GM Stock Lobster. "How do you unite 15 nations with different backgrounds, who are at different phases of economic growth and sophistication?"
That's the problem in Europe, even bigger than a strong Euro. How do you keep good consensus in managing common affairs in a district, where part of the countries (Italy, France, Portugal and soon Spain) are yelling for lower interest rates, and part of the countries (Finland, Deutschland, Baltic countries) are demanding present or higher rates to slow down the unproportional overheating of the economies and inflation. It has always been said that a strong currency = a strong state, and it worked with USA and Germany a few years ago. Even if you could not compete in product prices, a strong currency drew foreign capital into the country to help the economy and the domestic demand. But usually the foreign currency had something concrete to collaterate or back it. What about now? How big part of the "easy money" flowing now around has true value, if the music stops and chair is to be found. I think something like that is now happening.
I think too that, as you say, dollar is being boycoted very broadly (not only in Arabic countries), and that is very much because of Mr. Bush and his policy. I hate to say but this boycott is directed to him. Not so much for Wall Street guys (they have always friends all over) or housing bubbles (I red somewhere that it is some 7% of USA's GDP). Maybe some foreign funds and banks are angry too when they fell in buying those SIVs and CDs and subs and innovative derivatives - not apparently caring to look what they really were buying.
Maybe when the new president candidates have been found and accepted, the tide begins to turn
AI
