Courtesy of Mish.
Greek economist Costas Lapavitsas says “The Euro has Already Failed” and it’s “Situation Impossible” for France.
Via translation from La Vanguardia here is the complete interview ….
LV: When I interviewed you for the first time in late 2011, you said that the ECB was not the magic solution to the eurozone crisis. Then in July 2012 Mario Draghi stated “The ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro and believe me, it will be enough.” Do you still believe that the ECB is not the solution?
CL: The ECB is not the solution. What happened in 2011 and 2012 is that the peripheral countries accepted the austerity demanded by Berlin and Brussels. They accepted wage cuts and unemployment. Their economies are headed for a recession. Have stabilized public finances and external deficit has stabilized. The fundamental answer is recession.
LV: Is that what the ECB wanted?
CL: The announcement of Mario Draghi pacified the financial markets but only because recession was accepted by the population in the peripheral countries. The ECB did not solve the crisis in the real economy.
LV: Are we far from a stable eurozone crisis solution?
CL: The ECB stabilized the fiscal deficit and the trade deficit and hence financial markets. But the crisis has become a crisis in the real economy. There is foul growth and impoverishment.
LV: Has the crisis moved from the periphery crisis to other countries?
CL: Yes. The euro crisis has moved to the heart of the eurozone. France and Italy are now facing the same problems as the periphery in 2010 and 2011. The crisis is now in France and Italy.
LV: Is there more inequality now than at the beginning of the crisis?
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