Monday 23 July 2012

And So It Rumbles On...

I haven't done a Eurozone post for a while largely because it consists of soporific repetition, however rumble on it still does:

And:


And:
It all reminds me of this post by the FT in 2010 regarding the sterling devaluation crisis in the 1960's:
To some who went through the unsuccessful struggle from 1961 to 1967 to stave off sterling devaluation, the series of crises surrounding the euro will be drearily familiar. First there is a surprise loss of confidence. Then there is a series of rescue operations, usually taking the form of international guarantees of one kind or another. These are backed up by domestic restrictive measures leading to a domestic recession of sorts. In time the financial pressures ease and near-normality is seen to return. But then, when few are looking, there is another crisis, another set of international rescues and another set of domestic restrictions. And so on. Eventually the struggle is abandoned, and political and financial leaders work to pick up the pieces.

During the period when sterling devaluation was known as “the great unmentionable” a tiny band of Treasury officials kept “a war book” on how to deal with the unmentionable if it nevertheless happened. Harold Wilson, the prime minister, ordered that the “war book” be physically burned, which it was of course not. It is difficult to believe that such a manual does not exist in Athens, Frankfurt and perhaps other European centres.
Can we put it out of its misery yet...?

2 comments:

  1. Ah yes I remember it well, the Wilson "pound in your pocket"

    BTW did you know that the £ = a shilling. What you could buy in 1970 for 1 shilling will cost you 20 shillings today.

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  2. @Anoneumouse Cheers, shillings are a bit before my time ;-)

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