It wasn’t all gloom as a post-crisis financial world looked forward to a belt-tightening 1998, though: one reader found time to send a poem eulogizing the euro before its launch. Perhaps Ms Opal Innsbruk’s ode can encourage in these dark times as it did over a decade ago:
The Euro
Tiny little golden coin
On you depends so much
Will you bring what’s good for all?
Equal value, smooth transactions
Help towards an understanding
Between the nations all involved?
Or will you bring with you the loss
Of independence, freedom of choice
As with Atlantis – that mythical island of old
Will you sink us without a trace
Under a sea of monopoly and anonymity
And avarice for gold.
Ah, tiny little golden coin
So much depends on you.
