Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Eleven years ago, economic
historian Niall Ferguson and I marked the euro’s birth with
a Foreign Affairs article titled “The Degeneration of EMU.” We
argued that absent centralized fiscal policy, euro-zone
countries would fight over how much money the European Central
Bank should print to help pay their bills. We gave the euro a
decade.
Tragically, we may end up close to the mark. The euro could
collapse this fall unless the ECB commits to printing every last
euro needed to keep Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain and
Lord knows who else (think Belgium and France) afloat. That’s a
tall order.
