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Bailout Rebellion In Germany
"We're on the way to a worldwide financial dictatorship governed by bankers," said Peter Gauweiler, German Bundestags Representative (CSU), in an interview published Monday in the Welt Online. "We don't support Greece," he said. "We support 25 or 30 worldwide investment banks and their insane activities."
Successful lawyer, he fought back in the German Supreme Court, claiming that the money-printing and bailout operations by the European Central Bank (ECB), and Germany's role in them, violate the constitution. The court's decision is expected on Wednesday. The foundation of the euro was the Stability Pact, he said—a contract that now has been broken. And he wonders if "the euro can still function as a value-retaining currency."
This, just as Wolfgang Schäuble, Finance Minister, has been dealt a defeat of sorts by his own governing coalition during the trial vote for the expansion of the current European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) whose purpose it is to bail out an ever lager circle of debt-sinner countries. 25 members of his coalition voted against it or abstained. The actual vote is scheduled for September 29.
And the numbers are ugly. 89% of the population oppose the expansion of the EFSF and doubt that ever larger amounts will solve the debt crisis, according to a recent poll. 80% demand that parliament must agree each time before Germany can take on additional burdens and risks. And 85% demand that financial institutions, rather than taxpayer, take the first losses when a country defaults. What galls them is that they have to shoulder these risks and burdens so that debt-sinner countries can borrow even more at lower interest rates.
"The ECB's bond buying program was a mistake," laments Hans-Werner Sinn, President of Ifo Institute for Economic Research. Opening the money spigot removed the incentives for the affected countries to undergo needed budgetary and structural reforms. He holds up as proof Italy's currents effort to weasel out of budget cuts and tax increases and Greece's resistance to reform.
"It would be a lot cheaper for German taxpayers" if Greece exited the eurozone, said Hermann Otto Solms, financial expert of the FDP, the government's coalition partner, in an interview in the Südwest Presse. Greece has violated repeatedly the condition for the aid package, and "in the long run, that cannot be permitted." Otherwise, the system of mutual support will lose credibility, and other countries will be tempted to manage their own budgets at the expense of stronger countries. Of course, Greece's debt would have to be restructured, and banks may have to be bailed out again, just like after Lehman, but it would cost less than endless support. Greece would also be better off. It would get rid of much of its debt. And drastic devaluation of its new currency would make it competitive in a globalized economy.
Meanwhile, Italy is backpedaling on its "blood-and-tears plan" to raise taxes and cut its budget by €45 billion. In Spain and Italy, people are demonstrating in the streets, and strikers are paralyzing Italian air traffic. Austerity plans aren't popular. It's easier to borrow and print than to get your financial house in order.
This is exactly what Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, warns about in an interview published in the Börsen-Zeitung. Euro-Bonds would undermine the incentives for heavily indebted countries to build solid budget policies, he said. "The jump into common liability without limits on national sovereignty could unravel the institutional framework of the Monetary Union."
Already in August, the Bundesbank had lashed out fiercely (article in English) at its omnipotent sister, the ECB, for its decision to print money and buy sovereign bonds of debt-sinner countries. These attacks put the Bundesbank on collision course with export-oriented industrialists and financial institutions that have been the primary beneficiaries of its neighbors' borrowing binge, something Germans tend to forget in the heat of the battle. But it's not just Germans.
"Let the euro die its natural death," said Marine Le Pen (article in English) in her populist manner. The media-savvy and vocal president of the Front National of France is one of the top contenders in the 2012 presidential election. Populists in other European countries are gaining ground as well. People have always perceived the euro as an invention by the elite for the elite, and many of the current problems in Europe are blamed on it. So whether or not the eurozone will survive in its current form and with its current members is at least partially a question of its ability to run counter the will of its people, and get away with it.
Wolf Richter - www.testosteronepit.com
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The last time those fuckers had serious inflation....we all know how that turned out. Seig Heil, bitchez!!!!
Music to accompany the return to the Deutsche Mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKSTide_vtQ
"Arbeit Macht Frei", to the current and next generation(s) of German tax-paying bitchez!
"We're on the way to a worldwide financial dictatorship governed by bankers,"
Conspiracy Theory. The guy's a kook. He should build a Ron Paul shrine and pile his fiat instruments in walkways all over his house. He should be out in the woods running through tires camo'd out.
We know better that bankers have an important role in society and deserve our trust. Sure they mess up sometimes but don't we all? Don't we all [sound of 10 million 12 gauge shells being chambered].
