Take That Trichet!!!!

[orange_trad]

Quote from Ivanovich:

My aunt lives in Paris (Chaville) and she says the French are pissed off at the high Euro and the ECB. She claims that not only is inflation through the roof, but the strong currency and higher rates have essentially destroyed the French ability to grow their economy by the same rate as the inflationary pressures.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree - but that is her (and those she knows) view.

No offence, there are so many things wrong with your aunt's views, I can't even list them all.

I readily admit it is a very popular view in Europe to blame the euro for everything. It is there since retailers raised their prices by an inordinate amount when shifting from francs/lire/mark/etc. to euro. The funny thing is these people don't realize that if there will be a shift back to the old currencies, then the same inordinate one time price hike will take place. Plus can these people remember what the average yearly inflation rate was for the franc or the lire? And don't count the last years (since they introduced the xeu), because everything was already fixed and kept within a very narrow range.

But it is an uphill battle against demagogy. Can someone tell me what the link between a more expensive cart of milk in France and the higher euro is? I just fail to see it.