FinancialEdge - Disbanding The Euro - A Worst-Case Scenario

Although the title of this column mentions the worst-case scenarios for the collapse of the Euro, that is not quite what it is about. Instead, it is more about the probable negative outcomes should the Euro go away. If I was to talk about true "worst case scenarios", I'd have to talk about the risk of virtual economic collapse in Southern Europe, competitive devaluations throughout Europe, the risk of less-democratic governments in some areas of Europe, and, ultimately, the outbreak of war as political demagogues pander to financially desperate populations and rile them up with notions that other people/countries are responsible for their problems and must be punished. 

Only time will tell if we are past the worst of the debt crisis in Europe, or simply enjoying a calm amidst the storm. In either case, the crisis in Greece and the fears of its spread into Spain, Italy and Portugal have led many financial analysts and commentators to seriously consider what had once been mostly the domain of crackpots - the notion that the euro could collapse and vanish altogether.

This is no small matter. Of the 10 largest economies in the world, four use the euro as their currency. Roughly 330 million Europeans use the euro every day, while nearly 200 million people use currencies that are pegged to the euro (many of them in Africa). It is also the second most-used currency as a reserve currency, with roughly one-quarter of the world's reserves held in euros. 

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http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0610/Disbanding-The-Euro---A-Worst-Case-Scenario.aspx