Euro Relief
The support package put together by the Euro finance ministers has brought cheer to the markets. There will be no immediate defaults. However certain problems remain to be solved. Not least is a better degree of economic control over Euro countries which must have authority, even if it falls short of a Federal Government, which is what in the end is needed for those in the Euro. If this is a step too far some kind of federal finance executive with teeth as well a cash will be needed.
The source of the problems in the beginning, spending way above income, remains in those countries in trouble and the severity of the measures they have to take to get their books balanced may cause pain beyond the tolerance of populations with a less stoic character than the Irish, whose efforts to put their economy in order are in many ways heroic. We must include ourselves in the unknown category because as yet our population has not been told what sacrifices they will have to make.
At present we sit in the opaque reality of a country without a functional government. When in the next few hours or days a new government of whatever mixture takes power and brings reality into a sharp bright focus, we may not like what we see. We may not like it at all.
That is why all those engaged in negotiations to fashion a viable government, whilst sparing and emolient in the few comments they make, have about them an unusual grimness. This is because reality is dawning upon them.