What a perverse comment. You slander Ron Paul a true statesman, attack the Tea Party for wanting reform while concurrently spouting bankers "deserve" our trust. You probably think you are doing "God's work" like Dimon right? Take the bankster cock out of your mouth asswipe.
Whoosh! That comment/sarcasm went right over your head -- duck next time!
Maybe? Its not like people think like that anyway. Duck yourself.
It was sarcasm, Colonel.
I want to be wrong about this but I can not see any way that this can end well
Just in: The german constitunial court dismissed the complaint regarding the euro bailouts as unsubstantial and thus allowed the gouvernment to go on with paying for everyone in europe.
The laws are written for the populace, not for the rulers.
When they feel a pinch, they do what they want, regardless.
Not a surprise, there was no way that these few judges were going to come out against the politicians and banksters and so cause the overnight collapse of the euro and all that would ensue.
Now we will have to wait for the next actions, not letting a crisis go to waste I expect there will be a push for "ever closer union".
Eurobonds next backed by the full faith and credit of all those dodgy politicians?
The Euro failed from day 1. After introduction, prices jumped 15%.
The Polish seem to be the smartest people in Europe.
"Why would we want the introduce the euro in Poland, if all it does is make prices jump and make our economy dependent on bankers who don't know what they do and Eurocrats that never seem to know what to do".
Was from a interview last night. It was great! :)
It is not that euro failed, it is Barosso&Co that failed! Forcing Euro Constitution on French and Dutch failed! Too much greed and stupidity in financial sector without fear failed! European mark-to-myth accounting failed! Political corruption failed! Europeans failed, since it is us, who send improper representatives to Brussels, although it is not them who set the rules, they're just useful idiots who care more about parliamentarian salary than interests of the constituency! There cannot be economic integration without political integration, but the integration must be happening from bottom up not the other way around. Potential Euro disintegration is just a result of bad judgment and high level corruption. But that does not mean the whole project cannot work and should be dismantled. If this happens, that will be the biggest error in Europe's history.
The Polish seem to be the smartest people in Europe.
04/10/10 The crash of an aging Russian airliner ravaged the top levels of Poland's military, political and church elite Saturday, killing the Polish president and dozens of other dignitaries...
Smart and dead. rip.
...On board were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. Kaczynski's wife, Maria, also died....
...The Polish military suffered the deepest losses. Among the dead were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces...
No, no, no you don't understand...the polish people got MORE intelligent AFTER that crash, as it killed off a lot of the dead weight top brass in the country according to reliable local sources, including the president.
Poland came out more light weight in the butt and clearer headed...
Indeed, that was foolish to do but not as foolish as making deals with Goldman Sachs with cross currency swaps!
This crap talk, "euro is a failure" from yanks and brits is getting tiresome. Your own houses are on fire and still you continue spewing your shitty "advices" to others. USA will become one of the 3rd world countries soon, especially if one of the Republican corn pone freaks gets into white house.
LOL... the "maybe, but you're ugly" defense!
Sorry to burst your thesis, but "Sudden Debt" is Belgian.
My money never failed. Congress failed to uphold the law. So fuck Congress, I've got real money, right now I'd rather push worthless paper to the plebes and the norm seeking morons.
Until you pry my guns and rounds (both lead and precious) from me, I'll be an individual, not livestock. So maybe the corporation UNITED STATES has failed, but the individual here never will.
Kudos to our German friends.
Germans have a decent savings rate, fine industrial sector, and a good credit record.
I think it is entirely up to the German people whether or not they sacrifice for countries that haven't played by the rules of good economics. Globalization sucks. Down with the EU.
Problem: Most Germans believe the state is right... is always right... and that people who question that are dangerous.
Ah well...
difficult 1 hour
Germans don't want bailout for others
Greeks don't want austerity for accepting bailout from others
Average citizens know they are being played to take the fall for banksters not doing their duty of allocating capital responsibly and politicians not doing their job but only kicking the can down the road.
Germans should only accept bailout if the bankster class are banned forever from capital markets
Greeks should only accept austerity if political class are banned forever from politics
But none of this is the Euro's fault. Euro can continue existing if the political failures and resulting financial failures are fixed. However USA would prefer for the Euro to go kaputt, so they could continue printing to receive natural resources and other market goods basically for free.
Unfortunately the low intelligence peasants of Europe are easy to mobilize on nationalist pretexts and also get turned against Euro, the source of their own global power. "No bailout for Greece, it's the Euro's fault" does it all. If they only understood to remove the latter part or better yet, replace it with "it's the bankster's fault".
