THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

THE EURO IS THE DOLLAR'S SALVATION | 2001-08-25

Some Russians have asked me what I think of the new European currency, the Euro. They also talked about a plan to do the same sort of thing in Asia.

This is what I told them

"As a professional economist, I consider the Euro and a general Asian currency as the best things that could happen to the American dollar."

"A GERMAN Mark or a SWISS franc is real competition for the dollar, because people have confidence in the Germans and in the Swiss. These currencies are being replaced by a Greek, Italian, Spanish, French and German 'Euro,' in which no one will have any confidence."

"Exactly the same thing is true of the JAPANESE yen. If it is replaced by a currency whose worth is dependent on a group of Asian countries working together, no one can have any confidence in it."

"The real long-term threat to the dollar is the change in the US population, in the AMERICA that stands behind the dollar."