Say NON to naked French ladies (The Euro)

Member Name: opinions4u

Product:	The Euro
Date:	20/02/03 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stable costs for exporters, Save on changing money when going on holiday

Disadvantages: No proof of long term economic benefits, Loss of political self determination for the people, It hasn't done anything positive for nations currently in the scheme!

Actually, I am not going to talk about naked French ladies. Not in this review anyway. But it got me my 3p out of you!

The Euro is an extraordinary concept. 12 nations sharing a currency! The concept itself is not new. For years, nations have forced their country to track that of another nation. Israel chased the US Dollar. Ireland chased the Pound. The Pound chased the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The Argentinian Peso chased the US Dollar.

We would do well to remember the last two. Margaret Thatcher, while not perfect, made the very clear statement ?you cannot buck the market?. There is repeated evidence that she is right.

So, why should Britain adopt the Euro?

Well, there are many good reasons. For the man (or woman) in the street, it would save us having to change money in to a foreign currency when we holiday within the Euro zone. Personally, I find this all part of the holiday experience and quite enjoy it, although the chance to stop banks making a couple of quid in commission is appealing! Given the sums involved, I do not think that this nicety is relevant to the overall debate though.

Standardisation is another reason given. Well, personally I think the idiosyncrasies that make us unique as individual people and individual nations are both fascinating and charming, as well as making for good humour. History teaches me that standardisation is neither wanted or successful. People like to be treated as individuals. Furthermore, people are individuals.

A more solid reason comes from the export businesses which this country relies on. Both small firms working out of the local retail park, and multi-billion pound businesses such as Toyota, would benefit from not having to cope with fluctuating exchange rates. The reason is simple. If your profit margin on what you export is 20%, short term currency fluctuations can wipe out your profit overnight. While the same principle can also dou

ble your profits (if the currency fluctuation is favourable), it makes managing the cash flow very difficult. That said, it also encourages an entrepreneur to look at ways of improving his processes and managing his cost base better. In other words, in the medium term, an unfavourable currency environment can make a business stronger. That said, it is not much use in the short term if your business goes under.

What are the reasons against the Euro.

Well, some are nationalistic. We are British. We are proud. We are independent and do not want it. Well, personally I do not think there is room left in this world for extreme nationalist nonsense. That said, some of the underlying implications to being able to democratically choose leaders who can then influence the economy to our benefit (that is the idea, even if they do not always manage it) are worth preserving in my view.

The economic arguments can also be strong. By handing over control of interest rates to the European Central Bank, we pass the one simple way of controlling inflation in the UK to people who have to consider the wider situation in Europe. As the Irish have discovered, this means low interest rates at a time when their economy is booming and needs controlling with high rates. This will, sooner or later, lead to a significant slump for the Irish, although the rest of Europe will not suffer in the same way.

From a British perspective this is worrying. As an island and as a race, we are, like it or not, different. We see things differently. We feel things differently. We value home ownership in a different way to the Germans. We value share ownership in a way the Greeks would never think of. We tax families in a way the French would find (rightly) offensive. We will always be different. We turn our backs on encouraging private health insurance, even though European nations support the concept as a way of funding healthcare far better than we d
o. O
ur past prudence means our pension funds are far wealt
hier than those in Germany.

Another case against the Euro is that people will find it difficult to change. Actually, this is a ridiculous argument, as the way things work changes daily in most businesses. That said, the cost to the infrastructure of the nation and businesses will run in to £billions. That alone means that the case for joining the euro has to be overwhelming. My thoughts are that it is not. And never will be!

So, you probably have a feel for my opinion on the subject. Make me your first among equals and you will NEVER have the Euro!

Maybe I am a little Englander. Maybe I never forgave the Jous Sans Frontierres judges who disqualified GB for breaking a piece of faulty equipment in the mid seventies! Maybe I am fed up of diving foreign footballers.

Culturally we are different. Politically, I fear the undemocratic principles and directives of the fraud ridden European Commission. Economically, while there are reasons that make the Euro appealing, I believe that these are balanced out through a typical economic cycle.

If the political and economic arguments are unconvincing, the cultural differences cannot be denied. And lets face it, those countries who have the euro are hardly excited or economically invigorated by it!

It is simply not worth the investment in switching to the Euro.

Summary: