In a recent article, Prof. Paul Krugman compared the Scottish drive for independence while maintaining the pound to the EU's drive for the Euro as a common currency. Here is an extract:
"The obvious parallel is the push for the Euro; in pursuit of the political vision of European unity, leaders waved away the obvious economic problems. I don’t know how many times I encountered arguments along the lines of “You Americans are only raising these objections because you don’t want a competitor to the dollar”, which wasn’t the point at all. And sure enough, the Euro has turned into one of the great economic disasters of history, dealing a devastating blow to the very cause of European unity it was supposed to serve. It so happens that some of the economic issues involving Scottish independence are the same: Euro enthusiasts insisted that there would be no problem in creating a unified currency without a unified government, the SNP is insisting that there is no problem with maintaining a unified currency while breaking up the United Kingdom. But there is even less excuse this time around, since we have the Euro experience to enlighten us".
"The obvious parallel is the push for the Euro; in pursuit of the political vision of European unity, leaders waved away the obvious economic problems. I don’t know how many times I encountered arguments along the lines of “You Americans are only raising these objections because you don’t want a competitor to the dollar”, which wasn’t the point at all. And sure enough, the Euro has turned into one of the great economic disasters of history, dealing a devastating blow to the very cause of European unity it was supposed to serve. It so happens that some of the economic issues involving Scottish independence are the same: Euro enthusiasts insisted that there would be no problem in creating a unified currency without a unified government, the SNP is insisting that there is no problem with maintaining a unified currency while breaking up the United Kingdom. But there is even less excuse this time around, since we have the Euro experience to enlighten us".
Well, the Euro experience has definitely enlightened us!
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