General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Germany is in the wrong, very wrong, in Europe, and must be corrected. Further information: [View all]DFW
(54,367 posts)It was a recipe for economic chaos, and the predictable has occurred. The Germans are totally
fed up, after having a huge tax bill to rebuild East Germany, with being told that domestic reforms
have to be put on hold, school classes must increase in size, civil projects must be postponed, all
because more tax money is needed to prop up the euro. Taxes aren't as sky-high in Germany as
they are in France, Belgium or the Netherlands, but compared to, for example, the USA, they are
astronomical.
So why SHOULD Greece, for one, keep the Euro? Will their deficit suddenly decrease? No. What
is a Greek euro good for? Well, for one thing, big corporations in Germany (and elsewhere in
northern Europe) can export to Greece with no fear of their clients not being able to afford their
products. No risk of a devalued Greek currency, cool! But if you're NOT a big German corporation,
not so cool. And no rush to close German factories to rebuild them in a cheaper Greece, because
Greece has the euro, so some German unions like the status quo, too. True, there's always Romania,
but ask Nokia how THAT worked out.
So, Goldman Sachs made their wad by "helping" Greece into the Euro, and the German taxpayers
don't get to share in their country's relatively good economic health. Merkel tries to protect the
interests of her country, and the rest of Europe bashes her for being miserly. If she gets voted out,
the next SPD chancellor can broaden the deficit, "help" southern Europe, and weaken the domestic
German economy instead. Merkel and the Germans can't win this one on a PR level. If they try to
salvage a win situation for themselves, I can't say that I blame them. As long as both left and right in
Germany maintain their pacifist stance, I'm a lot less nervous than I would be the other way around.