September 07, 2012

The euro-battle will only weaken the whole eurozone (and the rest of the world too)

Sir, John Plender points correctly to the nasty realities of a credit-debtor relationship, in “Only the weakest will triumph in the euro battle” September 7. That is of course a slight exaggeration of his, since he knows there is no real triumph for the weaker either. 

The eurozone got messed up because their bank regulators gave banks excessive incentives to lend to what was perceived as “not-risky”, like Greece or Spain’s real estate sector, and the eurozone cannot now get out of the crisis because their bank regulators now give the banks excessive disincentives to not lend to what is perceived as risky, like Greece or Spain. 

And if the major creditors, those for the time being the last standing “not-risky”, the stronger, think they can get away with regulatory discrimination against the risky, the weaker, at no cost for them, then they’re just dumb. 

It might well be that “The reality is that the ECB’s new initiative may prove to be just another transfer to distress debtors” but the fact is that this is not only about redistribution within Europe as it can also be, if badly handled, about the general impoverishment of the whole Europe (and the rest of the world too).