> If the Germans do nothing at this point the Euro collapse will take down their banks as well.
Agreed, but leaving would be a big blow to their export market. Their best interest would be for the PIGS to stick around as weak as possible (to keep the euro devaluated) but still (mostly) solvent.
> The other incentive as I see it is that this could also be argued as a more politically palatable solution for the ruling party since they have been (rather disingenuously) selling the line that only the Germans were responsible in the run up to the crisis and pulling out of the Euro fits rather neatly into that model of the world.
Maybe, but I'm not seeing a strong push to leave from Germany. And let's not forget that there isn't any opt out procedure from the euro: do other countries have a say?
> I think it is clear that the better solution is more political union in Europe instead of trying to drag the current arrangement through the crisis as-is. We have unfortunately seen a real rise of an "I got mine jack" voting all over the western world and this crisis is really not being dealt with precisely because that philosophy is tied to the right-wing parties that have risen to power (and are now maybe starting to fall) in Europe.
I wholeheartedly agree with every single word of this, my fear is that we European aren't really ready to be that united and we'd all rather die leaving than get hurt to save another country in the "union" and as a result the EU will fail the only way it can: spectacularly.
Agreed, but leaving would be a big blow to their export market. Their best interest would be for the PIGS to stick around as weak as possible (to keep the euro devaluated) but still (mostly) solvent.
> The other incentive as I see it is that this could also be argued as a more politically palatable solution for the ruling party since they have been (rather disingenuously) selling the line that only the Germans were responsible in the run up to the crisis and pulling out of the Euro fits rather neatly into that model of the world.
Maybe, but I'm not seeing a strong push to leave from Germany. And let's not forget that there isn't any opt out procedure from the euro: do other countries have a say?
> I think it is clear that the better solution is more political union in Europe instead of trying to drag the current arrangement through the crisis as-is. We have unfortunately seen a real rise of an "I got mine jack" voting all over the western world and this crisis is really not being dealt with precisely because that philosophy is tied to the right-wing parties that have risen to power (and are now maybe starting to fall) in Europe.
I wholeheartedly agree with every single word of this, my fear is that we European aren't really ready to be that united and we'd all rather die leaving than get hurt to save another country in the "union" and as a result the EU will fail the only way it can: spectacularly.