Tag Archives: Euro

The euro: not the end yet, but the beginning of the end perhaps …

As currencies go, the European single currency is not in great shape. The problems of the two-speed Eurozone are well known but the consequences of the failure of repeated waves of measures to fix it are not yet fully understood. We struggle on in hope of some new measure, probably from Frankfurt, to get it through the current storm and into less turbulent waters. Continue reading

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The euro: not the end yet, but the beginning of the end perhaps …

(This article was updated on 22/04/2014)

As currencies go, the European single currency is not in great shape. The problems of the two-speed Eurozone are well known but the consequences of the failure of repeated waves of measures to fix it are not yet fully understood. We struggle on in hope of some new measure, probably from Frankfurt, to get it through the current storm and into less turbulent waters.

Continue reading

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A Strategic Analysis Suggests that Ireland Should Vote Yes in the Referendum on the Fiscal Stability Treaty

A risk management perspective also suggests that a yes vote is the current best choice for Ireland.

With so much uncertainty and conflicting information, perhaps the only rational way to evaluate which way to vote in the referendum on the Fiscal Treaty is to look at it from a strategic/risk management perspective based on likely developments in the euro zone over the next few years. Considering the impact on Ireland of those possible and foreseeable alternatives should clarify what a rational voter should do. This is necessary as it is most likely that Ireland will be voting in advance of any of the development set out below.

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We Spent Our Children’s Birthright Through Foolish Borrowing

Endgame the End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everything, John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey, $27.95, 2011, 318 pages.

American Gridlock Why the Right and Left Are Both Wrong, H. Woody Brock, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey, $27.95, 2012, 273 pages.

In Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber identifies an essential difference between happiness and misery.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

Two recent books consider the muddle politicians, bankers and economists have made of the world’s finances, during which the Micawber doctrine sadly got forgotten. They focus on the debt burden we have strapped on to the backs of coming generations and tackle the inability of current political systems to confront the ensuing mess.

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The European Dream is Over. What Will Replace it?

The imminent collapse of the Euro is a symptom of a broader and potentially terminal malaise in the EU. This latest, fourth failed effort this year, signals the beginning of the end. Continue reading

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And What About the Banks? Or Did We Imagine it?

Richard Whelan takes issue with an inaccurate account of fiscal imbalances and of Ireland’s role in the economic crisis.

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10 Reasons Why the Euro is Likely to Fail

While we were the agents of our own misfortune in Ireland, the continuing attack by the markets on Euro countries, which we are caught up in, has a very rational basis. As many have pointed out, including George Soros, Paul Krugman, and Erik Jones (Prof of European studies at the Bologna centre of Johns Hopkins University) there are significant flaws in the Euro, which may lead it to fail. The 10 most important reasons are as follows: Continue reading

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