Will the euro survive?

One can only hope that the symbol of the planned superstate by the European left, collapses and dies an agonising death.

The sooner European countries go back to having their own identities, their own responsibilities, their own law-making, their own border and controls - the better.

The lunatic Euro left wing will do anything to save their ghastly superstate though. They'll bail out the Euro until nothing is left.

The Germans can do what they want as they are the ones calling the shots!

Once again the great british public was right to reject the euro .and we should now take notice of what is happening in the EU,it will eventually fall appart and go bancrupt .this should be the best reason for britain to pull out of europe before its to late.We should build our farming industry and fishing industry back up and make it easier for chinese and other asian companies set up in britain...The EU will only drag britain into a bancrupt state of europe....take heed of my words for the future.

I'm sure the Euro will survive. What is in doubt is whether it will still have 16 members using it come the Autumn.

Sadly we can't afford schadenfreude here in the UK, we've got our own problems and any Euro collapse further across the continent than Greece and possibly Spain, could affect our economy even more. So hopefully the Euro will ride through its own crisis just fine, depending on in exactly which countries their recessions have bottomed out.

In the middle of all this, Estonia wants to join, so maybe they know something we don't.

Currencies go up and down. 5 years ago, 1 sterling was almost 2 dollars. Now it is only 1.45.

Euro was overvalued anyways. It's only coming down to the right value for an exporting economy such as Germany.

Euro will survive, because they cannot afford to lose. Neither can dollar. I am more worried about sterling's long-term future.

We have come down from £1=€1.5 parity to £1=€1.1 just to maintain our overbloated house prices. Life goes on.

It's just one big game of "pass-the-debt".

Until something is allowed to "take the hit" and fail catastrophically, there's going to continue be money problems occuring everywhere. All of these "bailouts" is just moving the debt, and creating something else needing bailing out.

I hope so.

Although the disparity in social & economic conditions accross Europe basically means that the Euro is going to be worth more in some countries than in others, mind you the value of the US dollar changes in real terms depending on geographical location and its never destabilised that currency.

I suspect the answer may be to have a 'premier league' of stable EU countries who constitute the Euro -zone & use the Euro, whilst other members are affiliated so that they get the trade benefits but perhaps use their own currency.

I now look forwards to reading the bile filled posts of the Europhobes, paying the meerest lip-service to the question before going on to roundly condemn the EU in the most hyperbolic terms that their vocabulary can summon...

Yes like the banks money will be thrown at the problem until it (& the cash) disappears

I implore all euro zone members to go with the germans and ban short selling, eurozone needs to go much further and ban all shorting activity, markets should be there to help companies with funding for growing their business, it should not be treated as a casino with our pension funds and savings. Lots of hedge funds will have a great year in 2010 as its not hard to predict the downfall when so much contagion can be created by so much short selling, this will be at the expense of taxpayers throughout Europe, should be lots of laws stopping this, but more so, we should be putting the crooks in prison and taking over finincial services for the benefit of mankind not speculators and spivs bent on greed.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Can't see it because it is a daft idea, and like the ERM, was always doomed to fail because all countries economy's are different, i.e. no one size fits all.

Will the Euro survive?
The short answer is YES.
There are external pressures being exerted from a power in the west. I call it economic warfare.
It's western weaponry includes front-loading, short-selling, CDOs and the rat-a-tat-tat of derivatives causing the Euro to wobble; but the earth itself wobbles. The euro will survive this wobbling quite well.
There are external pressures being exerted from a power in the west to frighten & create disquiet because fear & disquiet lead to instability and mistrust. So Europe must remain stoic and optimistic because the dollar of this western power will fall long before the Euro falls.
The German government's decision to ban some types of short-selling of financial products was absolutely right; this ban should be European-wide. Likely the G20 will make it world-wide.
"These are the times that try men's souls".
This was the opening line from a series of pamphlets that Thomas Paine began writing in December 1776.
The series was entitled "The American Crisis".
Then as now: This is an American crisis, and this western "power" aims to take all countries down to its level - or lower. How else can it remain on top?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

The Euro will survive, because the future of the EU is bound to it.

