Thursday, July 26, 2012

Steve Keen — The Euro as the SDR of Europe?


Steve proposes a novel way out of the euro crisis.

Read it at Steve Keen's Debtwatch
The Euro as the SDR of Europe?
Steve Keen

6 comments:

JK said...

This seems like a sneaky backdoor way to reinstate monetary sovereignty.

The one bonus is that notes already in circulation do not need to be replaced. But really… isn't it true that the amount of notes in circulation is a small percentage of the overall money supply?

Bob Roddis said...

If there were an economic and monetary union, in which the power to act independently had actually been abolished, ‘co-ordinated’ reflation of the kind which is so urgently needed now could only be undertaken by a federal European government.

Wynne Godley from Keen's link:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v14/n19/wynne-godley/maastricht-and-all-that

"Reflation" is a monstrous idea. It only appears necessary after prices collapse following an artificial fiat funny money boom. Get rid of the fiat funny money, and prices always reflect reality. There's no boom, no bust and no supposed need to reflate the artificial boom prices which still will not reflect reality.

Bob Roddis said...

Wynne Godley:

As Mr Tim Congdon has argued very cogently, the power to issue its own money, to make drafts on its own central bank, is the main thing which defines national independence. If a country gives up or loses this power, it acquires the status of a local authority or colony. Local authorities and regions obviously cannot devalue. BUT THEY ALSO LOSE THE POWER TO FINANCE DEFICITS THROUGH MONEY CREATION while other methods of raising finance are subject to central regulation. NOR CAN THEY CHANGE INTEREST RATES. AS LOCAL AUTHORITIES POSSESS NONE OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICY, their political choice is confined to relatively minor matters of emphasis – a bit more education here, a bit less infrastructure there.

Get them out of the education and infrastructure business too and it sounds like a plan.

Anonymous said...

"Get them out of the education and infrastructure business too and it sounds like a plan"

Sounds like Somalia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0

Warren Mosler said...

it's nonsensical.

the euro is a fully functioning currency just like the yen, dollar, etc. with our without a 'united states of europe'

it's the thing demanded to pay taxes by the national govs, and functions accordingly within that institutional structure.

Anonymous said...

"Get rid of the fiat funny money, and prices always reflect reality"

Meaningless statement.