With its future and survival increasingly topics of discussion, this post looks at the eurozone and two key questions. Firstly, are the eurozone’s member states too different to share a currency? Secondly, if the euro is to survive, will it need tax harmonisation and a big increase in federal spending? It answers these questions by comparing the eurozone and its members to the U.S. economy and its States.
With so much of the focus of the media and markets on Greece and its PIGS neighbours in the eurozone, one could easily forget that the UK will have the largest deficit in the EU this year and next. This post suggests that being outside the eurozone is a two-way street for the UK. The lack of restraint on its fiscal policy is already showing, with a simple index of government finance statistics placing the UK finances as the weakest of 24 developed countries.
Ricky Gervais has a very funny sketch about how ludicrous the children’s rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, is. In particular, employing horses, who don’t even have thumbs let alone opposable ones, to put him back together again. Actually, it’s so good, I’m going to embed it here: [youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hYytaZ06Hco] Anyway, spurious introduction aside, apparently according to the Financial [...]
