The Netherlands: Geert Wilders wants guilder back and says he may call for referendum

Instead of focusing on real economic issues facing the Netherlands Wilders "cleverly" picks and chooses populist "hogwash" to stay in the limelight of attention. His latest project involves paying, what he calls, a 'renowned international bureau', to investigate whether bringing back the guilder would benefit the Dutch economy.

Wilders is also capitalizing on the fact that according to a recent poll 58% of the Dutch population supports a return to the Guilder. The Netherlands adopted the euro in 2001.

The poll results favoring the return to the Guilder with an 8% margin are probably the direct result of the Dutch Government providing limited and poor information on the background and the value of the euro; the belief, created by Wilders and his cohorts, that additional Dutch Government spending cuts next year will come as a result of the eurozone debt crisis.

If one Looks at the issues with some more objectivity than mr. Wilders, and renowned economists seem to agree, that regardless of the turmoil we are now experiencing, the euro won't disappear because there are no mechanisms in place to make it happen. If a country wanted to leave the euro, it would first of all only be able to consider leaving if it was deeply indebted and faced the prospect of indefinite low growth or recession. In this case a country considering leaving the euro would already be considered by investors to have a weak and decaying economy. The Netherlands certainly does not belong in this category.

Going back to the guilder would create an unknown to those outside the Netherlands. Unknowns are not things that encourage trade and foreign investment, which the Netherlands needs to survive. A new/old currency, in this case the guilder, will be a poorly valued currency, because the Dutch government would have to inflate it to get out of the debt they owe. The average person's savings will be either wiped out or greatly reduced.

The countries that make up the euro, including the Netherlands, are all quite well developed and industrialized. They do not fall into the category of third world countries. Could they realistically ask their citizens to start all over again simply to pay off government debt? Of course not. The only ones benefiting from such a move would be financial speculators (Wall Street), banks, currency exchange agencies and people who are only interested in their self enrichment

Bottom line, a return to the guilder would basically translate to a disaster for the Netherlands. Even Mr. Wilders should understand that Europe/the Netherlands must move forward, not backward.

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