs of Club Med and the German bloc.

The euro fathers did not dispute this. But they saw EMU as an instrument to force the pace of political union. They welcomed the idea of a “beneficial crisis”. As ex-Commission chief Romano Prodi remarked, it would allow Brussels to break taboos and accelerate the move to a full-fledged EU economic government. …

That is pretty much realized about 95 percent (my guess), and now Greece can be discarded if need be. What a way to do business, yes? never mind foreign relations.

[Cowboy Bob]

Personally, I liked the idea of each country having its own currency. The only problem was when you travelled from coubtrg to contry - you had to convert currencies, and you always lost money in the deal.

While having a single currency may have helped trade, I think some of the economies have suffered. Greece being the prime example.

I am hoping that Greece leaves the Euro. There might be some short term pain, but in the long term they will be better off for it.

[pepsionice]

There were three groups who wanted the Euro spread across Europe...at least in the beginning.

First, the bankers. Trying to run a daily exchange program, and having to calculate how many French Francs to buy today against Italian Lira....drew a lot of speculation. Bringing this to one single currency...stopped the speculation end. It made things less complicated.

Second, the industrial side of Europe thought that the various companies in Spain and Italy would come out ahead...manufacturing items at a cheaper cost of living, and bringing better deals to discount shops around central Europe. It didn’t happen though. Germans don’t buy Spanish-made washers, or Italian-made sofas.

Third, the vacation industry felt it’d simplify their game in life. To some degree....it did make it easier to sell trips to Greece, Spain and Italy....at least to other European Euro players.

The issue here....is that you need to maintain some economic stability, and with half the EU membership...that’s not easily accomplished. Even with France....other than increasing taxation...you can’t solve the current crisis.

[Olog-hai]

Economic stability was the last thing the euro fathers were worried about. They wanted political union at any cost. They do not think as US conservatives think (and by their own rhetoric, they hate the “Anglo-Saxon” system); governing by crisis is their penchant.

[Usagi_yo]

Well, all that aside ... Juxtapose with the reason WWII started in Europe ... it’s kinda weird.

[SunkenCiv]

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