We love the Euro.
The post Bye bye Euro? about the stupendously dishonest Cyprus "bailout" attempt does not detract us.
Repeat: we love the Euro.
We can travel to 17 countries and not get nickeled and dimed by the money changers, and in several countries in between, the Euro works as a second currency.
How would you as an American feel if you had to use money changers 17 times on that road trip from New York to California? We don't have to figure out how many wheelbarrows of Italian Lira buys us a cup of coffee. Tourist traps are no longer hidden under Drachmes or Guilders. DM is a historic currency no longer ridiculed as douche marks.
The quaint German "ich dien" (I serve) on English coins gave us something to smile about, but it is not worth the foreign exchange fee.
There is a new political party being founded in Germany, the Alternative fuer Deutschland (Website is in German), AfD, with a resolutely anti-Euro platform.
There is a lot more in their platform, a few things which we like, a lot more of which we do not.
A lot is being said and even more remains unsaid in their platform: "Germany does not need the Euro. The Euro is damaging to other countries."
Nobody "needs" the Euro, just like nobody "needs" another political party. The only logical way to understand the statement is: Germany would be better off without the Euro.
We understand nostalgia, we wallow in it sometimes, it's okay. But with folks like that, we can amend Roosevelt's quote to "we have nothing to fear but fear itself plus rich, nationalist, old, white men."
The new party has an impressive scientific advisory board with many highly qualified economists. Why would they be happy with the unqualified emotional "does not need"?
The pretty bold introduction of a common currency may or may not be a lasting achievement.
But we'll enjoy it as long as it lasts.
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