For Geman taxpayers substitute all those UK citizens who didn't fuel the property bubble, didn't spend what they didn't have, didn't borrow like there was no tomorrow but saved and invested for their future and you have a significant proportion of the population who've done nothing wrong, have acted prudently and are suffering hugely through meagre investment returns and inflation. They didn't run up vast sums of credit and walk away but just like the Germans they're the ones paying for the excess of others. In what way is that a recipe for encouraging long-termism and personal responsibility in financial matters?
My elderly parents downsized from a modest semi to a one bed flat a few years ago. To supplement their basic state pension (Dad was a self employed manual worker after WWII) they were relying on the interest on their modest savings but even this has dried up. They've done the right thing, worked hard, scrimped, saved and gone without all their lives and have been rewarded by having what little extra income they had being lost. How's that for encouragement?
How anyone thought the Eurozone could work is beyond me. It flies in the face of all we know about human nature and as always the innocent suffer. Ironically, when you consider the motivations behind the EU, it's the stuff that leads to unrest and wars isn't it?....