Well, Hello Drachma!
November 6th, 2011
The Eurozone is a mess. Mathematics, common sense, recognition of a changed reality, and, yes, democracy have all taken a back seat to a deep-seated, ego-related loyalty to a broken idea from the 20th century. This is one of a number of situations today where legacy thinking from the last century is propping up institutions and ways of looking at the world that will soon dissolve in the face of new forces and ways of thought of the 21st century.
In January, I started to say that we should stop calling it the “Greek Debt Crisis” and start talking about it being the potential death rattle of the Euro. In August, I suggested a 30%-60% chance the Euro would collapse. A couple of weeks ago, when the “Euro solution” was widely trumpeted in the media, people who knew of my view of the situation sent me links about it. Not so fast, I said. This is not the final answer; it is a temporary delay of inevitable further mass meetings of politicians to try to save face. There was no solution there, just an agreement to move forward and hope to arrive at one.
I have long suggested that the Eurozone should allow Greece to become the third-world country it seems to want to become. When was the last time the terms “innovation,” “strong work ethic,” or “growth economy” were accurately used in the same sentence as “Greece”? In a country where 10% of the work force is employed by the government, …