The leaders will make it so.

The UK should also join now as this will give it the boost it needs. I'm, sure the new Liberal government will agree.

Just around 72 hours after another bail-out of the Euro and the speculators are 'at it again'?

If anyone can remember a good week, or a day, that the Euro has had since it's unelected conception and inception - please do tell us all?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

The Euro will survive, but not in its current format. I see a chance for the UK to help establish a greater trading bloc; to do this I propose the following.

We re-introduce the Sterling Area inviting Germany, France, Benelux, Sweden, Denmark, Finland & Norway to link their currencies to sterling.

Southern Europe and weaker EU members retain the Euro lite and devalue by 40% and allow Ireland to re-join the link to sterling at par

The sterling area is then opened up to the commonwealth & former
Commonwealth countries including HK, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, NZ
Malaysia, Malta, South Africa, Canada. Brazil, Argentina, Japan could
be invited to join the sterling area.Sterling is then backed by physical Silver & expanded trade is created for the northern Eurozone countries

The above would allow the Northern European to retain a strong ccy union bloc gain access to strong emerging markets and allow southern Europe time to get back to health.

This would also help the UK as the link to the Euro ccy's would be at a rate that helps our exports.

Short selling is only one of the ways that speculators can make money at the expense of those who need to use the market. Predictably the German action did not work.

Free financial markets can always be abused by those who can place sufficiently large bets. They are not fit for purpose. Only a very small proportion of transactions across the exchanges are by those who need to change money for trade etc. The rest are by speculators, who profit at the expense of the genuine users.

The currency and sovereign bond markets are important. We all can suffer as a result of abuse. Central banks could in collaboration completely control these markets, it is outrageous that they do not do so.

The London market is the worse offender and those that operate in it are big donors to political parties. Is this really a coincidence?

Doesn't this go to show that the Super Eurostate just isn't going to work. What wasn't broken in the first place, should never have been fixed.
Brussels is a huge drain, into which we are all pouring huge amounts of cash - pointlessly.

Bring back Gordon Brown. He had his finger on the financial button and certianly saved our UK bacon. With such a massive committee running the euro there is no hope of hitting the right solution. The EU Euro zone has become too big out of dogma rather than sound economics, in a rush to appear sucessful.

Of course it will..... if the global capitalist market can?????

The Euro will survive but probably only in France and Germany, they wanted it and are quite wlecome to it. Roll on the bitter end of this lefty political superstate.

Its looking increasingly unlikely.

Was it ever going to work, different countries, different economies.
The only good thing Labour did was not to adopt the euro because we would not have had a referendum, we would have been bulldozed in.
The EU has been and is a huge swallower of our money, no further integration Please.

If a currency does not survive there may be anarchy. viz Greece
Also in Pre war Germany a defunkt currency lead to the people embracing the Nazis.

Sort of puts the rest of the news into perspective.

"The decline follows the German government's decision to ban some types of short-selling of financial products. Analysts say that the move has led to uncertainty on the markets and added to fears for Europe's banks."

Yes, it's the equivalent of the pilot of your hoilday flight telling you the vibration you can feel is nothing to worry about as he straps on his life-jacket and then calls his wife and children to tell them he loves them very much.

Also the inability of Germany to gain international/global cooperation on short-selling speculation of the Euro makes the move pointless and ineffectual.

This will be a huge boost to the german economy, but will also bring inflationary pressures, so interest rates will have to go up. It will be worse for Greece. Debt still in euros, no cheaper for european tourists, but imports will cost more. For us in UK, hopefully the german growth will suck in imports from here.
Moral? If you shoot yourself in the foot (Greece) it's only you that suffer in the end.

I hope for the EU member countries that whatever happens they are not too damaged. I am a euroskeptic and am glad we are not part of the eurozone, but I do acknowledge that its the populations who suffer and not the govs. If the whole project falls over there will be a lot of damage to the economies in europe which, while the non-eurozone countries would benefit, would be damaging to so many peoples lives.

I hope this shows our Deputy Prime Minister that WE SHOULD NEVER JOIN THE EURO.

