Germany’s Currency Nostalgia Is Badly Off the Mark

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Let’s hope Germany thinks hardabout George Soros’s proposal that it should lead the eurosystem or leave it. The more carefully Germans study thischoice, the more eager they will be to make the present systemwork.

Many German voters are understandably sick of their euroadventure. The next phase of crisis management, following theEuropean Central Bank’s promise last week to buy the bonds ofstruggling economies, will demand new fiscal outlays from Germantaxpayers and expose them to greater risk of losses later. Theirgrowing resentment of Greece, Ireland and Portugal -- and soonSpain and Italy, whose appetite for assistance is vastly bigger-- calls into doubt Europe’s efforts to stem the crisis andthreatens the euro’s viability.