Quantitative Easing (which used to be called deficit monetization) is justified – in this clip – by ECB president Jean Claude Trichet. Monetary policy works…. eventually, and when it does it tends to result in high levels of inflation.
Some people said the Euro wouldn’t last a decade, for our part, we hope that they are proven to be wrong, the will of society is a very powerful incentive and can be the difference between what should happen in theory and what actually occurs, for that reason I think the Euro will pull through but there will need to be some serious changes made in the way that the Eurozone manages itself.
But the Euro is a fiat currency. It has no intrinsic value, nothing tangible backs it up. Like all fiat currencies it will eventually go to zero.
@Mossy – fair point on the fiat currency angle (assume you’re a goldbug!), but at the same time, currency is really about confidence and if confidence rests in a fiat currency then it becomes de facto currency, I believe this is definitely true with USD for instance.