15. At 12:23pm on 19 May 2010, Allan wrote:

The Euro will survive, because the future of the EU is bound to it.

The leaders will make it so.

The UK should also join now as this will give it the boost it needs. I'm, sure the new Liberal government will agree.

-----------------------------

How can it be a boost to join a currancy that is uncertain (more uncertain and less flexible than our own!) and increase our debts with NO gain. All we would do is lose. And in joining the euro we would be responsible for the euros safety and bailing out everyone else.

The euro is not viable now, and I hope not ever

Who thinks these items up? - honestly - the Pound is sinking as fast as the Euro, but are you asking 'Will the Pound survive?' Of course not, how would destroying the British Economy suit the purposes of those who will rush to report it.

I hope that this 'tidied' version will escape the moderators axe, but would encourage readers to consider 'who would benefit the most if the Euro, and hence probably the EEC, fell?'

The day Euro collapses it would be the beginning of the end of EU.The silver lining is when US economy went into near depression recently, every one was writing an obit for USD,but it has survived.As long as the western world needs globalization for trade and survival two strong world currencies are unavoidable viz. USD and Euro.

The Euro will last as long as free trade amongst Euro countries, if you can remember that, especially when you are at customs trying to explain that the goods you purchased are for your own consumption. Open borders never existed and never will, the Euro currency was the next stage so everyone was trading with the same money, excellent idea restricted by beurocratic rubbish. Remove the Euro parliament should be the first step.

No it won't - neither will the other major currencies. They will be printed into obliveon. All the worlds major currencies are being devalued at varying rates. It seems that the € is falling at this moment - in reality they are all falling and your spending power is being eroded by devaluation and inflation of the money supply. Later - we will see an alarming rise in inflation that will force interest rates much higher. When all is said and done - the only viable currency left -will be gold.

I have to agree with Mustafa - currencies go up and down, and let all those little Englanders remember that the £ has dropped 30% in value against the euro in the last 2/3 years. Had we joined when it was a good deal for the UK, we would not have lost a third of our spending power. To those who say that devaluation makes the UK more competitive, it may, but all imports (including raw materials for our manufacturing base) cost more, thus pushing up inflation ( some 3.5% now). The pound is caught between a rock and a hard place. So I hope that the euro does survive & thrive. After all it rose because there was speculation against the dollar in the wake of the dire financial crisis in the US. Have we all forgotten that already? Or is this all just revenge by the USA's financial markets now they feel the worst is over?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

PreviousNext1. At 11:38am on 19 May 2010, SystemF wrote:

The lunatic Euro left wing will do anything to save their ghastly superstate though. They'll bail out the Euro until nothing is left.


Who exactly is the Euro left wing? Sarkozy? Merkel? Berlusconi? All fairly right wing last time I checked. And if you are losing your identity, it probably means you didn't have one to start with.

I know how you Brits love to trash your own PM's in most disgusting Leftist sort of way, but doesn't anyone get credit for keeping you off the Euro? Tony Blair?

Euro won't but D-Mark will revive.

[90% of Germans want to dump euro and return to their beloved Deutschmark.]

16. At 12:24pm on 19 May 2010, corum-populo-2010 wrote:
Just around 72 hours after another bail-out of the Euro and the speculators are 'at it again'?

If anyone can remember a good week, or a day, that the Euro has had since it's unelected conception and inception - please do tell us all?


You could research it yourself if you bothered basing your posts on facts, but I remember only a few years ago when the Euro was doing so well against the pound that UK businesses dealing with the Eurozone suffered badly from the exchange rate, and the best omoney coming in was the Eurozone tourists spending their valuable valuta here. I know, I was there.

Maybe yes, maybe no. It doesn't matter. Europe will survive. The people will flourish. Some fat cats might get hurt. Too bad for them.

The Euro will survive, but some members of the Eurozone may have to be kicked out.

I think the EU is currently proving what happens when you come up with a good plan like a big unified trade zone but try to let (most of) those who are part of the zone manage themselves and run free whilst doing it.

I think the whole fiasco in Greece has highlighted the weakness in European measures and the ripples from that are still being felt.

