This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Bailout Rebellion in Germany Heats Up
For the first time ever, a clear majority (60%) of Germans no longer sees any benefits to being part of the Eurozone, given all the risks, according to a poll published September 16 (FAZ, article in German). In the age group 45 to 54, it jumps to 67%. And 66% reject aiding Greece and other heavily indebted countries. Ominously for Chancellor Angela Merkel, 82% believe that her government's crisis management is bad, and 83% complain that they're kept in the dark about the politics of the euro crisis.
"There cannot be any prohibition to think" just so that the euro can be stabilized, wrote Philipp Rösler, Minister of Economics and Technology, in a commentary published on September 9 (Welt, article in German). "And the orderly default of Greece is part of that," he added. Instantly, all hell broke loose, and Denkverbot (prohibition to think) became a rallying cry against the onslaught of criticism that his remarks engendered.
Even Timothy Geithner, who attended the meeting of European finance ministers in Poland, fired off a broadside in Rösler's direction. In the same breath, he proposed the expansion—through leverage, of all things—of the European bailout mechanism, the EFSF. According to Austrian Finance Minister, Maria Fekter, who witnessed the scene, he warned of "catastrophic" economic risks due to the disputes among the countries of the Eurozone and due to the conflicts between these countries and the ECB. Then he demanded in dramatic terms, she said, that "we grab money with our hands to stabilize the banks and expand the EFSF unconditionally."
The smack-down was immediate. German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, took Geithner to task and explained to him in no uncertain terms, according to Fekter, that it was not possible to burden the taxpayers to that extent, particularly not if only the taxpayers of Triple-A countries were to be burdened. A bailout "with tax money alone in the quantity that the USA imagines will not be feasible," Schäuble said. (Wiener Zeitung, article in German).
Vocal support for Rösler came today from a group of 16 prominent German economists. If the government in its efforts to stabilize the euro didn't consider the insolvency of a member country, they warned, Germany would become subject to endless extortion (FAZ, article in German). And to impose a Denkverbot concerning it would be a step back into "top-down state thinking." They further lamented that these policies would turn the Eurozone into a transfer union. If the government wanted to establish a transfer union, it should discuss that with the German voters, they demanded, because it would be a fundamental change in the E.U. constitution and should be legitimized by vote. Otherwise, Germany would be "threatened by a populist movement to exit the E.U."
Meanwhile, on his visit to Rome, Rösler had to face down Italian Finance Minister, Giulio Tremonti, who'd "vehemently" demanded the creation of Eurobonds, sources of the German delegation said (Zeit, article in German). President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, supported Tremonti's demands. But Rösler, like Merkel and others, rejected the idea. Transferring liabilities to other countries would remove pressure from debtor nations to reform, he said, differences in yields being a market-driven incentive to get the budget in order. Eurobonds are also legally impossible, he added, based on a recent decision by the German Federal Constitutional Court.
Eurozone must be honest: Big haircuts for bond holders, debt limits for all, says Die Zeit (article in German). The drama of saving European banks that hold Greek debt, and the debt of other tottering Eurozone nations, has been going on for a year and a half. Each effort to keep Greece on track follows the familiar script. Politicians promise spending cuts. Greeks demonstrate. E.U. inspectors check things out and leave angry. Germans declare that Greece will not get any relief until it fixes its problems. Then Greece notices that it needs yet more money and threatens to default. Germany nods. And the next installment gets paid.
By now, all hope for a happy ending has dissipated. Greece is suffering from a multitude of problems that defy quick fixes, among them a huge pile of debt, an inept and corrupt fiscal system where taxes are simply not collected, dysfunctional institutions, and a government-dominated economy. Even unlimited amounts of money can only defer the end game.
But there are already victims. The most recent one: The concept of an independent, apolitical central bank whose primary purpose is guarding the value of the currency, rather than monetizing the debt of countries that have spent beyond their means.
To see how it all started, read my first post on the Bailout Rebellion in Germany
Wolf Richter - www.testosteronepit.com
»
- advertisements -
They would need 60 senators to get onboard and that will not happen ever. Even Democrats from the midwest and south would not vote for a bailout
Every single Senator who has a "wide stance" will find it in their hearts to do the patriotic thing when called upon.
Yeah......like they did in Wisconsin.
if Capt. turbo timmie keep sending over our cash, he may have the same rebellion here......
"if Capt. turbo timmie keep sending over our cash, he may have the same rebellion here......"
Been wating for it, don't think it will happen. USA has turned into sheep...no, wait...perhaps chipmunks.
dizzyfingers,
Do not sell folks short, if the bastds in D.C. think the Tea Party is satan, wait till they start cutting into SS/MC.
The SWHTF big time.
Folks seem to think it's just the recips who will piss and moan, it's not.
If the older Americans can't get by, their kids are going to have to fork over cash,or even allow them to move in with them.
That will be the catalyst that disrupts, and causes the shite.
Over 5 Million children(ages old enough to have had been self sufficient) have already had to move back home since this started, imagine when it goes the other way.
DJ... Rebellions occur when people get hungry... Coming to America, but some time in the future.
Most Americans, if asked, could not tell you one correct fact about the Fed or its mandate.
maybe the 'Occupy Wall Street' protest tomorrow will amount to something????
Isn't the Occupy Wall Street Protest being organized by confessed but not convicted, domestic terrorist Bill Friend of Obama Ayers, and other Leftists of dubious character? I'm wondering how this will be spun so that the Ron Paul/End the Fed movement is cast in a bad light. Sorry but I don't trust anything Bill Ayers is involved with.
