Blaming Britain

Britain is one of our partners in the European Union. They opted to remain outside the euro. Why? Precisely because they wanted to remain in control of their currency. Ireland opted to join the euro? Why? Because we were too small to have an independent currency and joining with the Germans & French would provide low interest rates and stability.

Well we've got the stability that we wanted. While the American dollar and British pound have been tanking our currency has been holding fairly steady, which means it's been increasing in value against those other two. So, why exactly is Brian Lenihan berating the British when we've got what we wanted?

The pound's losses came as Brian Lenihan, the Irish finance minister, accused the UK authorities of, in effect, devaluing the pound by expanding the UK money supply, action that was causing "immense difficulties" in the Irish economy. "It is a question for all of us in the EU as to the extent to which a competitive devaluation can be used as any kind of weapon," he said.

I honestly cannot believe that there is someone running the Department for Finance, a member of the party that was in power when Maastricht was approved, who didn't realize that this situation was inevitable from the moment we joined the euro and Britain didn't.

Honestly, it's embarrassing. Please Minister, shut up or go.