I think Europe as a whole needs to sit down and draw lines where responsibilities begin and end, stop allowing countries to reap the benefits or run a muck as is their whim.

Well, firstly there is a big question about the intrinsics of the Euro - if you take a closer look there is Germany behind, France - whose exonomic strenght is questionable, and the rest is either wavering economies (Italy, Spain, ...) or small countries (Slovakia, Slovenia).

As to the ban on short selling, frankly that is a good experiment. The financial markets were created to support real business and short selling is not part of it. Now financial markets have become a huge casino where players make money and tax payers pay for it - either hefty fees or bailout handouts. Perhaps it is time to rethink the strategy . . .

Yes, Germany was right to ban Short-Selling. This is just a financial trick that can all too easily backfire. Big money to be made for the share-holders and even bigger losses for the customers and taxpayers.

I do applaud Germany for the ban on "short buy/selling". There should be one in America also. There should also be a ban on "Oil Speculation". The only people involved in oil should be those taking delivery of oil. The price would drop dramatically, which would free monies to created the many alternate energy sources available.

32. At 1:15pm on 19 May 2010, Chris wrote:

Who thinks these items up? - honestly - the Pound is sinking as fast as the Euro, but are you asking 'Will the Pound survive?' Of course not, how would destroying the British Economy suit the purposes of those who will rush to report it.

I hope that this 'tidied' version will escape the moderators axe, but would encourage readers to consider 'who would benefit the most if the Euro, and hence probably the EEC, fell?'

-------------------------------------------

There is a huge difference between the sterling and euro. The euro value is set centrally and all countries are trapped by it. The sterling is under british control and so we are less likely to fall than greece.

If the euro falls a lot of non-euro coutries would benefit. The unfortunate effect of the euro falling is that the populations who had no choice but to join the currency. A lot of people will suffer if the euro falls. But personally I am glad we are not part of it

People on here should remember that the 2 major pro-Euro parties got over 51% of the vote at the election, it's quite obvious that the majority of people in the UK are not xenophobic isolationists, and according to the will of the (majority) of people here we should be closer to Europe.

A Greek tragedy!
Euro(pa) is raped !
She tried to rebuild what was thrown down!
She tried to bring together a scattered people, made of iron & Clay!
She tried to ascend into heaven!
But it is not time!
She was snared by her own lust & greed!
She is laid low!

The reason the banks are so jumpy is the prospect of losing a rich vein of income should their more extreme acts of gambling - especially the invitation to fraud and corruption that is short selling - finally be regulated. Such regulation can only be good for the future stability of the world economy. It is also interesting to read some of the anti-Euro comments re the wisdom of the UK keeping out of it, etc. Is this the same UK whose currency is the only major currency still very weak/falling against the Euro, and whose national debt as a proportion of GDP rivals that of Greece? Fiscal independence has does little to help Sterling or the UK economy, it would appear. What price irony?

responsible regulators rarely ruin remotely run currencies.

and as the euro falls so does sterling.....

Yes it will survive. The PIIGS may not be in but it will survive.

I would rather have the Euro than the pound - the UK inflation will reduce value of our currency. In Europe this means lower interest rates than UK. Go figure in this case who has the money to spend on stuff. A key issue given the UK economy exports over 60% to the EU.

Its Going and so is the ill-gotten European State. A common Market was an excellent idea, lets wind the clock back and remove the political regime.

It will survive, but the EMU as currently configured cannot.

It simply cannot work when fiscal policy is set at one level and monetary policy is set at another, and there are no controls over spending and budget discipline.

We can certainly do without the childish right-wing rants of SystemF and aceriley. Their comments do not help one bit. I know of no "lunatic left" in the eurozone, and I live in mainland Europe. Germany is right to lead the way in trying to limit the effectiveness of vultures who want to make money by tricky-dicky financial transactions; made at the expense of ordinary working people and taxpayers.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

"powermeerkat wrote:

Euro won't but D-Mark will revive.

[90% of Germans want to dump euro and return to their beloved Deutschmark.]"

While they are at it may be they should return right back to the R-Mark (the Reichsmark)? It was even better.

