Predictions of the euro's imminent demise have been swirling around for months but yet it has stubbornly hung on by a shoestring. As weeks roll by, analysts worldwide have a pessimistic outlook and believe that the currency, and perhaps the Eurozone, is moribund.
Things look bleak but North American analysts are somewhat premature to sound its death knell, and Standard and Poor's downgraded ratings for France and Austria have definitely not helped the situation.
As for me, I will follow Yogi Berra's philosophy, "It ain't over 'til it's over."
One must remember that the EU is hardly two decades old and that, like the development of any country, the road to "nationhood" is not always smooth. One needs only to look at the history of the United States and its development from the original Thirteen Colonies to its War of Independence with Britain and later its bloody Civil War to remember that the birth of any nation - or large, economic union - is not without growing pains.
Present EU problems are definitely serious, but not necessarily fatal. Time will tell, but like any major corporation which expands too quickly in good times and then runs into bad times, things can go horribly wrong just as they have for the Eurozone.
In their desire to build a larger economic union, the EU was definitely too generous and too quick to acquire new members which were part of Europe and which would eventually be included in the union. In the rush, many southern European nations were suddenly thrust into the new, global free-market which required high energy and a high-productivity GDP to which they were unaccustomed.
Their slow-paced, easy-going South Mediterranean lifestyle which continued into the 1970s was neither in-sync nor ready for the cold-water plunge into the fast-paced, new-age economy which enveloped them and would drastically alter their lifestyle forever.
As well, their newfound position within the EU and their newly-acquired confidence in their new, hard currency - the euro - enticed them into borrowing habits to which they were unaccustomed and which were unsustainable. Today we see the drastic results of this unpleasant hangover.
Currently, politicians, bankers, financiers, financial analysts, finance ministers and hundreds of other behind-the-scenes officials are working feverishly to rescue the euro and the Eurozone from collapse, and they are still hopeful.
But, in America today, the words "European" and "socialist" are dirty words which suggest that the days of McCarthyism linger on. But which economic union has free-tuition universities? Which continent has very low-cost medicare throughout? Europe, of course. Which country has sky-high tuitions and 30 million people without any medical coverage whatsoever? America, of course.
In the US, right-wing Republican presidential candidates have few kind words for Europe, Europeans, or the euro and refer to them as bloated socialists who threaten the world economy with their bad, spending habits and belonging to a "club of losers".
Not so fast, America. Is it not time for some serious navel-gazing? Just which country is fifteen trillion dollars in debt? And which country has just spent one trillion dollars on a war which need never have been fought? And which country recently had its credit rating reduced from AAA to AA+? Was it not America?
And, while I'm at it, was it not America's Standard and Poor which gave AAA ratings to derivative packages which contained toxic, subprime mortgages? These were then sold to banks, financial institutions and countries worldwide knowing full-well that selling such derivates was a ticking time-bomb which would have dire national and global consequences.
Isn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
