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by J0-onas 4004 days ago
German scource in which the president of the ifo institute says that the Grexit is the best alternative for all involved parties. I heard him speak at talkshows and while his argumentation is a bit harsh, it made sense when I heard it.

Fact is, no one can prove that his stategy is the best alternative.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/eurokrise/griechenland...
1 comments
chinathrow 4004 days ago
The billion dollar question is, if the Grexit will be followed by Portexit, Spexit and Italexit at some point in the future.

My crystal ball says, if that's going to happen, the EU or at least the Euro will be toast.

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secfirstmd 4004 days ago
As an Irish man, it makes me kind of proud that we have pulled ourself out of the mess enough to be rarely mentioned in such lists any more! We have a lot of problems, including a stupid housing market once again, high debts and exposure because of our export dependance - but i would sure rather be in our position than Greece's.
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gizmo 4004 days ago
Ireland's is doing undeniably better than Greece. The numbers are still pretty grim though:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/ireland-recovers...

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joosters 4004 days ago
It's really not that clear that Ireland really has pulled itself out of its mess yet...
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derriz 4004 days ago
It pretty much is clear.

And it proves Krugman wrong so I guess since that 2 year old article with its disingenuous graph (sneakily shifting the y-axis to make the up tick look insignificant), he'll never mention Ireland again.

Irish GDP grew 4.8% last year - one of the highest in the EU. Unemployment is 30/40% less than peak (although still high at 9.5% but it's falling). The government deficit is falling faster than expected. So despite the fact that apparently "austerity doesn't work", it did for Ireland (and it looks like it's starting to work for Spain and maybe even Portugal and Italy).

Here are some more up-to-date economic numbers: http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015/0312/686549-cso-gdp-gro...

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walshemj 4004 days ago
I remember the economics editor of the Guardian saying at the time of the euro launch "a bad idea who's time has come"
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elorant 4004 days ago
If Italy defaults then all hell breaks loose.
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