Europe in Crisis

[zummerzetboy]

Encouraged by other poster's observations on my last remarks and by Spiegel's more balanced article today entitled "Unholy Alliance" I offer two additional comments.

1 The limelight on Spain and Italy's problems has diminished over the last couple of months due to the calming effect Draghi's announcements have had on international bond markets and the fact that neither country has yet reached a point where they will need to default in the immediate future.

On the other hand Greece's problems are about to re-emerge and it is obvious to all that they will either default or Germany and its associates will have to take a taxpayer "haircut" since private bondholders have already been scalped and Greece's debt is increasing rather than reducing as Merkel, the EEC and the IMF originally projected. More loans or softer terms might originally have prevented the imminent catastrophy but its now too late and only outright forgiveness or in its absence the exit - of either Germany or Greece - will solve the problem.

2 Today's article suggests it might be more expensive for UK to veto the Commission's current proposals than to go along with an increase in line with inflation. That reasoning is based upon the presumption that if the EU fails to agree a long term framework the Commission's budget will be determined annually by Qualified Majority Voting during which the States with net receipts from the EU Budget - as opposed to those like Germany and the UK who are net contributors - will always prevail in demanding budget increases.

As the UK's Deputy Prime Minister has warned this calculation may be mistaken. UK citizen's dissatisfaction with present EU arrangements has been increasing, not least because the Commission has been unable to get its accounts audited for many, many years, and if affairs reach a point, in a year or two from now, that the UK's opinions are over-ruled by QMV it is highly likely to cause the pot to boil over and for the UK to begin procedures for withdrawal from the Union.

So, German citizens, think long and hard about what is in your own best interests and don't be rushed by your own politicians into a knee-jerk reaction that unanimous agreement on the EEC's long term budget must be reached in the short term.

[nevermind]

Ms. Merkels American advisor's are shaping the chaos of the EU, not those who elected her. Whatever has Jeffrey Gedwin to do here, when his agenda is to impoverish the poor ever further, a strategy currently implemented here in Britain and a policy that lies at the heart of Merkel's austerity politics, hitting those who are already down.

http://thepassionateattachment.com/2...ram/#more-6763

[zummerzetboy]

The European Commission has been extraordinarily critical of National Governments at various stages of the Euro-Crisis and arranged to suspend Democracy in Greece and Italy because they thought the elected leaders in those provinces were deluding themselves and their people.

Spiegel has finally started reporting some more informative and objective articles such as these today

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-868125.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-868085.html

So should the European Commission replace Merkel and Schauble with its own technocratic appointees since these two are clearly deluding both themselves and the German people?

Barroso and Von Rompuy where are you when the EuroState needs you ? - This is no time for Elections in a province called Germany.

[zummerzetboy]

At some earlier stages of the Euro crisis I've been pretty critical of Spiegel's coverage, even once complaining its reports were Government propaganda rather than news.

I'm pleased to acknowledge today's report -

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-869300.html

is a commendable counter-article that does help to inform and educate German citizens.

My own critics might argue - "well he would say that wouldn't he because it repeats at greater length what he has said himself in earlier posts".

Such criticism wouldn't alter the truth that Merkel and Schauble are trying to pull the wool over German citizens eyes because they daren't admit that as a result of their policies German taxpayer's money is going to be lost without saving Greece.

Their latest wheeze is to paper over the cracks using a "Debt Buyback" scheme. This idea is fraudulent for two reasons:

1 It may optically enable the Troika to assert Greek debt has been reduced by the difference between the nominal value of the repurchased bonds and the price paid for them. But this presumes the nominal value would have been repaid in full in the future - and everyone knows that wouldn't happen.

2 The repurchase would be financed by some useful steps such as the ECB foregoing profits on the bonds it bought at a discount - but the Bundesbank refuses to do the same or to forego the continuing profit it is making on existing loans - partly by other measures and partly by requiring the Greek banks to use some of the next tranche of promised funds to buy back their own Government Bonds (as well as using much of them to repay loans largely made by German and French Banks).

