LETTER: Ranting about European monetary union
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From Mr Andrea Casalotti
Sir: Hamish McRae's attack on European monetary union rests on the fallacy that governments can fine-tune the economy by fiscal and monetary policies. The best a government can do is give a simple inflation rule to an independent central bank, and then work on decreasing the inefficiencies in the system. That is what EMU is attempting to do: an independent central bank and the elimination of the inefficiency of 14 separate currencies.
If a region is suffering economically, lowering the world prices of its products (by devaluation, for instance) is rarely going to work. It is by increasing the quality and uniqueness of its output that prosperity will be found. Look at the difference in quality of manufactures from a strong currency country like Germany and those from a weak currency country like Britain.
The debate in Germany over economic performance is not about the strength of the mark but about the loss of innovation. Germans know that future growth is guaranteed not by making the same products cheaper but by making them better. Britain will not stop its century old decline until it understands this.
Yours sincerely,
Andrea Casalotti
London, NW1
21 December
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
0Comments