Euro Fetishism

The financial elites and their political frontmen are waxing hysterical over the prospect of Greece “leaving the Eurozone,” i.e. reverting to its own sovereign currency, the drachman. Understand, if this happened, Greece would still be part of the European Union, as the 10 members of that Union that don’t use the euro are. (There are 27 nations in the European Union, 17 of which abolished their national currencies and adopted the euro as a common currency.)

Why a tiny nation of 11 million people is crucial to the viability of the euro is a mystery. If the euro is really that fragile, it’s not a viable currency anyway.

Of course, as critics predicted, problems would result from a common currency and collective central bank, but individual national fiscal policies and separate economies with separate rates of growth, inflation, unemployment, etc.

Greece desperately needs to jettison the euro and bring back the drachma. The drachma will be worth less than euros. Greek exports will immediately become less expensive and thus more competitive, generating production in Greece. Greece will draw more tourists since it will be much cheaper to vacation there. And while this is called “inflationary,” probably Greeks will find lower prices. Every country that adopted the euro socked its people with higher retail prices. In Greece a bottle of water went from half a drachma to one and a half euros (about $2.).