Falling like flies? Like three flies, perhaps. And two or three more staggering. But it does seem to be true that countries that drew on wealthier countries' credit are now in dire need of those wealthy countries' benevolence to repay the debts they ran up. Where, now, the Celtic Tiger? Behold the Celtic Leech!

But those countries knew what they were doing: wealthy France, Germany, Austria and Italy got into bed with the poorer nations, hoping that, through monetary discipline and economic growth, everyone would benefit. A grand and noble idea. But one that was bound to fail while each nation state ran its own economy and monetary policy, because politicians being politicians - corrupt and clueless - managed those economies and policies in the only way politicians can ... in the way that would (a) serve the particular interests of the truly powerful sectors within each country, and (b) would appeal to parochial views of the majority of voters. Up to now, the Euro's status has been built on the fact that it is the successor to the Deutschmark, which was a remarkably strong currency, managed according to strict prudential principles. But, in my view (for what it's worth) the Euro will never be reliably strong and stable until all of its participants unite their economy and take away nations' powers to make their own fiscal decisions, and manage the currency as strictly as the Mark was.

The striking difference between the Eurozone and the USA is that the US dollar is managed at the federal level (is that the right way of saying it?): one fiscal policy from Alaska to Florida. OK, it can be mismanaged, but up to the time of writing, this has not reached disastrous levels at any time in its 200+ year history. The Euro, little more than 10 years old, faces collapse, according to some commentators.

In the USA, the dollar faces another bout of "Quantitative Easing" (why I bothered to use quotation marks eludes me), but QE - or QE3 as I've heard the next round is to be called - is simply deliberate inflation to reduce the burden of national debt. The extra dollars in circulation will, initially at least, encourage growth in the US economy and all states will participate in that growth to a greater or lesser extent, just like when the agricultural South benefited from the industrial strength of the North after the Civil War was ended

Maybe the Euro will be able to benefit from the dollar's devaluation somehow.

Sterling is no longer the powerful currency it once was, and the old Sterling Zone no longer exists. There is no reason other than misplaced sentiment for its continued survival, and I suggest that the UK should join the Eurozone as soon as possible, to provide another powerful economy that can bolster the currency's strength PROVIDED ALWAYS (as the lawyers would say) that the whole Eurozone economy is united in all relevant ways - taxation, interest, exchange rates etc - within a short and rigid timescale. Thus the EU can progress towards its goal of peaceful harmony and prosperity and the currency will take its rightful place as the world's principal reserve currency.

Until it is overtaken by the yuan, of course!
.
The alternative is that European economies will falter and fall apart. We will then be in the same situation as in the 1930s, giving rise to political extremism and nationalism ... and we all know where that led to. The European Union will have failed in its primary purpose, and the Euro, like the Confederate dollar, will be a footnote in history: a sad reminder of the time when an idea died.