The Big Day

Today is the big day. I, like tens of millions of people around the world, will spend the evening ( in Europe) watching President Obama´s every move and every word.

In the current world context and the bad news we get on a daily basis, we have to count on our leaders, and as I have written before, expectations are high regarding Obama´s capacity to steer us out of the current mess.

Since Ronald Reagan´s Inauguration expectations have not been as high. I hope we won’t be disappointed. I don’t think the US and the rest of the world could take it.

But, back home, we now we are back to thinking that maybe our money is not so safe in the bank. States are guaranteeing deposits, but now we learn that a number of European States would actually need to leave the Euro to be able to become competitive again, before any one of them defaults.

Can States default? They certainly have done so in the past. Some more than once under the same ruler. So are Ireland, Greece, Spain, etc any safer than those other countries? If so, why?

And we see that some leaders still believe that a country can spend its way out of a recession. Since when has this worked? I have not found a single example of this. I have, however, found a few of exactly the opposite, during the crisis of the 70s. Ask the British Labour Party for instance.

What has happened to a sound monetary policy and a responsible fiscal policy? Can they be maintained in a Euro zone in which internal differences are still so high?

I still remember ( it was only ten years ago after all) how proud I was when, on January 1^st early, I took my three children to line up at the bank ( yes they were open on that day!) to exchange their savings into Euros. Is it possible that all this will end being a bad dream?

And yet, if we dedicate ourselves to party and to live like rich people, someone, someday, is going to present us with the bill. And we will have to pay for it. We, or worse still, our children, those that stood in line to exchange their money into Euros.