Eurozone Crisis: Between Meurons and Zombies
Europe’s financial-existential crisis has been intensified at every stage by the incomprehension and misjudgment of European authorities, says Krzysztof Rybinski.
Imagine a country or a city ruled by morons and populated by zombies. Would you feel safe; would your family feel secure; would you like your kids to grow up in such a neighbourhood?
Welcome to the Eurozone, homeland of what I shall call meurons (euro-morons) and zombie-bankers. The zombies, whom I identified at an early stage of the crisis, are still around (see “There is no zombie free lunch”, 19 March 2009 ). Now meet the meurons. A meuron is someone who, when he or she identifies a problem, does all the wrong things; who a while later screams that the problem has got bigger, only to repeat the mistakes; then, when things have turned even more sour, continues to pursue the same error-strewn course.
In the Eurozone’s implosion, there have to date been six degrees of repetition. The meurons deserve by now to be called mega-meurons. Let me explain how mega-meurons were born, by looking briefly at each of the six stages.