The Euro isn't quite ready to replace the dollar

"Currencies are like languages. The more people use them, the more useful they are", points out Hélène Rey, professor of economics at the University of Princeton. "These days, like the pound sterling in bygone times, the dollar has a privileged place on the international markets. Over 60% of banks' central reserves are in dollars, with roughly 27% in euros and less than 5% in yen. ... The creation of the euro, with a GNP in 2007 of 11, 900 billion for countries within the zone, compared to 13,800 billion dollars in the United States, has perhaps changed matters by allowing the emergence of a credible alternative to the dollar. As in post-war England, the United States are now very much in debt to the rest of the world. And the dollar appears, like the pound sterling of yesteryear, to have entered an unstable zone. Proof can be found in recent records of the euro in relation to the greenback ... But you can't change international currency as if it were shirt."

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