For sure the Euro will survive, as sure as Greece is not the only country in such a crisis. Doubtless more will emerge.
Should we bail them out? NO!
Why did we bail out Greece? Only God and the European Parliament (if these are not one and the same) can possibly understand!

ace riley: I cannot recall a referendum on Britain joining the Euro! (as you suggest)..Perhaps if we did join, most of the problems about confidence would disappear.

Yes!

The Euro is wobbling because many games are currently being played by people and markets playing with people's lives, pockets and dreams. Let us make this clear, we the people will win not the markets and all these "illegal" legalized financial products and derivatives.

Frankly too, we have had enough of all these lackies palying with the fate of millions of people in the EU.

The euro will survive because of the huge economies of Germany and France.

A lot of rants on this thread are from 'stop johnny foriegner' little britains who hate the success of the EU.

People who are knocking the euro have always done so.

They should ask themselves, what other excuse for the failings of our society would I have to find if I didn't have the EU to moan at.

As for stopping short selling, can anyone tell me the public benetfit that short selling provides?

Selling a currency at a deliberate low rate to force down its value and make a profit when it falls even further gives benefits only to the speculator. We should ban all short selling including shares.

Try going into a supermarket and offering to buy a £1 loaf of bread for 80p and when it falls in price to 90p - because no-one is buying bread - because they expect the price to fall - which it does because the supermarket has to make some money - and then the speculator selling it to some one for 85p and make 5p profit. Who has benefitted? The supermarket now cuts the price it pays its suppliers and cuts the staff wages & numbers to make up the difference.
So the speculator gets their profit at almost everyone else's cost (the person who bought the loaf at 85p finds their tax has gone up to pay for the new unemployed - so they lose more than 15p).

21. At 12:38pm on 19 May 2010, Iorek-the-Fair wrote:
Bring back Gordon Brown. He had his finger on the financial button and certianly saved our UK bacon. With such a massive committee running the euro there is no hope of hitting the right solution. The EU Euro zone has become too big out of dogma rather than sound economics, in a rush to appear sucessful.

-------------------------

No! Give him the chairmanship of the European Central Bank, that should end it forever...

Bogatty hit the nail. We live in a society with very short (financial) memories. The media must to have something to say all the time so reporting every minute change in financial positions just gives them (and me now) something to talk about.

And furthermore, yes Greece does definitely need to put its public sector in order but at the same time it is being used as a testbed in order for financial marketeers and plunder to further plunder more countries in their wake of playing dirty games and all in the interest of profit.

On a very positive note, Greece will once again show Europe and the world further afield that there are more important and valuable things in life other than the goal of profit being advocated by extreme capitalism. Capitalism yes is a good thing but needs to be controlled in some way as today we live in a world where banks and financial institutions play poker while laughing and cajoling about it too with people's lives. Greece will without a shadow of a doubt show the entire world what true democracy really is all about and that if people want to prosper in more ways than one, people need to invest in true democracy and not the farce of so-called today's democracies.

Greece by the way is still awaiting 75 euros as reparation payments from Germany as a result of the destruction and the plundering of Greece's gold reserves between 1939 and 1945.

The Euro & Eurozone will survive but with fewer members. It is absurd to believe the hardworking, financially prudent, industrious & successful Germans can be categorised with the likes of Greece & Portugal. The weaker and financially irresponsible states should be thrown out before they wreck the system together with European economic recovery and world trade.

Euro zone or Euro single currency bloc is just a group of some 16 countries,financially and economically balanced.The first and nearest threat for EURO is Sterling. The markets are open for everybody, but remember that Dollar is the key just to close the same market. EURO must go beyond the EU, if it wants to survive the agonizing death it is going through. The best consumers are in emerging economies countries, like China, India,South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria. If EURO can not penetrate these markets,how can it suvive?

The Euro is dead! Long live the Euro!

A lower value euro is good for the eurozone countries as it makes european exports more competative on world markets.

Here is a table I got from the internet showing the movements of the euro versus the U.S dollar since its inception.

