Washington Post
July 25, 2010
It's a mess across the pond. The problems facing Europe and the euro cannot be papered over with the rescue package of nearly $1 trillion the European Union cobbled together for Greece, Spain and Portugal. Not only are the "Club Med countries" spending too much, they are not competitive in world markets and have rapidly aging populations that will only deepen their burgeoning budget deficits.
If these countries still had their own currencies -- the Greek drachma, the Spanish peseta and the Portuguese escudo -- they could devalue the currencies against those of their northern European neighbors and the U.S. dollar. A falling currency makes a country's exports more competitive, and it makes a country more attractive to foreign tourism -- an important source of foreign exchange in the Club Med nations.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment