Polish zloty

Mike Lane wrote:
Wolfgang Schwanke wrote on May 4, 2010:

Mike Lane wrote in
dia.com:

When Greece joined 10 years ago they claimed their inflation was below
3%, or whatever the criterion was. Even to an occasional visitor like
myself this was palpably untrue - how the EU economists just accepted
it, I still fail to understand.
I also don't understand why the Greeks accepted it. The "one size fits
all" Euro is not just a bad idea for us, it's also bad for them. The
"weak" currencies of Greece, Portugal etc. were just what they needed:
They could erode away their national debts through inflation, at the
same time it made their exports and their tourism industries cheap. The
wealthy Greeks were forced to invest into housing which caused the real
estate boom in the touristy parts of the country. The Euro changed all
that, now these countries are "expensive", thus they can't export as
much as they used to and tourism has gone down. They can't inflate away
their debts, living standards there have gone down, and the housing
boom has stopped. The Euro is a political project for a dubious goal,
economically it makes no sense for anyone.


Some Greeks may see it like that now but I don't think many did when they
originally joined. I think the perception was that adopting a strong currency
would somehow transform the country from third world to modern European. The
reality of course was hugely different

In the days of the Drachma Greeks that I met despised their own currency, and
the way it was devalued every few years. I remember in those days
accidentally dropping a handful of coins on the floor in a shop. The
shop-keeper laughed saying "Leave them - they're rubbish anyway". Joining the
Euro-Zone was a popular move then.

They correctly believed that Germany would prop up their economy.

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
Mike Lane wrote in
dia.com:

When Greece joined 10 years ago they claimed their inflation was below
3%, or whatever the criterion was. Even to an occasional visitor like
myself this was palpably untrue - how the EU economists just accepted
it, I still fail to understand.

I also don't understand why the Greeks accepted it. The "one size fits
all" Euro is not just a bad idea for us, it's also bad for them. The
"weak" currencies of Greece, Portugal etc. were just what they needed:
They could erode away their national debts through inflation, at the
same time it made their exports and their tourism industries cheap. The
wealthy Greeks were forced to invest into housing which caused the real
estate boom in the touristy parts of the country. The Euro changed all
that, now these countries are "expensive", thus they can't export as
much as they used to and tourism has gone down. They can't inflate away
their debts, living standards there have gone down, and the housing
boom has stopped. The Euro is a political project for a dubious goal,
economically it makes no sense for anyone.

Well, for manufacturing industry it has a huge advantage in that it
enables suppliers and manufacturers to make cross-border deals in a
single currency without having to be concerned about a change in the
exchange rate.
The downside is that the low interest rates created an artificial
housing boom in countries like Spain, which now has something like 1
million new housing units standing empty.

T.

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
Tom P wrote in
:

Well, for manufacturing industry it has a huge advantage in that it
enables suppliers and manufacturers to make cross-border deals in a
single currency without having to be concerned about a change in the
exchange rate.

They've managed for decades with different currencies. Is that shallow
advantage worth risking to bankrupt your potential customer, or
ultimately yourself?


In the past some companies went bankrupt because the exchange rate
changed, after they had committed to a large contract.

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
Martin wrote
in :

Well, for manufacturing industry it has a huge advantage in that it
enables suppliers and manufacturers to make cross-border deals in a
single currency without having to be concerned about a change in the
exchange rate.
They've managed for decades with different currencies. Is that shallow
advantage worth risking to bankrupt your potential customer, or
ultimately yourself?

In the past some companies went bankrupt because the exchange rate
changed, after they had committed to a large contract.

Alright then, but you don't need a common currency with all its now
very evident disadvantages to avoid that problem. Currencies can be
pegged against each other, with any desired degree of flexibility, see
Bretton Woods or the previous EEC currency system which wikipedia tells
me was called "Snake in a Tunnel" in English. If the system fails, or
if one of the members decides it wants to leave, no problem at all,
just dissolve it or let the member leave. Can be done without any harm,
since the original currencies still exist and national sovereignty is
never compromised.


The only thing wrong with a common currency was that the membership
rules weren't enforced. Federalists were in too much of a hurry.
The guilder was pegged to the Dmark, but I still had to pay currency
conversion charges every time I bought and sold Dmarks. I can now
transfer EUR10 to a German account without paying charges of EUR7,50 to
my bank.

On 2010-05-02, James Silverton wrote:
Jean wrote on Sun, 2 May 2010 14:53:52 -0500:


If I remember correctly, it would be "zl" if you mean the
price tag on an article.

Exactly! That's what I wanted to know!

But why? If you see an item marked 12.50, what other than zloty could
it be?

Jesper wrote on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:43:36 +0000 (UTC):

On 2010-05-02, James Silverton
wrote:
Jean wrote on Sun, 2 May 2010 14:53:52 -0500:

If I remember correctly, it would be "zl" if you mean the
price tag on an article.

Exactly! That's what I wanted to know!

But why? If you see an item marked 12.50, what other than zloty could
it be?

That's an "answer" but not to the question of a while ago for simple
information on the *Polish* abbreviation for "zloty" because the
unlikely "PLN" was used by currency exchanges like Oanda.com. To tell
the truth, I don't know if the Poles now use zloties or euros :-)

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Duh

"James Silverton" a écrit dans le message de
groupe de discussion : ...
Jesper wrote on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:43:36 +0000 (UTC):

On 2010-05-02, James Silverton
wrote:
Jean wrote on Sun, 2 May 2010 14:53:52 -0500:

If I remember correctly, it would be "zl" if you mean the
price tag on an article.

Exactly! That's what I wanted to know!

But why? If you see an item marked 12.50, what other than zloty could
it be?

That's an "answer" but not to the question of a while ago for simple
information on the *Polish* abbreviation for "zloty" because the unlikely
"PLN" was used by currency exchanges like Oanda.com. To tell the truth, I
don't know if the Poles now use zloties or euros :-)

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not