Few Europeans take their new currency, the euro, seriously and its exchange rate has dropped every since it was put into circulation on January 1. The reason, explains PNS editor Franz Schurmann, is that unlike the dollar, the yen or the Deutschmark, the state authority printed on the euro commands little or no respect. Schurmann is a professor emeritus of history and sociology at UC-Berkeley and author of numerous books on global politics.

Like a wannabe swimmer who plunges into the deep end of the pool, Europe's much ballyhooed new currency, the euro, is struggling hard to keep its head above water. But aside from a few small upward bobs, its exchange rate since January 1 shows one continuous sinking curve.

The metaphorical swimmer was hauled up with little more damage than a bruised ego. So, too, with the euro. But why isn't it working? And what difference will it make if it isn't?

The answer to the first question is easy. Few Europeans take the euro seriously. They don't respect it. But they do know that somehow it grew out of the powerful German mark. And everybody has a lot of respect for the Deutschmark.

Why then hasn't the respect for the mark carried over to the euro? The reason can be found in the history of money.

Around 2500 years ago coins started to be minted in both west and east. They quickly became the main medium of exchange in international trade. The early coins were copper or bronze. Part of their value came from their metallic content but a much bigger part came from the imprint of a high authority.

If people respected -- and feared -- the authority they made good use of the money. Markets spread. People became prosperous. The authority -- especially the far-flung empires -- got stronger.

If people neither respected nor feared the authority speculators quickly forged the coinage in order to make windfall profits. The authority followed suit. People then stopped using the money. Trade became chaotic. And it didn't take long before the vaunted majesties crumbled into the dust.

These days all money is printed on paper which in itself is worthless. The only thing that gives it value is the imprint on it of some authority. Plenty of these authorities are so worm-ridden that it shows on their currencies: raggedy and soiled bills often in multiple digit denominations.

Among all the world currencies three stand out: the American dollar, the Japanese yen and the German mark. What makes these three currencies so strong is, of course, the fact that they reflect economic strength. But their strength also comes from the respect, fear and trust people have in the authority imprinted on the bills.

The strength of the American dollar is now global. Some countries -- notably Mexico and Argentina -- are considering making the dollar their common currency. The global economy is an American creation and it is not surprising that the dollar is its premier currency.

Ranked second in world currencies is the Japanese yen. Japan is said to have half the potential investment capital in the world. Close behind is the German mark. Germany is the core of the European Union (EU) and every European knows that. Nothing has happened to weaken their trust in the Deutschmark.

But the euro is another matter. People don't even know the authority which issued it. It's central bank is in Frankfurt. That symbolizes its close relationship with the mark. But the EU's capital is in Brussels. It is generally derided by Europeans as a covey of bureaucrats.

Europeans do not identify with Brussels nor with the EU. They see them as the creations of technocrats remote from the everyday lives of people. They neither respect nor fear them. They are not rejecting the euro. But their indifference bodes badly for the time a few years hence when the euro is supposed to become the common currency in Europeans' everyday life.

The technocrats who made the euro in part emulated what the new USA did two centuries ago. Benjamin Franklin had warned Americans that "united we stand, divided we fall." But the brilliant Federalist Alexander Hamilton knew that one way to bring the thirteen colonies together was through a sound currency. He succeeded even though the Federalists were ousted from power in 1800.

Europe has a thousand year history of disunity. Not until a victorious America forced the quarreling European states to work together after World War II did European unity arise. But it all happened at the top. At the bottom Europeans still think in national or local terms.

So when they disregard the euro and it goes down and down in value it means Europeans are saying a tacit no to European unity.

The euro was supposed to undergird a certain kind of European unity now represented by the European Parliament located in Strasbourg. That parliament reflects Europe as it was decades ago before the waves of Third World immigrants hit it.

Maybe the decline of the euro is a warning to its elitist leaders that something is wrong with their outdated views of European unity.