LONDON -- The dividing lines are getting ever sharper in today’s Turkey in almost every part of life, be it politics, business, sports or culture.

If I could look into my crystal ball to predict who the winners and losers of the global system would be by 2023 (the centenary year marking the founding of the Turkish Republic), do not expect me to give a rosy picture of the future for today’s 27-state European Union (EU). The current recession will no doubt ease by the end of this year, though the deep-seated systemic problems will remain, and companies will begin taking on workers again, signalling the end of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

MEHMET ÖĞÜTÇÜ

2023’de “Kazananlar Kulübü” mü “Kaybedenler Treni” mi?

İnsan, geleneksel olarak kıta Avrupasına soğuk duran Londra'da yaşadıkça "eurosceptics" denilenler grubuna daha fazla yaklaşıyor galiba. Dahası, bürokrasiye boğulmuş, yılda 133 milyar avro bütçeyi adeta çarçur eden Avrupa Komisyonu, yetkileri sınırlı ama üyelerinin ödenekleri sınırsız Avrupa Parlamentosu, stratejik davranamayan siyasi karar alıcılar ile etkileşim içinde oldukça, performans düşüklüğünü gördükçe, başka kültür ve menfaatlere duyarsızlığı yaşadıkça bu şüpheci yaklaşım daha da güçleniyor.

Argentina introduced its “convertibility” system, which linked the Argentine peso to the dollar at a fixed rate, on 1 April 1991. The convertibility system ended in a spectacular economic crash and currency devaluation in January 2002. Most economists asserted that Argentina’s convertibility system was a currency board, with little room for discretionary monetary policy. Armed with that premise, other economists and the financial journalists who followed their lead have concluded that currency boards are inherently dangerous and bound to end in Argentine-like upheavals.