The elections in
The Greeks will hold another election, which a leftist coalition may (or may not) win. A masterful Francois Hollande will unveil his plan to tame
"Time is clearly running out for the strategy of recovery through austerity,"
In
What to do now? Then, as now, the crisis was surmounted and the problem was recognized as one in which the ideology of European unification had overreached political good sense and been rejected.
The same generous and ambitious error of overreaching is also at the root of what now has happened in
The common currency lacked the three elements that could support it: commonly managed European economies, budgets and fiscal policies (and to add a fourth absent quality, a sensitivity to history, which would have told them that previous European monetary unions, of which there have been several more limited ones, have failed for lack of those elements).
The advantages of the euro have been enormous, banishing currency speculation and saving trillions to the banks and financial institutions of
(An incidental remark: Is it not possible that some savant could invent -- or reinvent -- a system for the euro zone where a constant euro would nominally exist as an accounting unit against which individual currencies in the zone could float? Wasn't the 'snake' and ecu system something like this?)
Returning to
The answer to the crisis is to cut spending on schools, health, welfare programs (American tea partiers would add, "for people who don't deserve them and whine about it"), while properly rewarding the business executives who have made our nation great. The Germans have been attacking a real problem of profligacy in certain euro economies. They haven't made it work, but it's not crank theory.
- Greeks Pushed to the Edge by Austerity Measures
- Bailout of Greek Banks Good, But Not Enough
- Waiting for a European Santa Claus
- Culture Still Matters
- Greece's Balkan Inheritance is Heavy
- Is Greece European?
- Let Sleeping Germans Lie
- Europe's Dilemma: Immigration and the Arab Spring
- France's Geopolitical Strategy
- Elections Could Shift European Union Away from Austerity, But Should They?
- Why France Elected a Socialist President
- French Elections Lesson
- Putin's Evolving Strategy in Europe
- Moscow's Vision for the Backyard
- Russia's relations with Central and Eastern Europe
- Britain's Geopolitical Strategy
- Under Putin, Russian Relations with United States Turn Icy Again
- Albania Still Working to Dispose of Stockpiled Ammunition
- Cyprus Gas Drilling Could be Geopolitical Accident Waiting to Happen
- Europe After the Crisis: How to Sustain a Common Currency
- Russia's Geopolitical Strategy
- Kosovo Counting on Strong Support From Turkey
- Turkey's Geopolitical Strategy
- Turkey: Twitter Cuts Two Ways
- Turkish TPAO Starts Drilling in Northern Cyprus
- Greek Voters Punish Ruling Parties for Austerity
- In Greek Elections, A Campaign of Fear Prevails
- Sarkozy's Gaddafi Connection Helps Make His Defeat a Fait Accompli
- Hollande Beats Sarkozy, Claims French Presidency
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