Year Lowest ↓ Highest ↑
Date Rate Date Rate
1999 03 Dec $1.0015 05 Jan $1.1790
2000 26 Oct $0.8252 06 Jan $1.0388
2001 06 Jul $0.8384 05 Jan $0.9545
2002 28 Jan $0.8578 31 Dec $1.0487
2003 08 Jan $1.0377 31 Dec $1.2630
2004 14 May $1.1802 28 Dec $1.3633
2005 15 Nov $1.1667 03 Jan $1.3507
2006 02 Jan $1.1826 05 Dec $1.3331
2007 12 Jan $1.2893 27 Nov $1.4874
2008 27 Oct $1.2460 15 Jul $1.5990
2009 04 Mar $1.2555 03 Dec $1.5120
2010 14 May $1.2358 13 Jan $1.4563
Source: Euro exchange rates in USD, ECB

Why rely on the euro-dollar? Separate units of money in Europe strenghtened the economies with individual cultural styles. The uniform approach of finance causes speculation and high interest rates. Germany has the right idea. A conservative and distinct monetary system leads to prosperity.

Germany won't allow the Euro to collapse as too much national pride is at stake. They may, however, be the last country to use it.

The Euro will fail because that is the plan...Once the Euro has failed,all the member states of the EU will be massively in debt to external sources of revenue,slaves to the Amero,the soon-to-emerge currency of the soon-to-emerge North American Union(N.A.U).What the ECB is doing right now is distracting the populations of the EU as it makes enormous profits for those at the top of the Euro tree.Once the N.A.U and the Asian and Pacific Union(A.P.U) are up and running as politically controlled regions,the true nature of global fascist hegemony will become undeniably apparent.The N.A.U and the A.P.U together with the African Union,will,effectively control the whole worlds finances,job markets,foreign policy,domestic policy,trade and industry etc.Any member state that still fancies itself as an independent sovereign state will easily be punished for such free-thinking individualism by the removal of capital,of industry,of protectionist legislation,leaving it completely open to severe exploitation and/or financial negligence.Watch and learn.....

Personally I am much more concerned about sterling. Let's hope the decline of the euro puts the pound back to 1.6 euro, where it should be.

Personally I am much more concerned about sterling. let's just hope that this crisis doesn't stop the pound getting back to the value it should have, at least 1.6 euros.

Of course the Euro will survive and indeed the UK will join the Euro Club if not within five years then definately within 10 Years.
The British will wake up one day and realise that we are Europeans and our future is within a united Federal Europe with one tax system and one currency. Of course we will have to be draged kicking and screaming all the way but reality eventually dawn upon this island race!
Globalisation so strongly supported by Thatcher and Regan will never allow us to remain aloof from the hustle and bustly of the realities of the World economy.
Currenly this is a blip but look out sterling in three months we be in the firing line and watch the exchange rate.

I think it's a great idea that Germany has banned short-selling. It should have already been banned a very long time ago because, as you can see, short-selling has caused every single economic crisis. There should be a worldwide ban on it that can't be removed because short-selling puts the whole financial system at risk because the speculators are not sensible enough to consider what implications their actions might have.
So, in my opinion, short-selling should be forbidden entirely and forever.

Is this where I get to dredge up all of those gleeful pronouncements by the usual suspects here on HYS that the once mighty dollar was dead as a dodo, that the EU was the new Superstate and that Britain's headlong ascent into the socialist panacea of the EU New Order was being spoiled by Little Englanders? I'll forgo that pleasure but merely observe that for the last 30 years the EU has been more about sharing the free goodies of socialism without any of the hardlifting and that includes paying for your own defense, too. Six weeks vacation, retirement at 53, cradle to grave entitlements: who wouldn't want to share that? Just send the bill to someone else, please. The Greeks just have. And you ponied up. Amazing.

One could have seen this coming. The problem with the Euro, like the European Super State, is that one size does not fit all! The economies of each of the former Nation states are different from each other and need to be able to operate independently from each other when circumstances require. It does not make sense for economic super powers like Germany to be tied to the same currency as countries like Greece and Italy. Am I relieved that we kept our pound sterling and with it a degree of fiscal independence!

