Maastricht Treaty revisions needed?

[kandrathe]

Currency management is one of those crazy issues that we just don't understand well enough, despite the enormous amounts of ink (and blood, and sweat, and tears) spilled over it. In theory, a stable international currency is awesome. In practice, it leads to deflation, or at least prevents inflation, and the effects of that restriction are often so crippling that it might not be worth trying in the first place.

We sort of have an international currency, or two. A barrel of crude oil, and an ounce of gold. Everyone knows what their currency or commodity is worth in relation to those two prime commodities.