It's sad that you never know who will turn up at these "organized protests". Enough of Obama's supporters are on the dole and don't have to work that they can show up and turn it into a sideshow. Then claim they are with the Tea Party. People that get shit for free will work awfully hard to keep the status quo.
Naw......the marxists got us into this mess.......they won't get us out.
They just want more of the same and will point fingers away from themselves when they were the problem all along.
Greece Basket case
Portugal Basket case
Ireland Basket case
Spain Basket case
Italy Basket case
Belgium Basket case
France Wannabe
Germany IS only real credible economy in Europe and 82% of the people know ;)
They never should have let East and West Germany unite. The Germans are just too damn good. How can the rest of Europe compete. In the past, a paranoid Britian would stir up a bunch of lies and propaganda against germany to start a World War to bring them down to size so they could not compete with the crooked, corrupt British mercantliist sytem and their empire. Now Britain has no empire, except for the strong influence (or control) the British Illuminati have over the U.S. We may have to start another war to put Germany and China back in their place.
km4,
Germany IS only real credible economy in Europe and 82% of the people know ;)
Exactly,and if the German people ALLOW Merkel & Co, to FU their viable and productive economy, and lifestyles, pensions, and business model,bailing out a bunch of socialist FU's, she and the entire government should be tarred and feathered.
Germany's economy can be no more healthy than the world economy within which it lives. It buys things for worthless fiat and sells thing for worthless fiat. It cannot escape the world economy, and the fact that its counterparties are all broke. The same goes for China, it can't escape the situation all of the nations of the world have brought about. The SNB intervened in their currency because they understood the reality of the situation.
It's tragically humorous watching TS Geithner and the American flock of bankster prostitute elite trying to tell the Germans that they need to double down on the European sovereign debt bubble or else. This is a nation that went through the hell of the Weimar Republic hyperinflation and all that followed. Geithner looks to them like a cocky mouthy schoolkid who needs to be slapped upside the noggin with a ruler.
Fire the Banksters!
If Perry wins I think he will put Geithner and Ben in Jail, and then they will get slapped with somthing else upside their head.
Would someone, for crap's sake, PLEASE START SLAPPING!!! And don't stop!
Hey! Get in line....
Disobey.
That is all show. They are all in this together, so I wouldn't trust anything aired in the public IMO.
"Geithner looks to them like a cocky mouthy schoolkid who needs to be slapped upside the noggin with a ruler. "
Because he is. The SOB couldn't even cheat on his personal income tax without getting caught. Geitner and Bernanke have used the power of the world reserve currency to export destabilizing inflation to the rest of world and they think that is success. All they have done is stir up rebellions among populations that are getting hungry... and the two dumb asses continue to attempt to manage perceptions by managing asset markets...
These SOBs need a trial followed by serious time in the crossbar hotel. They certainly are not qualified to offer advice on how others should solve their financial problems.
The only advice that Timmy and Ben have to offer is PRINT, PRINT, PRINT... Europeans have seen the result of that course of action... America will soon see.
Here's my proposal: William Black for U.S. Treasury Secretary - http://thespiritoftruth.blogspot.com/2010/01/william-black-for-treasury-...
Black could be our modern day Ferdinand Pecora (who, BTW, coined the term "bankster" during the 1930s Wall Street investigations and prosecutions in the wake of the 1920s bubble pop).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Pecora
Europe: Ten hungry cows and a fat, horny bull milking each other.
First they were all happy but when the bull get surfeited the conclusion becomes catastrophic.
Mooo!
And Germany's GDP is < 1% currently ?
The EU is running out of options .
Id really like to see the NWO take a hit and this thing to seriously go tits up . Watch their " benchmark " socialist model go the way of the dodo bird .
They'd just go to plan B.
My suspicion is that we were supposed to further advance the globalization / single currency / world government agenda before we moved onto targetted depopulation in earnest. But the other way round will work just fine, if push comes to shove. Untargetted depopulation would be more of a lottery, but they can always tidy up the gene pool with eugenics later. And it will make the one world thing easier - 4-500 million peeps who just watched 6500 million die are likely to be far more amenable to the idea, when it's presented as "A unified world is essential if we are to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again!"
Hitler finds out his AP Euro score - YouTube http://bit.ly/oTDCoN
for the first time ever--" Oh, too bad you didn't do your homework; no need to read any further. There has never been day when the majority of Germans wanted to be part of the Eurozone; nor were they ever asked; except in the form of polls; which always say, uh-uh. The Politicians did it for them.
you forget the first motivation for euro union since 1950 : Avoid a new Armageddon.
THe Germans must always remember that, as their politicians, leaders of conquered nation since 1945, acknowledged in their willingness to cooperate. Its now part of their dark heritage. It requires a collective effort from all europeans, members of nation states, who have spilt more human blood in wars over the ages than any other continent since history began.
Zeus should used a different variety of semen when he humped that original cow. It was overdosed in MArs testo.
falak pema
With due respect, isn't the "Eurozone" welfare transfer, just Treaty of Versailles II ? Draining Germany of their justly earned wealth in modern times, will indeed lead to a repeat of bloody history.
WWII was a long time ago and that generation is mostly dead. The younger generation feels they owe little debt to Europe.
Exactly - it may get ugly first, but in the end historical guilt will play a role in Germanys buckling to more/larger bailouts
No worries the IMF will bail everyone out........oh wait.......the IMF is US.
On second thought......let's have the Germans pay instead. Goodness knows how they've wronged Greece in the past.......remember........work will set you free.......but not in Greece.