A consequence of both these malign requirements is that instead of these funds being used to stabilise the Greek economy they will be recycled to the creditor nations to save their own banks many of which have undisclosed bad debts.

As I've posted before it would have been, and probably still would be, a lot quicker and cheaper for Germany and other creditor nations to subsidise their own institutions directly in exchange for their write-off of Greek debts.

The only reason this has not happened, at the expense of misery,civil unrest and the growth of extremist political parties in Greece (and Spain), is that Merkel and Schauble set off down the wrong road and have been unable to change course because of their domestic political ambitions.

As the authors' of today's article say, the papering over solution - if Lagarde goes along with it - is in any case likely to be torn apart before the German elections.

[zummerzetboy]

Todays articles by Reuters and Spiegel

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/1...8BG0PL20121217

and

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-873191.html

comment respectively on the latest sticking plaster applied to Greek wounds and the recently agreed (?) arrangements for supervision of Eurozone banks.

The former explains why the Troika think the latest deal is likely to fall apart - though they diplomatically describe their misgivings as "Risks".

The latter describes how Merkel-Schauble are finding it more and more difficult to reconcile their claim to be saviours of "Ever closer Union" in Europe with their need to appear to German citizens as protectors of German Taxpayers cash.

In truth they are in favour of pooling sovereignty only when it means other nations give up theirs whilst Germany's remains firmly in their own hands.

Nothing new in this but the interesting questions are "Can they keep the lid on their hypocrisy until after the German Elections?" and "What will happen if they can't"

[vasili@goudas.net]

This is not the Europe I signed up for. The Europe of freedom, of free distribution of ideas, the Europe of the free market, the Europe of prosperity, the Europe of hope.

Instead I got the Europe of Bureaucracy, the Europe of regulation, the Europe of Banksters. A Europe that is so fascist in its ways it doesn’t even comprehend what it is becoming. The free movement of people, capital and ideas should lead to a free continent, where individuals are allowed to prosper. Not to a conglomerate of bankrupt states that are caught in a frenzy of taxing their population to pay for social programs they cannot afford, and for a Banking Class that caused the whole fracas to start with.

And yet that is the Europe that we all got, the Europe of austerity so that Bankers can have their Leer jets, the Europe of Brussels that make upwards of E60,000.00 annually in order to write legislation in 30 languages that nobody really needs to follow. The Europe where the VAT of 23% makes sure that everything is expensive and that any innovation in industry or technology shall only be afforded by the rich first.

The hubris of the leading class of European politicians is that they want me to be a co-signator to this fraud, to this abomination of free will.

Well NO.

My answer is NO I shall not vote, because win or lose, voting is a participation to the process, and I am not participating in the process. As if rapists can get absolved of their rapes if their victims got to vote on something.

No, Frau Doctor Angela, you are wrong. It is as much or more Germany’s responsibility that Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal got so high a deficit, and as such you should also get stuck with the consequences. No Mr. Dominique Stross Khan, and Mrs. IMF, the doctrine of insurmountable debt applies here, especially since it was German and French companies that were the Corruptors of Greece. And instead of cleaning House in the European theater of Bureaucratic Bribery and Regulation Control, their first concern was to make sure that Banks would not go bankrupt.

Well NO. I do not own any money, you didn’t give me anything and I refuse to play by these rules. If Germany wants to do this, that is something that they shll have to decide, but I am not playing.

The result of the Versailles Accord was the creation of Adolf Hitler. As such, President Wilson together with the French and British Prime ministers were the genitors of Fascism in Europe. Likewise, Frau Angela, you together with Christine Lagarde and the rest are responsible for the creation of a NeoNazi party in Greece of all places.

Well done for you. I am sure your Christian Parents must be very proud.