70. At 2:53pm on 19 May 2010, sunagor wrote:

A lower value euro is good for the eurozone countries as it makes european exports more competative on world markets.

-----

That's a simplistic view. If that were the case, countries would do their best to drive the value of their currency down.

A weak Euro may help exporters, but it hurts importers, or any industry that needs raw materials to produce things, since they now have to pay with a weaker currency.

Devalued euro helps exporters.
Germany is biggest exporter in Europe.
Devalued euro will pay for German bail out.Compute?
QED.

Just give it time to fall to a new level.
Cheap Holidays In The Sun for the masses.
''I want to see some history...'' for me.

The Euro will survive, the political committment to it is too great. I would expect much tighter fiscal rules will be the long term outcome of this crisis. Access to a market of 600 +million is too great a prize to give up, plus for those countries which were under Soviet domination the EU is seen as an insurance policy for the future(like their membership of NATO).
Globalisation is producing a number of trading blocs,NAFTA, the Asian China/Indian economic area and the EU.
What this means for the UK is problematical, we are in danger of being ground between these blocs. Certainly a large element of our political class suffers from an imperial hangover ,which has coloured their attitude to the EEC/EU since it's inception.
I have alway found it a paradox that the Europhobes hammer on about diktats from the EU, when we have elected MEPs in the EU Parliament and yet happily fall in line with US policies over which we have no input.

Once again the BBC, HYS crew have managed to pack 5 other questions into the lead question of survival of the Euro. Get focused guys.

Anyway, the Euro will survive simply because it can't be allowed to fail. It was dreadfully overpriced when I was in Italy last year. It made shopping all but impossible at the rate of US$1.50 to the Euro. I could buy Italian goods cheaper in the US. Perhaps this is time for sane adjustment. European countries that didn't opt for the Euro are now in a better position, but for how long? A lower priced Euro might be a blessing in disguise for European manufacturers.

The Euro will most probably survive though I would expect it to devalue even more, the whole thing depends of course on how many countries are willing to continue to peg their economies to it. If countries begin jumping ship then that's another story.

The ban, well money doesn't really like restrictions after all we live on a globe and neither the EU nor Germany is the only financial market.. so the result will be devaluation.

To sum up which is worse the dollar? or the euro? I would prefer a more stable world currency backed up by something much more than just "thin air" (greed,politics,democracy,freedom...) something in the lines of what was proposed by Russia and China at an earlier date.

76. At 3:14pm on 19 May 2010, JCW wrote:

Of course the Euro will survive and indeed the UK will join the Euro Club if not within five years then definately within 10 Years.
The British will wake up one day and realise that we are Europeans and our future is within a united Federal Europe with one tax system and one currency. Of course we will have to be draged kicking and screaming all the way but reality eventually dawn upon this island race!
Globalisation so strongly supported by Thatcher and Regan will never allow us to remain aloof from the hustle and bustly of the realities of the World economy.
Currenly this is a blip but look out sterling in three months we be in the firing line and watch the exchange rate.

---------------------------------------

So because we are classed as part of the world known as europe we should join the euro? That is the most comical reason we could ever want to join. The US has more in common with us! Guess why... So you want us to join the dollar instead?

Bet as a pro europe your an anti US. I dont see why we cant be friends with all without committing to ideas like the euro which would have crippled us now. It is good that we didnt join the euro.

Yes. And I hope the UK is never in it.

The Euro may survive within the big powers e.g. Germany, France, but is unlikely to do so among many of the others. The reason being that one interest rate is not suitable for all countries within the Euro area which can make it very difficult for countries to control inflation and control the speed of their economies by raising or reducing interest rates when necessary.

Britain has a smaller currency and huge debts, so imo the question really is... will the Pound survive ?

This whole money market is a cruel virtual game for big players. Causing tragedies for most and unimaginable wealth for a few (laughing with old-fashioned ideas like nations and their shiny coins !)

I hope Britain joins the Euro, so we can bail you out if need be (or vice versa)

15. At 12:23pm on 19 May 2010, Allan wrote:
"The UK should also join now as this will give it the boost it needs. I'm, sure the new Liberal government will agree."

