masterwordsmith-unplugged

What is the Euro crisis? What are all these acronyms like EU, EC, ECB, EMU, Euro, PIIGS, all about? It seemed this problem has been around for so long that people has started to get fed up with it already. Heck i'm fed up too with the state of the world. It's like everything is unraveling all at once.

What better way to release some steam than to explain what this crisis is about to layperson not well versed in all these mumbo-jumbo. You can't know shit of what's really going on there, or for the matter 'anywhere', from the newspaper, online mainstream, tv and radio news even if you read/ watch/ listen to them every day.

Also as i grow older, i realized knowledge is something that nobody can take away from you. Not that i know a lot myself but i did read a lot from various printed and online sources. One thing with explaining the crisis is there are too many variables which are connected. So that makes searching for the "cause" of the crisis all the more difficult.

If one take the 'mainstream' view of looking at things, then the cause may be 'different' from one who takes the objective view. i can't say i could state the cause with perfect accuracy but it is close.  Maybe no one could except the people who are directly involved in it. i also want to make it clear that the objective view is not the conspiracy theorist view although it is closer to it than the mainstream view.

"Greed is Good" - The Cause

First a very short history- in 1999 the Europeans implemented a common currency, the Euro to improve trade between the European Union, EU countries. Member countries that have the euro as their common currency are called the Eurozone. The currency is centrally managed via a central bank called the European Central Bank or ECB based in Frankfurt, Germany. It is similar to the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States.

One of the main function of the ECB is to print money- the euro. Besides that, it will also make sure the currency doesnt lose its value via monetary policy like controlling its inflation rate. Each of the member state of Eurozone) is also a member of its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).