[Inglenda2]

While I would agree with most of what vasili@goudas.net has written in the comments about Europe, to put so much blame on Frau Merkel seems a little unfair.
Having lived in Germany now for over a half century, my experience is, that the brain washing and anti-German propaganda, which followed WW2, has led to a swing from Master Nation to one of self-depreciation.
Alone the fact that a so-called Christian Union has a leader, with a very successful education and background within a communist society, must show a light on how diffuse and uncertain German national politics can be. Frau Merkel makes the same mistake as most German Chancellors since the days of Konrad Adenauer, she believes falsely, that friends can be bought with money. As the SPD candidate Steinbrück so crudely put it “everybody has a market price!”
Had both of these party leaders taken the trouble to read the Bible properly, they could have learnt from the story of the lost son, it is old, but just as true now as it ever was.
Money can be very useful, but it does not answer all problems in this world, often a little intelligence can be much better. However, when political clowns in Germany, start to criticise political clowns in Italy, there is little sign of a change for the improvement in this regard.
The current EU is certainly not the Europe for which so many soldiers and civilians once lost their lives in the hope for a better future.

[claudio_58]

Have a look at this article:

Europe is shocked by the outcome of the Italian election, because of Silvio Berlusconi’s return and Beppe Grillo’s incredible success. The European establishment is not really trying to comprehend the Italian situation, rather to exorcise it. Italy’s and Greece’s current political situations signal a flaw in the way Europeans relate to each other. In fixing macroeconomic unbalances, the IMF style is not suitable for Europe. The failure to improve communication and political relations within Europe will eventually lead to the disintegration of the political and economic union.

continue on: http://econbrainstorm.blogactiv.eu/2...-will-blow-up/

[jvinen]

The European establishment may be in some kind of crisis. They have lead the whole continent to this economical chaos and no one knows the way out of there.

A traditional last way for the common people to say to the euro elite what they actually think about this great leadership is to laugh, laugh to all there is.

I think that the Italian election was an excellent, nonviolent sample of this average citizen's weaponic laughter.

Of course, after this Italy may have some difficulties as they are not able to form a new government. It is quite difficult after this election that had those refreshing comedic features.
Even those Mario calculators etc. do not seem to make it much easier to pick the right parties and coalitions.
http://tinyurl.com/cfjblpx

Yet, my best wishes to Italy! After all the frustration and anger in Europe, I do find a lot of positive energy in that last Italian election and in Italians in general.

[zummerzetboy]

Well, it is now clear beyond all doubt that:

Europe is far from United - in fact it is fast fragmenting.

Europe is no longer Prosperous - unemployment and poverty is rife.

Europe is no longer ordered in the sense of citizens accepting the legitimacy of executive decision makers - ordered about would be more accurate, by an undemocratic cabal of Unelected Brussels Bureaucrats, Merkel and Schauble - but with the citizens of every country (including Germany) expressing the need for change whenever they get the opportunity to vote.

Europe has not been transformed from a region plagued by Nationalism and Violence - it is fast reverting to its historical form.

Merkauble's Hypocrisy and Propaganda continue. Examples include being in favour of - the State stealing private property; a Pan-European Banking Union but not of the ECB providing liquidity to Cyprus; asserting the size of Cyprus's Banking Sector relative to GDP is unsustainable but saying nothing about Luxembourg's which is many times higher; fostering allegations that Italy's elected politicians are clowns, France's are poodles, Russians are to blame (beware having your gas supplies cut off);etc, etc.

Hopefully war will be avoided in the immediate future and after Germany's elections a less Nationalistic Government will emerge, that eschews the use of propaganda and recognises these malign trends are due to the flawed design of the Euro and dogmatic insistence on its retention. It will have a tough time because Merkauble have concealed the truth from German citizens for so long but:-

There should still be time to arrange an orderly restructuring of the Euro as I have advocated in earlier posts and though turbulence would then continue for a year or two there would be a realistic prospect of Peace and Prosperity returning in due course.

Failing that, present trends will accelerate and end in complete disaster for the citizens of all European countries.