I doubt it, people know we aren't in the euro and aren't directly exposed to the Greek problem.
But people also see this as a demonstration of the problems with the EU. As someone who would like to eventually see a federal EU, this whole situation has been exasperating because it has driven a lot of really pro-EU people I know to question whether the EU as whole ought to even survive if it doesn't reform after this.
Why do you want a federal Europe?
I'm deeply opposed to the idea on many fronts but am genuinely interested in the opposite view.
Me thinks even the Greeks would not have too much problem putting the German code on their new notes. Of course this would be interpreted as a declaration of war by the eu so it would not be wise.
In the early 20th century there was a high-profile case in Portugal, where a forger managed to convice Waterlow and Sons (a currency printer in the UK, since bought by De La Rue and currently one of the Euro printers) to print batches of portuguese notes. These were, of course, indistinguishable from real notes. The scheme ultimately failed when a mistake caused the printing of duplicate serial numbers already ordere…
This is a bit different in that Greece has control over a real printing press. While it would be unlikely to be kept hidden, it should be possible for the Greek printers to avoid overlapping serials numbers.
In practice they could only start their own “unauthorised” printing if it was kept secret since if it leaked the ECB would just issue new notes. This would likely be highly disruptive to the ECB as it was to Portugal.
"True and honest"? Are we reading the same article? He sounds like a bitter extremist who doesn't know how to control himself in order to reach a certain goal, but instead like either a petulant child or an autistic person (depending on the day of the week, it seems) can only repeat 'the Greeks voted for no extra cuts yet stay in the Euro so we should get it' (no shit? and I'd like a pony) and 'my economics paper say…
I think you're missing a tremendous amount of context in this observation. Varoufakis is speaking a close approximation of the truth in this situation. The point is that the Euro as a union is an economic disaster: Capitulating to the German electorate because they're bigger/richer is not much of a union, it's hegemony. The USA doesn't let Alabama and Arkansas rot if Californians would prefer it that way, it has auto…
a) there is no 'capitulating to the German electorate'; b) the 'aspiration' of the EU is not to become a United States of Europe. I can't be bothered to go into the details, because this is EU law 101, but just the suggestion that European countries would somehow aspire to a federal model is laughable and shows 0 knowledge of the history and institutions of the EU.
Never had this been true in history. Bankruptcy and debt forgiveness have happened regularly through history. And if those don't happen, usually revolution or war is a consequence.
It is true, though. Bankruptcy (or its polite cousin "debt forgiveness") happens when the money tap gets turned off. If you want the tap to keep running, you have to be able to compromise with the guys at the source and at least pretend to care about repaying it.
I agree with this in individual cases.
But we are talking about an economic union among states where the biggest state is quick to socialize banking losses among the poorer states, and makes it a morality play about "Those dirty Southerners".
That's a pattern that doesn't end well unless someone is smart enough to hit the partial reset button.
I think you're missing a tremendous amount of context in this observation. Varoufakis is speaking a close approximation of the truth in this situation. The point is that the Euro as a union is an economic disaster: Capitulating to the German electorate because they're bigger/richer is not much of a union, it's hegemony. The USA doesn't let Alabama and Arkansas rot if Californians would prefer it that way, it has auto…
a) there is no 'capitulating to the German electorate'; b) the 'aspiration' of the EU is not to become a United States of Europe. I can't be bothered to go into the details, because this is EU law 101, but just the suggestion that European countries would somehow aspire to a federal model is laughable and shows 0 knowledge of the history and institutions of the EU.
And this is the illusion that's at the heart of The EU, that EU law can somehow contort social and economic systems to work in contradictory ways. It's a confederation - all members have given up some sovereignty. Except a badly design currency union and a hegemonic leadership out of Germany doesn't make economic sense when crises hit.