Economic and Monetary Union

Once again the world is weathering a financial crisis. But the crisis, this time, is a two-edged sword hitting both sides of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the mass media are focusing on just one aspect of this looming crisis, that which has been created by the subprime loans fiasco in the United States. But a crisis of proportions destined to affect the whole of Europe and ultimately impact the whole world looms across the Atlantic. The core of this crisis emanates from the beating heart of the European Union. On the American side of the Big Pond, as EU watcher Bernard Connolly observes concerning the fallout from the policies of the Fed’s former head, Alan Greenspan, “whatever mistakes Greenspan may have made, he just got it wrong: He didn’t deliberately set up this Greek tragedy” (Telegraph, August 20).