Further developments on the Euro

Readers who are interested in the future of the Euro may care to read, in addition to my remarks on the subject posted here a few days ago, the following story: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,551043,00.html

The FT assures us that the current crisis has passed (or is passing). It may possibly have passed for certain kinds of companies, but the crisis is yet to fully hit real people, who will suffer from the effects of the crisis at least till mid-2009, possibly for very much longer. The effects on the real economy will, in turn, also have effects on all companies. So the crisis even for such companies may not be wholly over yet.

Meanwhile, real people continue to be subject to official attempts to dupe them with faked figures regarding what governments regard as "inflation". German officials, for example, may like people to believe that the inflation rate has been "2% or less since the creation of the Euro". Real people, however, know that this is a lie on the basis of their own monthly accounts and their real life experience, which is not limited to the few items that are included in the baskets used to calculate inflation.

As long as the real economy continues to suffer, real people will give voice to their issues and challenges - and will increasingly call (whether with right logic or wrong) for the dismantlement of the Euro (and, depending on how long and deep the crisis is, possibly even for the dismantlement of the EU itself). Sphere: Related Content