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How Germany Is Blowing Up The European Union
Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,
As Germany is set to reject a Greek loan extension request (and no, international press, that is not the same as an extension of the bailout program), Steve Keen uses proprietary numbers issued by the OECD – which is supposed to be on Germany’s side?! – to show how dramatically austerity has failed in Europe- that is, if the recovery of the Greek and Spanish economies was ever the real target. It certainly failed the populations of the countries.
The problem is that nobody, not even the OECD can for Germany to answer to a report. But that does not make the case that is made, any less obvious, or bitter for that matter. Not many people remain ready to think that Greece will do what it has said it will, but I think they have been very consistent in their stated goals, and people get distracted too much by semantics at their own peril.
As Steve shows, and Syriza proclaims, more of the same is not on the table, for good reason. It will and can only make matters worse for Greece. Germany – and the ECB – choose to entirely ignore the consequences of their theories, in particular the humanitarian crisis they have caused in Greece. And any political union that ignores the misery it unloads upon its citizens has a short shelf life.
I see a majority voices out there claiming that Syriza is busy capitulating, but I don’t think that. They’ve always said they are willing to go far to reach consensus with Brussels in order to stay in the EU and eurozone. And that’s what they’re showing. In the world of political dealing and scheming, the Greeks have been remarkable consistent; so much so that this is itself leads people to claim they are not.
But I still wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Varoufakis has long come to the conclusion that the eurozone must and will implode no matter what anybody does, and that he’s simply jockeying for the best position when the time comes to leave the eurozone.
Germany’s bullying- which is how its actions are being perceived by fast growing numbers of people – will come back to hurt it. The eurozone is made up of independent nations, most with their own specific culture and their own language. Trying to browbeat them all into submission, and yes, that is where Germany’s stance is leading, will only lead to much bigger trouble.
But first, it’s still ‘merely’ and economic issue, and it’s therefore the economic ideas behind EU policies that need to be discussed and revised. Unleashing misery on entire nations is indefensible not only from a humanitarian point of view, but also from a historical one. Who in the present context would know that better than Germany?
What Germany holds in its hands, but does not at all realize, is the survival of the European common currency. It must realize that the euro will fail if it tries only to dictate all policies to everyone at every turn. If Germany insists on applying the kind of dictatorship to Europe that it has been doing, the euro is dead. Both for political and historical reasons – nobody will accept being bullied by the Germans for long – and for economic reasons, because Germany’s economic ideas are simply too damaging for other eurozone nations.
Germany – and Holland – are so full of themselves at present – both the politicians and the people – that they are busy blowing up the EU, their cash cow, without realizing this even one moment.
If Greece gives in, Germany will have won, but its bully status will come to bite it in the face. European nations don’t accept bullying, and certainly not from Germany. It’ll be a Pyrrhic victory: the beginning of the end. If Greece however stands firm in its demands, it’s also curtains for the EU. If Greece leaves, it won’t leave alone.
Only the third option, Germany caving to Greek demands, can save the EU. But Merkel and Schäuble have prepped their people to such an extent with the wasteful lazy Greeks narrative that they would have a hard time explaining why they want to give in. The EU may thus fall victim to its own propaganda. That would be funny, no matter how tragic it is at the same time. But it would be an open invitation to the far right as well.
Steve Keen:
For Greece And Many Others, Economic Reform Is Bad For Your Economic Health
A quick quiz: which four countries do you think have done the most to reform their economies over the last seven years? OK, who said Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain? No one? Actually, someone did: the OECD. Yes, I kid you not, according to the OECD, the country that has done the most to reform its economy over the last seven years—that is, from before the 2008 economic crisis until well after it—is Greece. Followed at some distance by Portugal, Ireland and Spain.
I saw this in a tweet, and I simply had to go searching to see for myself. And there it was, on page 111 of the OECD’s publication Going For Growth 2015, released on February 9. The top economic reformers were the basket cases of Europe and the world in general. Unemployment in Greece is 27%; in Portugal it’s 15%, Ireland 12%, and Spain 25%. Those are very, very sick economies. And yet they are also the OECD’s top reformers.
You are, I hope, wondering “how come? Isn’t reform supposed to be good for you?” Well, that’s the fairy story—sorry, theory: reform your economies according to our recommendations, and—whatever else happens—your economy will grow more rapidly and be more stable to boot. Unfortunately for those purveying this fairytale, they also developed metrics by which the degree of reform could be measured, so that a decade later, we can compare the fairy story to the reality.
The EU program that Greece is currently refusing to continue implements part of what is known as the ”Stability and Growth Pact” or SGP—which a radio interviewer last week realized has (with just a slight rearrangement of the letters) a much more apt acronym of GASP. And the other countries that are also under the control of GASP include… Portugal, Ireland and Spain.
Greece is refusing to continue with this program, not because it is “refusing its medicine”, but because the medicine is actually poison. And Greece itself is not the proof of that: the other countries on this list are—especially Spain. Spain did everything that the GASP and mainstream economics recommended, not merely after the crisis but before it as well. The GASP required that member countries of the Eurozone have a government debt to GDP ratio of 60% or below, and run a maximum deficit of 3% or less of GDP.
Spain was doing both before the crisis. Its government debt ratio was below 60% from early 2000, and trending down—hitting a low of below 40% shortly after the crisis began.
