Re: starship-design: Euro

[Timothy van der Linden <Shealiak@XS4ALL.nl>]

Hi Nels, <Sorry for the double message, I ment to relay this to the SD list>

> I hope not to offend you, but from this side
>of the Atlantic the euro looks like a Jagganath, unstoppable.

The Euro is indeed unstoppable, most (if not all) candidates have made
approved their final commitment during the last few weeks.
My intention wasn't to suggest that the Euro would be stopped, but that
many laymen see little advantages. (It seems that the only advantage that
the layman understands is that he doesn't need another currency when he
goes on vacation.)

>	P.S.  I heard on the radio the other day that some trading in euros was
>being done.  I'm not quite sure if this is the same thing as a
>proto-euro, but the "European Currency Unit," an averaging of european
>currencies, is worth US$ 1.1067 <http://www.xe.net/currency/>

The ECU has been there for some while. I believe that its value will be
directly translated to the Euro. The ECU has never been actual money. I'm
not certain of the exact timeline of the Euro, but we'll first get a giral
introduction (ie. via banking) and then the actual paper and coin money.
Some contracts already are set up in Euros, and supermarkets try to make
the customers aware with double pricetags.

Timothy