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There is little getting away from the financial melt down that used to be Ireland these days, but even for a generous, fun loving, gregarious, party loving nation of around 4 million, which only four years ago was ranked sixth in the EU by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a bailout of around 80€ billion is pretty spectacular. Works out at around 20.000€ person, which is hell of a lot of Guinness!
By comparison a bailout of Spain, which many say may be needed but couldn’t be afforded by the EU as it would cost 420€ billion would be around 10.000€ per person. Half that of the Irish, but still ……. a lot of Rioja!
To take the comparison further that is in effect 5,000 pints of Guinness compared to 5,000 glasses of Rioja.
I thought I would explain it in terms of Guinness and Rioja as I have no doubt they will still be round in years to come, and I am not sure the same can be said about the Euro! Jon Gaunt talking on Bay Radio recently predicted (in fact bet) that by this time next year Spain would be using pesetas again. Jon is also heavily involved in the campaign for a referendum on the EU after successive British Governments have failed to deliver on their promises to give people the option to say whether they want to be in Europe or not. The campaign is to get a referendum to allow people to voice their opinion, not to try and persuade people which way to vote, which I suspect would be a much easier gig these days!
In the UK the Daily Express have started a campaign to get Britain out of Europe, and the BBC recently did a piece on “how” countries could leave the Euro, rather than “why”. Not surprisngly there are huge risks and issues to getting out of the Euro, not least the fact that entry was a well planned, long drawn out, proactive affair, not a reaction to a series of unprecedented events, that would be rushed through against a backdrop of panic and capital flight as people continued to lose faith in the Euro, which would trigger huge transfers of deposits out of the country and wreck an already fragile banking system.
I know all very complicated, but think of it this way ….. if they doubled the price of Guinness would you stick or switch to the Rioja?
Personally the only reason I thought the Euro was a good idea was that it was really convenient when traveling, but as we don’t travel these days (four cats has that effect on you!), I can’t say that I am fussed either way ….. just so long as I can get a nice cool Guinness and full bodied Rioja still!
This article was written for publication in the Sol Times and is sponsored by Bay Connect
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