We can't join the Euro at the moment. Our budget deficit exceeds the limit required by the growth and stability pact by a factor of 4.

Yet another absurd HYS question hiding the real question! Of course it will. The more real question is "Will the pound survive?"
Beneath it all, the Euro is sound currency because the fundamentals of the Eurozone are sound. Net exporter, a zone that feed itself.
Compare that the pound/ UK. Net importer, massively in debt, cannot survive except by increasing its debt even more, just to feed itself!
Two years ago the Euro was worth 68p. Now it is worth 86p. And you ask if the Euro is in trouble?...Good Grief, get real!

The concept of the EU and the Euro was the goal of the European left in an effort to turn Europe into a democratic socialist superstate. The thing is, it was done by only certain of the European leadership and without any real input from the people who were quite happy to stay as they were. It was also done without taking into account the individuality, culture and resulting incompatibility of those being swept up into the so called "union". Frankly, I'm surprised that the EU has lasted as long as it has, but now it is on the brink of collapse and the Euro is on it's way out. There are certain of the larger, stronger European countries that could form an economic block for the sake of doing business, but I see Europe as a group of individual countries with their own culture and their own economies emerging once again. That is how it should be.

"81. At 3:29pm on 19 May 2010, SSnotbanned wrote:

Devalued euro helps exporters.
Germany is biggest exporter in Europe.
Devalued euro will pay for German bail out.Compute?
QED. "

---

Is economics really a totally unknown subject in European schools? If this is so obvious, why is Germany not doing its best to drive the Euro down? What do YOU know that they don't? Please list your economic degrees, since clearly you know more than the German government does.....

If the Euro was an economic project it is very doubtful it could survive, but it is a political project that is all about centralising power, and the people whop control its future desire that centralised power so they will do whatever is needed to keep it afloat. That (like most actions of the EU) will harm the interests of the citizens of the member states, but the various referenda prove how little the civil servants running the EU care for them.

One can only pray that when the EU finally falls apart under the stresses of its own contradictions it does so peacefully, but I'm not optimistic; very few totalitarian regimes have fallen without bloodshed and the EU aspires to being the most totalitarian ever (ie it wishes to control a greater proportion of its subjects' lives; to get closer to totality than any previous attempt).

I dont normally say this but 3 cheers for the Germans, the most dynamic export driven economy in Europe. We would do well to copy them. We rebuilt Germany after 1945 often using our models perhaps its time to learn from thier way of doing economics. Well done Germany for regulation, you at least have learned some lessons we simply have not. I suggest we join the Euro. BTW the Dollar is slowly losing its place as the Worlds no 1 currency and being replaced by the Yen and perhaps the Euro in time. However there is an interesting debate going on in America about financial regulation, they are miles ahead than Osborne's recent pathetic attempts to reverse EU regulation. Osborne's ideology will bring in a new financial collapse, thanks to the brain dead who voted tory.

I hope the Euro survives and it should do as it is a currency predominatly backed by integrity.

The US dollar is surely overvalued. The source and main cause of the current financial crisis is the USA. How the currency of a nation that has diplayed such financial incompetence can be held in any regard beggars belief.

Course it will survive.
The Germans are doing the right thing.

I think ALL short selling should be banned.

It is the WORST type of gambling ever invented, because you gamble without even paying for something or owning it.

The market doesnt like it, TOUGH, the market has too much power and acts more like a dictator, but one with vultures blood, because it purposely seeks the weak and will even damage something to make it weak, then feast on the corpse and rip it apart for as much profit as they can manage.

The Euro was doomed from its outset and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in '93. Only the UK and Denmark Governments saw its long-term implications from the start. Now, only the UK and Denmark will survive. Long live Sterling and the Danish Krone.

If everyone in the world used the same currency, e.g. the dollar then there would be no need to revalue or devalue and no money speculators.

One world one currency

I hope the Euro survives simply because Europe cannot afford to survive in world politics without a sense of economic unity.

Many of the European countries are now small fry compared to the emergin countries.

A better question might be "should the Euro survive?" Now that the precedent of bailing out the fiscally irresponsible members has been set the drain on the economies of the responsible, productive members will never end.