Bernanke takes aim at everything that's wrong with the Eurozone
Ben Bernanke, the blogging former Fed Chair, dives into the debate about the future of the Europe. He spares his counterparts at the ECB and takes aim at politicians and the cult of structural reforms.
"What about the strength of the German economy (and a few others) relative to the rest of the euro zone ... Germany has benefited from having a currency, the euro, with an international value that is significantly weaker than a hypothetical German-only currency would be," he writes.
He says imbalances within the region must be addressed.
Throughout, a surprisingly candid Bernanke takes no prisoners among European politicians but his best point is on growth. If Greece must be responsible for European-imposed austerity, then the flipside of the bargain is that Europe must grow.
"Negotiations over Greece's evidently unsustainable debt burden should be based on explicit assumptions about European growth. If European growth turns out to be weaker than projected, which in turn would make it tougher for Greece to grow, then Greece should be allowed greater leeway after the fact in meeting its fiscal targets," he writes.
