Some thoughts on Single Currency Unions

I always used to think that being able to tour Europe while never having to exchange my money was a good enough reason to have things such as the Euro. But now having traveled abroad a bit I have come to love that one of my CCs does not charge extra for foreign transactions and that with debit cards I can pull out exactly how much I want for a very marginal fee (both receive the prevailing exchange rate of the day).

In lieu of the European Debt crisis and with non-Euro EU countries apparently doing great, I'm starting to wonder do the pros outweigh the cons in regards to single currencies? Should we be going in the opposite direction? Would Arizona and Massachusetts benefit from different currencies? Probably, though I'm not actually advocating that. What I am saying is that in order for a single currency to work you need to collaborate on everything else; wages, business practices, tax rates, bank regulations, etc. If you can't do that then you should forgo the single currency and focus more on making currencies easier to exchange so as not to confuse the consumer.

Some Thoughts on Federalism and Europe

This hit me when I read the article about the Scottish Elections but it reflects news coming out of Europe over the past couple of months. Despite the opposing viewpoints of a push for more unity among Europe and the same time a push within countries for more local governance they reflect the same need and want for federalism among Europe. But they also expose problems with the way forward:

• As long as each a country's culture is so drastically different from the next (think Greece vs Germany) problems are always going to persist. You can not allow a difference of retirement age by 6 years and expect there not to be serious consequences. Going forward, in order to stop these problems, economic & fiscal policy as well as social welfare goals need to be further alligned. The goals must be identical across the Union and member state's must be held accountable by a central government with teeth. But like in the US each individual states should be allowed leeway in how to implement those goals due to the cultural differences that occur.
• On the other end of the spectrum you see the splintering of states (Scotland, Belgium and distantly the Basque region of Spain). While I applaud the dissolution of powers to local constituencies and governments (something Great Britain has long needed) the assumption of diplomatic and defense responsibilities by such localities would not be advisable. Though if a credible EU diplomatic corp and defense force where to emerge then I would support more drastic dissolution to localities (something on the line of county and big city autonomy in the US) .