If Spain did reintroduce the peseta...

As I said before -  keep  enough in your Spanish euro account to cover the next 

months bills ONLY. Keep the rest (if any !) in your Brit bank. It ain't rocket science !

 I think it would be a good thing if we went back to the Peseta. I think it would be difficult, but Iceland did it as another reader pointed out, and I believe they are doing quite well, but it is something you never hear about on the News.

I have lived in Spain for 20 yrs, and it is so sad  to see,what is happening. There is no WORK, and I know many young, very well qualified

people who cannot get a Job, and that has been going on for years.They live at home with family,with no entitlement to any sort of help. They have never worked so they have not paid, Social Security, so therefore are not entitled to unemployment Benefit, and as they are neither parents or over 45 yrs they are also not entitled to "AYUADA" Help from the Goverment.

They have to depend on their parents or family and it is soul destroying. One girl, who has a Degree in Business Mangement, was offered a Job in a Hotel in the Entertainment Area, she was over the Moon, until they told her it was for a trial period, 2-6 months ??

perhaps longer and without any salary at all, nothing...not even petrol for her car. I was astounded, and now with the new"REFORMA LABORAL", The situation will be even worse. Another good friend of mine, English and whose husband Spanish, who has been working for a compny for over 6 yrs, went into his office, March 2012, to be told he could accept a 33% pay cut, or look for another Job!! He stayed on and accepted, as he knew if he left he would not find another Job. This is happening on a daily basis, and the people feel trapped and used. 

Something has to give soon, a return to the Peseta would increase the English tourists and they would be able to go out for their, meals and drinks like before, and give tips. So many of the spanish lived off their tips, their salaries were never high, but they could double it in tips. That is now a thing of the past, since the introduction of the Euro !!

 i nevr did understand the euro

my son lived in italy when they changed and prices doubled

locals tell me the same happened here in spain

and guess what the wages stayed the same

as you say surely it would be better to revert to the peseta and things then might improve

and france and germany can just stop bossing them about

oh silly me that would reduce german exports poor dears

 And, if Greece leaves the Euro, the ones who stand to loss the most, are the German and French Banks !! The poor Banks, they can not suffer so much, we shall prop up Greece for a little longer and get the GREEK PEOPLE TO PAY !! 

If, like me you travel in many countries the idea of one bank note being more valuable than another fades into insignificance if the chap you are buying dinner from wants CEFA when you have Euro in your pocket.  Is it too late to return to the ancient concept of money as a means of exchange?

Notional relative values (exchange rates) of different means of exchange (currencies) are more to do with speculation than trade and further damage to the wealth of individuals is caused by the enormous premium we pay to support trading in currencies. the trader produces nothing, adds no value, provides no service, simply takes a margin based on forecasting skill (called gambling in other areas of life).

The solution to this problem is to have a single currency across the whole world; then currency would be what it should be, a means of exchange. The mechanism already exists to produce the currency - The World Bank but then that would mean reforming the world bank to make it what it was originally concieved as - the lender of last resort.

The idea that the solution to our current problem lies in the reinvention of currencies based on national borders is peddled by politicians on the basis that national control of the means of exchange will make the citizens of the nation richer - or put another way the greedy for power leading the greedy for wealth.

Our current problem was caused by people buying things which they could not afford. If a company incurs debts greater than its assets it is legally required to cease trading, why not apply that to individuals? It would cause some pain but only to those who brought the pain on themselves. Using the family home to fund non-essential spending has always been a recipe for disaster A great deal of property in Spain was purchased with money  borrowed in that way and can surely only be described as non-essential spending

The risk has always existed that the lender may recall a loan. It is the fault of the borrower for not assessing the risk properly if the result of their borrowing leads to the loss of assets. One heard no complaints from those who sold properties at the height of the property boom which had been bought some years before for peanuts. What right have those who guessed badly to complain now? One might even suggest that using the money so borrowed was another example of greed so maybe the speculator deserves th fate of the gambler!.

 You sound like a Banker to me !! World currency, World Goverment, World Control, that is what they are after, and a few millon

less people !!

 ah but if there were less people there would be less slaves so the exploiters would have less money

Well put Dalaluzian. at least one with sense and not one looking to make money without toil

 I am no banker, indeed there are fewer and fewer of those around as call centres and machines replace people. Recently I asked my son, a banker, whether he'd study for banking qualifications; his response was "Why? I don't need banking qualifications to be a banker".

It is long past time we stopped listening to bankers, economists (my daughter's one of those and recently discovered the awful truth that our problem is we produce nothing - her dad had pointed that out years ago but as an economist she knew better), bureaocrats and politicians and started listening to common sense. That starts with people starting to think for themselves rather thian regurgitatng the garbage fed to us by the media. If it sound s as if it makes sense it probably doies, if it sounds like nonsense it probably is.

Our current problems are nothing to do with the means of exchange. they are to do with massive over-control of everything. If my business can afford to pay €3 per hour and I can find someone to work for that rate why should a faceless bureaucrat with no understanding of or interest in my business tell me I am wrong. If I wish to employ an African to work in my garden at 200% of his wage in his home country (€2 per day) why should a non-producing clerk I pay for with my taxes, or worse still a politician tell me I can't because the African isn't allowed to work here (until things are going well and rich Germans need someone to build their new houses).

Youth unemployment is not new, neither is the concept of family support. Everyone has choice. If a job is not available try creating one for yourself. I have watched a bachelor in this area, recently unemployed, bring the family farm back into production. Fields are being ploughed which have been fallow for years, potatoes are growing where before a few wizened almonds grew. Just a pity I won't be here to see the result. I'm off to Africa where dictatorship is open and honest!

The Euro was like an ill concieved, designed and poorly implemented airplane and no one thought what to do if something went seriously wrong with it if we hit severe turbulance in the worlds economy.  There are also too many economy passengers who are being subsidised by the few first class passengers. So what is happeneing now is a fly-by-the-seat-of your-pants attempt to hold it all together.  Seat belts have been fastened, oxygen masks have been deployed and some passengers are wearing life jackets, but we are still going down.  A mayday call has been sent out but few are in a position to help.  The navigation system is out and communications are intermittent and confused.  The pilot and co-pilot are argueing and fighting over the controls.  Doomed to fail ultimately as bits fall off, the only question is what will the wreakage look like, how many casualties and what can be salvaged?

Greece will fall out of the Euro first and then almost any other Euro country is a next-up candidate.  Spain may well leave but the consequences will be dire for other EU countries and possibly some non-EU countries who have invested in Spain or who have bought its debt.

Brtish Ex-Pats would be wise to consider all possible senarios and how these might effect them based on their personal situations.

A likely result of Spain leaving the Euro is a devaluation of the currency, be it Peseta or some other currency that replaces the Euro.  This would have a high cost in terms of payments of both sovreign and personal debt in a devalued currency and in changing accounting systems for all Spains businesses. The new Peseta would have to be pegged to an agreed Euro exchange rate for several years to allow the modification to be made.  Devaluation may be done in controlled stages.  After which the Peseta could be allowed to float against other currencies or pegged to golds value, the UK pound or the US dollar.  Allowing it to float could be disasterous as it could go into free-fall making the currency worthless. The strategy is costly, risky and not a quick fix for Spains problems.

However, if it found a reasonable stable level then this might help the return of tourists, make property more attractive to buy for foriegn buyers, improve exports and encourage investment, which in-turn might stimulate jobs growth leading to a recovery in GDP, tax revenues and deficit reduction.  Imports will be more expensive so inflation could rise adding to austerity.  Spain will however always owe a huge amount of money and will continue to struggle to pay its public sector workers without austerity measures and associated civil strife.  Like Greece, Spains creditors may be forced to take a hair cut.  Unemployment will be high for many years unfortunately.

This message was last edited by thermalsocks on 08/04/2012.

Hi THERMALSOX.

Yes - I agree with your airplane take - spot on !

Lets hope we don't all get ' cold feet ' while this gets sorted thermalsox.

I have just returned from Spain and noticed that on quite a few receipts they are quoting balances in euros and the pesetas, that can onlky mean one thing to me!

 its always been like that seems it is to not confuse older folk

hardly sinister

 Very interesting reading your comments, and as one would expect from a forum such as this made up no doubt of people who have had a life times experience of work, and have been able to buy a place abroad, and can now look back with the benefit of hindsight draw your conclusions.The overall picture  taken from your views is that the straight jacket of a fixed Eurozone currency is never going to work. How Spain adopts a reverse gear and extracts itself from this cul-de sac is going to be painful and messy, but like a rotten tooth, it aint gonna get any better by leaving it in, so be brave bite the bullet and get it over with.I must say i agree whole heartedly with your comments. Cogratulations, you are a most learned group,Rahoy should put some of you in his cabinet!!!.

A haircut for the lenders to Spain,plus an extension to the repayment period, and may be the Nueva Peseta will be devalued heavily against the Euro and floated within a guaranteed minimum and maximum currency spread, so as to give a degree of confidence on where the new currency is going could be some of the wheezes the powers that be will have to impliment.

This is my first reply on Eyeonspain, i almost bought a villa in April 2011 in Almeria, i was 3000 Euros away from doing the deal,needless to say the property in question is still on the market,i bet the Spanish owner would bite my hand of now if i put my head above the parapet. But no way Jose, or in my case Francisco.So this cash buyer with 130000 E to spend is doing the waiting game. Interesting times.

All these knowall should be running the world   lol

 the problem is know allss are already running the world