... nations, but rather large states within an economic sovereignty, they should on the one hand have been running a surplus during boom years to build up a cushion in case of a downturn, but on the other hand the Eurozone as a whole should have been running a balanced budget during the boom years and a substantial deficit from the onset of the recession.

Demanding that neither the Eurozone nor the individual nations in the Eurozone take on the responsibility of the economic sovereign for maintaining economic stability is indeed a trick of the plutocrats.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.