Re: Aluminum producer says the high euro is crippling growth
One should not be surprised that heads of exporting industries desire that the monetary authorities debase the currency, because these exporters will be able to sell more product. So, you may ask, what’s wrong with that? The answer is that such a policy is a rather complicated and hidden mechanism whereby wealth is transferred from the ordinary citizens of the weaken currency to the exporters’ customers. There is no way that one country can force another to pay for its internal growth. Oh, be assured that the exporting industries will show that they increased sales and may even add employment, but the funding for such expansion is provided by a transfer of wealth from the rest of the country via monetary debasement. The exporters’ customers receive more of the country’s currency per unit of their own currency, so their purchases appear to be cheaper…and, for the exporters’ customers it is cheaper…for awhile. But over time the monetary expansion will cause prices to rise in the exporters’ country, wiping out any cost benefit that the exporters may have gained. Then the exporters will be right back writing articles about the currency being too expensive and the need for another round of monetary debasement. This is the state of affairs in the entire world at the moment, with monetary authorities everywhere falling over themselves trying to cheapen their currencies faster than all other countries. Madness! Patrick Barron
