Go, euro - go!

Once again, the euro is the topic of political and economical debates. There is no doubt, the subject is being discussed on a large scale, the more so as the Danish have only marginally outvoted the introduction of the euro in their country.

In our last information letter we have referred to the latest inflation risks and hidden risks for investors. With this information letter we also want to give a vote – perhaps in contrast to, but not contrary to what has been written in the last letter. We now want to call for a campaign.

A campaign called “pro euro” or “go euro, go” – one could also say: “euro – jack up!”

Because: the euro is there and it will also come into our purses – that is for sure. Whether it is going to be in more than eleven EU-countries remains to be seen, but at least it pulls together eleven countries to a common monetary policy.

It is more than natural that this “child” needs to learn how to walk at first. It is not its fault that its legs are much thinner than originally predicated, but it is the fault of those who expect the baby to do long jumps and a running performance, which it obviously cannot do yet.

One could also say: it has been sent into the box ring, the combatants are busily boxing at it but it hasn’t learned yet to stand on solid ground.

So far so good. The consequences are gnawing at all of us more or less; one couldn’t say that the rising dollar is bringing us an economic boom, the oil price hurts, but at least the orders from the dollar area bring more money into the country and also contribute a little to creating jobs.

It seems like our chancellor also looked at it from a pragmatic viewpoint, since he recently mentioned that the weak euro may be useful to the economic situation here, but of course he missed out on the part that we have to talk about a psychological weakness here, which becomes even worse by such statements: the euro cannot just be bedded into the people’s heads. Somehow it is there but it isn’t home anywhere yet. Like an unwanted child, first procreated, then born and now halfway loved and halfway pushed around – what to do with the bantling, one could say.

Perhaps the time has come for the European citizen to simply take on the unwanted baby (for it will certainly not disappear again) and give it some thorough psychological support. Why not create a campaign for the euro? Go, euro – go!, wouldn’t that be a motto for an upcoming, stronger-growing euro?

No matter under what circumstances it has been procreated and born – why should one not just make the best out of it? Especially start thinking in a way which doesn’t condemn the euro, but to view it positively.

After all there are some profits shown – also if we have been pointing out some problems and disadvantages in our last information letter, we should not forget the advantages that are there:

• The euro area will be the second-strongest currency area after the dollar
• The common currency within Europe simplifies goods transfers and order processing
• Once banks finally do no longer request higher fees for euro transfers into other euro countries, also the inner-European monetary transactions will be facilitated a great deal and will hopefully become faster and cheaper
• The internet will contribute to the international goods exchange, service providing and money becoming faster and that more orders will be made
• Those countries which still flinch from taking on the euro will start seeing its advantages more and more; they simply belong to those who only want to notice the baby once it gets out of puberty
• A strong European Central Bank will make the financing domicile Frankfurt into the second largest corridors of financing in the world (at least we hope so optimistically; London will have a different opinion to this…)
• … certainly there are several more which will now come to view in practice of the euro.

No doubt, these are concrete advantages – we can even disregard the much cited comfortable vacation in the euro land, as a comparison. By having a common currency it will also become easier to acquire real estates in different euro countries; also price comparisons will become much faster and goods can be bought via the internet.

The international power of the euro primarily depends on how far we ourselves believe in the success of the new currency. So why only see the negative points like a defeatist and not even give the positive a chance? Sure, the euro might fall some more compared to the dollar. All right, so one needs to take the chance – and attract foreign money by very good products. The yen is overrated (based on our opinion); one can take this chance and, for instance, use the extremely low interest rate of the yen (below 2%) for a funding by foreign currency. The gained 4,5% as compared to a DM-financing can then be used for the amortization much better, right?

So viewed like this, the euro has quite some good chances and real, tangible advantages. And if it actually comes into our pockets as cash in one and a half years then we can also treat it the way we used to treat the D-mark – without bemoaning the loss of the good old currency: economically, smart and anticipatory, perhaps turn every coin twice in tougher times – or every euro. And that the penny is then called cent, well, that’s a matter of taste and could have been solved in a less unimaginative manner – on the other hand we have gotten used to the fact that the once called “electronic brain” (50es!) is called computer today.

A campaign for the euro could actually be this simple. We all have already had labels for all kind of things. T-shirts, stickers on cars, events or happenings. Why don’t some enterprises go on the offensive with some smart “pro-euro”-stickers? Or some very own ideas?

Why leave it all to the pessimistically writing newspapers and journals? Why not form a counterbalance, why not create a movement for the euro?

We have the euro, so let us just simply go on the offensive and accept it as “our baby”. Those who have created it have resigned. Those who inherited it now live with the challenge to yet make it into a success.

Also the D-mark didn’t turn into something overnight which it became later on. It became it by concrete accomplishments, “made in Germany” – by diligent reconstruction works after the war, by engaged, often tough commitment and by the international trust into German quality. Let us now make the German quality into European quality, let us show the world that there is such a quality feature as “made in Europe” – and let us make the euro become the monetary hallmark of Europe!

Others won’t do it for Europe. Europe has to take the chance itself, but it starts with each single one of us.

So: go, euro – go!

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