Really? The current account figures of the last decade show that France is not part of what you call the “eurozone core” group. At best, its part of a “close periphery” group with Belgium and some others.

Among the 17, the ones running ever-larger current-account surpluses are Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg. Only 5.

1.The FED operates in a system with a federal republic and a central treasury and a single currency. The ECB operates in a monetary union with a single currency that is composed of individual sovereign nations and has no central treasury.
2.The central government in the US has the legislative authority to tax and to apportion funds. There is no such corresponding authority above the individual sovereigns within Europe.
3.The Fed loans to the US Treasury unconditionally. By “unconditionally,” I mean that it is the Treasury that decides how to apportion and account for the funds, not the Fed.
4.The Fed operates in a system which issues bonds at its own level – the national level. There are no such equivalent bonds in Europe at the supranational level of the ECB.

Obviously, these are critically important differences. When the Fed was established, institutions were firmly in place to arbitrate fiscal policy at the national level. National bonds were in place so that the Fed supports the sovereign on its own level, as opposed to from a level above it. The immense danger in having the ECB take on the role of the Fed derives from the fact that none of these institutions or instruments exist in Europe at the ECB’s level. Hence, the ECB would not operate at the level of the countries it lends to, it would operate from a higher level, a supranational level. While the Fed’s role as lender of last resort may be purely that, the ECB would have a critical vacuum to fill in a similar role. It would the ECB’s decision as to who it lent to and, most critically, under what conditions. In the absence of a central fiscal authority at the European level, the ECB would be the institution to dictate conditions for receiving its funds. Those conditions could include debt/GDP targets, deficit reduction targets, enforced austerity measures, labor market measures, etc. In fact, such demands have already been made, the latest occasion being a letter from Trichet to Italy in late September demanding certain actions. Given the lack of a supranational Eurobond, the ECB would also have the power to decide whose bonds it would purchase and whose it would sell. In short, the ECB would become the central government of Europe, and an unelected and opaque one at that.

The take away point: The Fed is a monetary authority, while the ECB as LOLR to sovereigns would be both a fiscal and a monetary one. While the Fed may be the USA’s lender of last resort, the ECB would be Europe’s paymaster/treasurer.

Whether the elected leaders of European nations will allow their citizenry to be subjugated to such a powerful unelected bureaucracy, and whether the citizens will stand for it, remains to be seen….

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes it’s laws”
-Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”
-James A. Garfield, President of the United States

What you talk about is the zone. Initially it was created to facilitate the flow of goods and people and that was accomplished by the mid-eighties. Then the politicians decided it would be beneficial (to them) to bring in as many countries as possible. The books were cooked and everyone knew it. But the bigger the EU, the bigger the potential corruption and the more power the politicians at the top had. Immediately on accession to the Euro, prices rose by about 20% (although the politicians said the contrary.)The cost of living in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Greece, etc. which had been inexpensive and drew tourists like flies, became comparable to costs in the PIIGS countries. The public suffered in those countries, but the corruption thrived. The 1% got richer. The 99% got poorer – BECAUSE they were told they could spend beyond their means – which they did and those who governed did on a national level for which everyone is now paying.

The Politicians got filthy rich out of the EU and in no real case did that happen to the general public which just put it on their newly found credit cards. The United States of Europe’ downfall is just as tragic as the United States of America’s diminishing. They have both collapsed because their leadership has collapsed!!!

But the symptoms did not cause the cancer!

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Econ omy/MK01Dj01.html

Let P equal the US population. Current estimate: P = 312,596,174 (http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock .html).

Let M equal the maximum number of subprime mortgages ever issued. Liberally estimate M as equal to P/2.

Let T equal one trillion. Conservatively, assume that “trillions” refers to two trillion (2T).

Compare 2T to M = P/2 as a ratio:

2T/M = 2T/(P/2)= 4T/P = 12,796 (in significant figures).

Notes –

Let D equal an estimate of the current amount (in USD) of all mortgage debt in the US. Rounded up, D = 13.6 T USD at present (http://www.usdebtclock.org/). Thus,

D/M = D/(P/2) = 2D/P = 43,507 USD,

which is an estimate of the average outstanding debt per mortgage in the USA. There are surely fewer than P/2 mortgages, so this figure must be an underestimate, but cannot be in error by more than an order of magnitude unless the number of mortgages is actually P/20 or fewer.

One million = 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000,000/1,000,000.
One trillion = 1,000,000,000,000 = 1,000,000*1,000,000.

The problem with this approach is that “recycled debt” (i.e. its flip-side credit) is NOT money on its own terms.

Thus, it has a multiplier effect when the economy is expanding, but when the economy contracts it exacerbates the economic problems.

Thus, feeding more “recycled debt” into the eurozone crisis will only exacerbate the crisis.

For an excellent article on the concept of what is money, how the concept has changed to include debt, and how the excess credit based on this debt has created this crisis see http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Econ omy/MK01Dj01.html

Money and the eurozone crisis
Commentary and weekly watch by Doug Noland