[wheels]

That's false. I'll give you a very easy example of how it's benefited me (and many, many Germans):

I sell SaaS software on a subscription basis to customers all over the world. They pay for our service in USD, which is then converted to EUR when I get paid from the company.

If the Euro was stronger, which it would be if it were only the currency for Germany, I'd get less Euro when that conversion happened, and I'd have less local currency for things like rent, groceries, etc. The Euro being artificially depressed against USD absolutely benefits anyone who either personally or via their company exports products, including stuff like SaaS. Since exports are the backbone of the German economy, it has a very concrete benefit to most Germans. Greece's economic problems literally mean I get more cash.

[martinlaz]

> If the Euro was stronger, which it would be if it were only the currency for Germany, I'd get less Euro when that conversion happened, and I'd have less local currency for things like rent, groceries, etc.

But wouldn't you be able to still buy exactly the same stuff with less (but stronger) Euros?

[wheels]

No. My rent won't go down in Euro just because the Euro is strong. The strength or weakness of a currency mostly dictates how it interacts with goods and services from outside of its currency zone. So I might be able to buy more consumer electronics (which mostly aren't produced in Germany) with a strong Euro, but rent, milk, bread, which are internal to Germany, will stay approximately the same in their Euro denomination.

This is true in most places without particularly volatile currencies, though in countries that do have very volatile currencies, things like rent have historically been specified in stable currencies like US Dollars, Deutsche Mark or Euro.

[martinlaz]

The point is that these extra Euros, if they were any significant amount, in the local market would drive the demand for goods up, along with their prices. And then we'd be buying the same amount of stuff, just more expensive.

Surely things like rent take longer to reflect an increased demand but they do eventually catch up.

[raxxorrax]

That is by far not the average situation. That would also mean that wages would increase when the Euro was introduced.