Euro Stuff

Just a quick note, mostly to self. You can't separate the fiscal from the financial. Given the differences, it's easy to see how the Europeans permitted the creation of a sovereign monetary union, without sovereign fiscal unity. Financial decisions are strategic, amoral, and are generally a lot of fun. Fiscal decisions are quotidian and hit at the moral fiber of the people and leaders. Will you set up a system that requires you to pay the bills? Or, will you live in pretend land where interest rate analysis substitutes for common sense. Fiscal decisions are painful.