In every way, it reminded me of our own irrational investment in the stock market years ago
They used to say the same thing about 1929. It's that little blip in the lower left corner of the chart.
Posted on 06/04/2005 8:35:50 PM PDT by Flavius
In the wake of the Dutch and French votes against the European constitution, the Germans have decided they want to scrap the euro and bring back their mark.
A people who once enthusiastically embraced Europe's common currency now feel swindled by it.
Fifty-six per cent of Germans questioned by the news magazine Stern yesterday said they wanted the mark back.
Sixty per cent said they still calculated prices in marks all the time, 25 per cent some of the time.
And a thumping 90 per cent - like many who voted in the Netherlands on Wednesday against the European constitution - believed that prices skyrocketed when the euro was introduced.
The mood in Germany has never been so sharply against the euro. Stern says the highest levels of government are debating a return to the mark.
For the past two years the euro has kept export prices high for firms struggling in a sclerotic economy: now it is on the downward slide, posing new threats to a land blighted by unemployment and harsh welfare reforms. AdvertisementAdvertisement
Bert Ruerup, one of the country's economic gurus who chairs the German Council of Economic Advisers that shapes economic policy for the Chancellor, says: "The promised dividends of the euro have proved to be pie-in-the-sky dreams which have never come true."
Peter Boffinger, a member of the same body, admitted: "The euro is not the success story that I always hoped it would be."
Just days after it came into use in Germany, the euro had a new name on the streets, the teuro, from the German word teuer, meaning expensive. But it has been something of a taboo theme among the political elite to speak of its unpopularity or, worse, its unworkability.
The mere fact that the president of Germany's central Bundesbank on Wednesday rejected as "absurd" another Stern report saying he had taken part in a meeting at which the possible collapse of the euro was discussed shows how the debate has stormed into the open. "The euro is a success story," bank chief Axel Weber said in the statement.
Stern based its story on what it says are secret minutes it obtained of a meeting last week between Mr Weber and Finance Minister Hans Eichel.
In Frankfurt, as the Dutch went to the polls over the European constitution, the euro sank to its lowest value against the US dollar since October 2004.
The talk of a return to the mark has caught the popular imagination in Germany and is being seized on with gusto, particularly now that a general election looms. It promises to become a poll theme, particularly for the conservatives who are expected to win the election.
"A retreat from the euro is legally possible and something I think we should begin working towards," conservative MP Peter Gauweiler said. Adding fuel to the fire, independent Swiss economic scientist Peter Bohey said: "The introduction of the euro must rank as one of the greatest false economic-political decisions taken in Germany since 1945."
Based on my little dog being hungry and jumping up and down, it appears some critters would suggest large investments in meatballs.
your wellcome
Well said.
I have to admit it is a little fun trashing the Eurowussies now considering the thrashing they gave us leading up to, and after the beginning of, the war in Iraq. Chirac/De Villepin, Schroeder, and that sanctimonius scumbag Zapataro in Spain are all getting exactly what they deserve, economic and politcal nightmares of their own making.
Amazing. Why I was told just yesterday by a Liberal elitist Eurolover that Europe was getting along famously. No problems there!
In every way, it reminded me of our own irrational investment in the stock market years ago
They used to say the same thing about 1929. It's that little blip in the lower left corner of the chart.
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