but saying that the balance is overall positive is not quite the same as saying there was no cost. I rpobably agree with you that overall it was a good thing, but it did entail a lot of pain for many people, and it is simply wrong to say that Germany did not exports part of the cost - and as several noted i nthe thread, with very little coordination with others.

Thus also my contention that an independent ECB is better for most countries than the über-hawkish Bundesbank making decisions only on the basis of its perception of German needs.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes