On an optimistic note

It is hard to find a decent uplifting story or op-ed these days, but for some reason this David Brooks piece cheered me up. I want to live in a big city in the next few years of my life, no question about that. Yet, there is something post-suburban about these "frontier" places that is reminiscent of the Tocquevillian small town, which is very enchanting. These places are probably a figment of Brooks' imagination. Yet I'd like to think they exist for when I am done with the cultural hodgepodge of the big city:

If you jumble together the five most popular American metro areas — Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Orlando and Tampa — you get an image of the American Dream circa 2009. These are places where you can imagine yourself with a stuffed garage — filled with skis, kayaks, soccer equipment, hiking boots and boating equipment. These are places you can imagine yourself leading an active outdoor lifestyle.

These are places (except for Orlando) where spectacular natural scenery is visible from medium-density residential neighborhoods, where the boundary between suburb and city is hard to detect. These are places with loose social structures and relative social equality, without the Ivy League status system of the Northeast or the star structure of L.A. These places are car-dependent and spread out, but they also have strong cultural identities and pedestrian meeting places. They offer at least the promise of friendlier neighborhoods, slower lifestyles and service-sector employment. They are neither traditional urban centers nor atomized suburban sprawl. They are not, except for Seattle, especially ideological, blue or red.

They offer the dream, so characteristic on this continent, of having it all: the machine and the garden. The wide-open space and the casual wardrobes.

The EMU is not in danger

I have read many articles lately about how the PIGS of the Eurozone (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) plus Ireland undermine the strength of the EMU and I have detected a somewhat slightly unwarranted prejudice against the economies of the countries of the European periphery. Fiscal irresponsibility is a reality in those countries indeed, but there is no need to single them out during this crisis, as Barry Eichengreen demonstrates very powerfully:

But the more days pass, the more it becomes evident that the truly big event is the negative economic shock affecting the entire euro area. Different euro area members may have felt financial disturbances to a different extent, but they are all now experiencing the economic disturbance in the same way – they are all seeing growth collapse. Germany, which thought itself immune from the economic crisis, is now seeing its exports slump and unemployment rise. The rise in unemployment may be small so far, but it is the tip of the iceberg. And there is no longer any doubt about how much ice lies just below the surface.

This shock is symmetric – it is affecting all euro area members. In turn this means that a common monetary policy response is appropriate. There will now be mounting pressure for the ECB to cut interest rates to zero, move to quantitative easing, and allow the euro exchange rate to weaken. (This last part of the adjustment is already beginning to happen without the ECB having to do anything about it.) Now that recession and deflation loom across the euro area, this is a response on which all members should be able to agree. It can be complemented by fiscal stimulus. If countries in a relatively strong budgetary position, like Germany, are in the best position to apply it, all the better; the result will be help from outside for their more heavily indebted, cash-strapped neighbours who need it most.

Happy Valentine's day

An account of the positively cringeworthy first encounter between Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, followed by imaginary first encounters of power couples, courtesy of Guardian's Tim Dowling:

At some point in the conversation, Sarkozy raised a few potential difficulties, including the effect of the paparazzi on their relationship. "When it comes to the celebrity press, you are an amateur," said Bruni. "My encounter with Mick [Jagger] stayed secret for eight years. We passed through all the capitals of the world and no photographer ever caught us."

"How could you have stayed eight years with a man who has such ridiculous calves?" said Sarkozy. Who thinks the most ridiculous thing about Mick Jagger is his calves?