Wednesday, December 14, 2011

10 inconvenient Euro-truths by David Marsh (amv)

Excellent post by David Marsh (OMFIF):
Below are 10 key facts on the present position of the euro that many people overlook. Perhaps the most salient point concerns the direction of trade flows - the opposite of what you might expect. A classic case of ‘man bites dog’. The UK, a resolute non-member of the euro, has been busy over the past decade building trade ties with EMU. Yet Germany, in whose name and with whose currency monetary union was built, has been successfully integrating with the non-euro area – with fast-growing states in non-EMU Europe and Asia – and is doing progressively less trade with the euro bloc. Germany’s relative trade links with the peripheral countries have fallen particularly sharply. Considering these countries’ financing requires so much treasure from the taxpayers of Germany and other creditor countries, the imbalance between falling trade and rising demand for finance is at the bottom of the growing reluctance of the creditor countries to pledge more money to solve the conundrum. Confused about all this? Now read on.