Are there precedents to the situation that Japan, Italy and Greece are in?

[piezoe]

For the weaker Eurozone countries they continue to gradually improve as most have done until the next financial crisis. At which point Germany and France either see it in their best interest to bail them out and they get bailed out, or they don't and they leave the Eurozone and their currency devalues and it's a self-correcting problem which is as it has been for most of the rest of history. Much of the weak Eurozone countries issues stem from the artificial construct of the Eurozone and the fact that language and other barriers mean that labor doesn't freely flow while capital does. Really a structural problem with the entire concept, but as long as the benefits for the richer countries outweigh the downsides they'll make it work and when it no longer does they'll break up. The debacle of Brexit is probably giving everyone some pause now though, especially given it didn't even involve the common currency (or Schengen).

I largely agree. I would not have chosen "artificial construct" to describe the Eurozone, but I'm not sure of a better word . Another problem as I see it, and as Soros sees it, is that the eurozone monitary union is incomplete. It lacks the Eurobond which would be necessary to have truely unified monetary zone. They don't seem quite ready to accept a Mississippi (Greece) suckling at California's (Germany's) Teat.

We still can't get it through our heads that pre 1971 constraints are gone. And some governments are still trying to fix a failing economy with austerity. But of course that's an oversimplification. Japan is fine because of their productivity. Greece is not fine because of Germany. Brexit is a bad idea. The U.S. is fine until everyone else wakes up and realizes that the only reason now to keep the dollar as the reserve currency is because of tradition and inertia.