In your tale of two Italians, Silvio Berlusconi and Mario Draghi, you say that one could doom the euro while another could save it (“A Tale of Two Italians,” October 29, 2011). You may be right about the former, for Italy is too big a country to bail out in the case of serious financial distress. But you are surely wrong about the latter, for the European Central Bank can do only so much to help in the present crisis. “If the firewall fails,” you say about Italy, “only the ECB’s unlimited fount of liquidity can quench the flames.” Unlimited? As you say in the very next sentence, the new president of ECB will not dare go against the wishes of the bank’s biggest shareholder, Germany. Even though the prime minister of Italy can do a lot of damage to the euro, as well as the European Union as a whole, it is doubtful that the ex-president of the Bank of Italy can do much to save the euro and the Union. Alas, your tale is just a tale, after all!