Here’s the kernel of the extract from Joseph Stiglitz’s new book posted at The Guardian:
On both sides of the Channel, politics should be directed at understanding the underlying sources of anger; how, in a democracy, the political establishment could have done so little to address the concerns of so many citizens, and figuring out how to do that now: to create within each country, and through cross-border arrangements, a new, more democratic Europe, which sees its goal as improving the wellbeing of ordinary citizens. This can’t be done with the neoliberal ideology that has prevailed for a third of a century and played such an important role in the construction of the euro. And it won’t be done if we confuse ends with means – the euro is not an end in itself, but a means, which, if well managed, might bring greater shared prosperity, but, if not well managed, will lead to lower standards of living for many or possibly the majority of citizens.
and the euro doesn’t do that.
I don’t think that Dr. Stiglitz understands the purposes of the European Union and the euro. The purpose of the European Union was to open markets for German manufacturers and provide subsidies for French farmers. The purpose of the euro was to facilitate those two goals. Poking a stick in the Americans’ collective eye was a plus.
Both are working as designed.
Working as designed, yes, just as US economic policies have been….but I suspect the designers had in mind that the policies would also prop up enough economic growth to keep the masses from revolting. This was mostly magical thinking beyond the short term, along the lines of a perpetual motion machine. I think many of them are starting to realize this and panic is setting in.