Blue Peepal

The whole nation of Greece stood up in protest, when confronted with the prospect of austerity measures from the Government in response to the debt crises. The parts of the world where austerity was considered as a bitter pill, have refused to see it in the eye, either politically or, practically. Talk about slowdown and you can add another few wrinkles to central bankers, economists, companies and less weathered individuals. I contrast the above with a situation that ticked me to thinking about slowdown in a positive way. My son of three and three quarters years was jumping on the sofa wildly and later jumped on to the floor and was too much for my TV glued eyes. I softly admonished “slowdown, slowdown…” It just lit on me, why wasn’t I stressed about slowing him down and began to believe that I was doing this in “his interest”. By imposing him to slowdown, I was perhaps stopping him from hurting himself, losing control or may be just to prevent him from getting overly exhausted. I...

Given the mountain of literature on Greece & European debt crisis, I think another article may just add to the litter than light some hope. Hence, instead of going through the crisis and the reasons that led to it, I will instead focus on the risk management and steps to resuscitate the situation. Firstly, if EU wishes to remain as a single unit then it must instill discipline among the disparate economies. It needs to manage the interests of the stronger members, while putting competitive framework for weaker economies. If the unity of countries wishes to enjoy a common currency, then must adhere to certain economic framework. The architecture which brought the countries together may need some review periodically, to assess the situation of the partners to continue their existence in the zone. There will be political & economic issues unique to each country, with various degrees of debt issuances, trading surplus/deficit, unemployment and need for monetary flexibility. A Ge...