Dear Blogdesk;
Ithaca Hours is a local currency in Ithaca, New York state, with which one can buy, sell, trade, barter, pay rent, etcetera, and there are about 200 known artistically designed local USA currencies currently active. Before the USA Dollar, most currencies in the USA were designed and minted and printed by independent banks for their customers, and even the RC Church minted a "Peter's Pence" coin widely used in the USA. These concepts are not that new. The Federal Reserve is purported to be a quango of sorts, a consortium of commercial banks with an admixture of Federal Reserve officials representing numerous regions encompassing various states and cities. Perhaps the Hanseatic League served as a functioning mercantile model in a more traditional era and this could be a scenario revisited for regional crossborder and inter-port city based economies. People that actually do and create real livelihood may have to be considered although they dont seem to be waiting for thumbtwiddling theoreticians these days. The Rev...

Dear Blogdesk;
FDR purportedly took the USA, off the Fort Knox gold standard back in 1933 and millions wonder why, and whether or not a return to the gold standard should be renewed by Congress. What is the European Central Bank's (ECB) and respective member appointees position on a clearly established gold standard and would the Euro make for great wallpaper and a pneumismatic collectors item? The Rev....

He/she is always a slave who cannot live on little.

The euro was and still is deemed a necessary creation,in order to compete with the American and Asian export trades globally, as well as to counter the overwhelming strength of the American dollar. While the euro is by no means able to achieve these goals for decades to come, it is still a valuable instrument to co-ordinate the EU as a political and economic system headed towards the future. As recently commerated, the 65th anniversary of V-E Day is also an observance of a period of nearly a millenium whereby most of Europe has stabilized peacefully into a system of co-operation and sometimes even consensus. The political and economic weaknesses displayed by and within the EU from its inception, have been openly apparent to the study of international affairs, revealing that this new era in Europe has its own historical process to travel. Europe is still behaving as Europe, which cannot be considered a surprise to any extent. Yet without the euro to cemment the EU, member states would be left with multiple economic arrangements among themselves, fragmented into competing internal economies within Europe of various proportions to each other. This is the reality of the situation at this point in time, leaving the American dollar still as the single most dominant currency of last resort in the world. China first backed the euro as a reserve currency to counter the enormous holdings of US Treasury Bills contained within its foreign reserve currency portfolio. Today, like it or not, China is at least somewhat grateful for the US holdings and is now beginning to make acquistions in the distressed US commercial real estate market as well. The euro is still a young currency with a home in a distinct plurality of economic territories. When the member states begin to share a greater philosphy of individual and collective economic life, the euro will strengthen and progress. With France now a prospective economic canidate for financial assistance on a massive scale, the gap felt to exist in a "two-speed Europe" is rapidly narrowing between larger and smaller member states. The Franco-German Axis of power in Europe is shifting towards Germany taking a more pure political role coupled with its economic strength, which in turn, will return a trans-Atlantic relationship towards the US as a renewed priority in EU foreign policy. The Swiss franc served to unite the political units of cantons and linguistic regions of Switzerland into a concerted nation state, and could be examined by the EU in crafting the euro as a stabilizing influence within its union. In conclusion, it will utimately fall on the US economy, dollar, and foreign policy, to preserve the euro and EU designed to compete against the US for global supremacy in world affairs. Yet the present status quo of American ecomonic and foreign policy influence will more than exceed the end of the 21st century.

How can you assume permanent growth in a world of finite resources?

seems unrealistic

If the Euro is going to be Esc/Delete and the old currencies are going to be Backspace/System-Restore, then the Guilder2010 will be a great program to invest in... Download/Run.

There is NO such thing as "it can't be done". What is the advantage of throwing good money after bad? Disolve the EU/euro and let each country be responsible for it's own actions - good or bad.