""We support 25 or 30 worldwide investment banks and their insane activities."
that is precisely the truth about "sovereign" debt, making this essay among the most important published on zh....."sovereign" debt is the vehicle which transfers national wealth from the people to the banksters who are more than happy to rape the host nation of its money......it is the plutocrats who make the demands on behalf of the hoi polloi for lard without end....thus the plutocrats have artfully used the poor as a pretext for passing massive spending to be serviced by their banks and gargantuan debt......
no, it really isn't the sheople who have created the debt factory - it is the bankster-plutocrats themselves who use this ruse manufacture fabled riches for themselves....
http://michael-hudson.com/2011/06/how-financial-oligarchy-replaces-democracy/
It is first of all our german banks and politicians as well who are an integral part of that said financial dictatorship. There is no sense in any form of blame-game and no time to discuss the whole thing until it is too late. We either get those ruthless people contained fast or get rid of them soon and gain some self-respect and the respect of millions of people worldwide working against that awful cleptocracy ruining the planet or we will fall and europe may fall with us and we again will be blamed for that downfall.
I wonder which percentage of the people in my country realize how, on a historical level, very important that decision of the constitutional court today really is.
Well, those who realize the importance are betting on the "slap on the wrist".
Constitutional court of the country without constitution hyperinflated all kinds of "Persil-Scheine" , ( Treuhand, insider deals, bribery in arm trade, breaking of embargoes ), for the incorporated crooks during the last 20 yrs.
Hopium market dry here ....
can't eat hopium
out of the mouths of babes :) sadly, it is so true!
When government spends. The public pays.
When government spends. The public pays.
When government spends. 99.9% of the public pays.
Fixed.
>"We're on the way to a worldwide financial dictatorship governed by bankers," said Peter Gauweiler, German Bundestags Representative
On the way?? Where the hell has this guy been?
Why steal less when you can steal more?....the Olive countries see a Bigger Fool (Germany) to steal from....it's a variation of The Greater Fool Theory.
Sweet Jesus, if more folks read the Good Book, they'd save themselves a lot of time. "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hates sureteship is sure.'' Proverbs 11. 15 Marty Luther, German bitchez!
testosteronepit - I love your cornucopia of fruitful intelligence. Thanks.
And these are words to chisel on the tombstone of the world's taxpayers:
"We're on the way to a worldwide financial dictatorship governed by bankers," said Peter Gauweiler, German Bundestags Representative (CSU), in an interview published Monday in the Welt Online. "We don't support Greece," he said. "We support 25 or 30 worldwide investment banks and their insane activities
"Cornucopia of fruitful intelligence"... I love that!
And your avatar.
Wolf Richter & www.testosteronepit.com are quickly becoming two of my favorite bloggers/sites.
Awesome. Thanks, you just made my day (what's left of it).
But do we have a populist candidate here in America? Someone who's not afraid of the S(ecession)-word, and knows that freedom grows out of the barrel of a gun? Rick Perry. 1860------->2012.
He's a cryptofascist clown in pointy cowboy boots who chases drag queens when he's not posing as a Consitutionalist.
I'd love to see Texas secede... it's complete bullshit. Texas uses more federal revenue than it pays in.
When the entire South secedes again (and I say when, not if) the redistributionist policies that suck up federal money will end. The entire concept of everyone being supported by Uncle Sugar is vehemently opposed by a large part of the southern population anyway and those who prefer to not do anything will have the choice of living on whatever private handouts they can get or starvation. You can always pick crops and grow your own food here, even many of the poor live on half acre lots or better. If they turn to crime, we shoot them.
In the meantime, be a good little Yankee and keep writing checks for the useless segment of our population, it was the welfare state so beloved by the left that created much of the permanent parasite class in the first place. We'll take your money and pour sand in your gears until this charade ends.
Enjoy our gift to you in the form of Mr. Bernanke, hugs from your friends in SC.
You do realize that European "populists" like Le Pen an Wilders are all paid by the Jewish Defense League and some VERY rich and powerful individuals in the USA and Switzerland.
Since in Switzerland political parties do NOT have to show where their funds come from it's a whitewashing machine of political right-wing support money.
The money comes from the USA, goes to Switzerland, and from there travels to Le Pen, Wilders and the Danish extreme right.
This is Israel - and the International Jewish banking cartel - trying to blow up the world.
not just the danish right wing either, we have an anti immigrint anti europe party as well which recieves funding from some dodgey folk in the us and once a year they fly to chicgo for long weekend get togethers
i don't think they really care about the immigrent problem, it's just a way to get elected and then they will steal everything that is not nailed down, all the oil and the pension fund which owns 1% of all worldwide equitys.