Its deficit was even better—not only was it below 3% of GDP at the introduction of the Euro, by 2001 it was in surplus—hitting a peak of 2.5% of GDP in 2007.
Before the crisis hit, Spain was being lauded as a success story for the GASP, and superficially for good reason: not only was it following the GASP program by running surpluses, and reducing its government debt, its economy was booming. Unemployment, which had always been high, trended down from 12.5% at the start of the Euro to 8% by 2007. And then it all went pear-shaped.
This raises two questions, the answers to which cement the case that the EU’s austerity program should end everywhere—and not just in Greece. Firstly, how did Spain appear to be doing so well, and then collapse so badly? And did the EU’s policies contribute to Spain’s problems?
The answer to the first question involves what happened to the debt that GASP ignores (as do conventional economists everywhere): private debt. While the GASP imposed strict controls on government debt, it ignored the blowout in private debt on the erroneous argument that private debt is economically unimportant. Private debt rose from about 120% of GDP in early 2000 to over 200% by the time the crisis began, and peaked at 225% of GDP when the GASP’s austerity program kicked in, as Figure 5 shows.
The growth in private debt gave the economy an enormous boost as it financed Spain’s housing bubble, and the tax revenue from this bubble was the main reason that the government was in surplus from 2000 until the crisis hit. The rise in private debt dwarfed the decline in government debt, and the huge stimulus from private sector borrowing more than compensated for the drag on the economy from the government surplus. As the government was “salting away pennies”, the private sector was wallowing in new debt-financed spending.
But to do so, the private non-bank sector had to get more indebted to the banks—as Figure 5 shows. When growth in private debt turned around, the housing bubble collapsed and private sector borrowing went into free-fall. Then, and only then, did government debt rise—as increased government spending slightly compensated for the plunge in private debt-financed spending. Ultimately, by 2010, the stimulus from rising government spending slowed down the decline in private borrowing. But then austerity kicked in and the government stimulus stalled. Consequently the private sector went from mild deleveraging into heavy deleveraging—reducing its debt by as much as 20% of GDP per year.
Don’t get me wrong here: I am a critic of private debt financed spending when it finances Ponzi Schemes like Spain’s housing bubble, and I believe that sustained recovery will not happen until private debt levels are drastically reduced. But when a private debt bubble bursts, government spending attenuates the downturn. To limit the growth in the government deficit makes the crisis worse, without doing much to reduce private debt compared to GDP because GDP collapses along with the falling private debt.
So these crises—in the OECD’s pin-up countries of Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal—are the product of the EU’s policies. The only way out of the crisis is to end the policies themselves, as Greece is demanding now.
And if Syriza gives in and the EU’s policies are maintained? Then this will go from being an economic and social tragedy to a political one as well. If Syriza caves in, then the Greeks who voted for a left anti-austerity party will switch allegiance to a right anti-austerity party—the fascist Golden Dawn—because they will claim that only they have the balls to actually do in office what they promise in opposition.
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Fourth Reich?
Where's Marie "Dumb as a Donut" Harf to weigh in on jobless benefits for the Greeks?
The new mystery novel... "The Girl with the Cream Filled Cranium"
Correlation is not causation. Every stupid idiot knows this. Besides Mr. Ilargh Meijer, of course.
Reform does not always lead to success, especially in a debt-based economy.
If you reform completely then you will only borrow what your economy can support.
So, if you are reformed and in a depression, then only shrinkage will occur.
If all countries are reformed, and many or all are in recession or depression, then the entire credit market collapses.
Fiat only works well when everyone is growing and believing and borrowing and building and buying and consuming.
(the other direction fiat is bad since there are no other options for survival).
I guess in a shrinking economy the best way is barter, or commodity banking.
In a growing economy then fiat is OK as long as it does not get out of control printing.
Hmmm.
The debt of these sovereigns needs to be addressed. There are going to be losses that have to be taken by the debt holders. No doubt the economy of these countries will contract drmatically at first. But in time the forces of natural and organic growth will occur. But until this debt is removed and allowed to become a bankrupt situation nothing will be of a long term solution.
W. ("may the feces of camels fill his throat") used to talk about "catapulting the propaganda" but boomeranging the propaganda is so much more fun to watch.
Meijer is funny, the Syriza idiots are bullying us, the hard working german tax payer! :)
F*ck them, it was their party so its their bill.
@Greyhat. If the hardworking German taxpayers vote for politicians who blow their money on a people so loaded with debt they cant pay it back, this is up the the German taxpayer.
Anyway, we all know it was not the Greeks who were bailed out but the banks.
In America, a vote to end Greek bailouts would be judged unconstitutional.
Germans would THRIVE if they weren't held back by the rest of the "lazy and wasteful" Eurozone.
The rest of the EU benefits from Germany's productivity.
Kicking Greece out would light a fire under weak/needy nations.
They told them how to do it, they SHOWED them how to do it.
Austerity.
Thats right.
@Kitty: We, the german tax payers never elected the bankers that had given to much mony to Greece, we were just unlucky to have politians that were stupid enoug to promise the G20 not to let "systemic relevant banks" go bankrupt, because all did.
But this does not mean Greece is allowed to cut theit debts because now they dont ow it to banksters anymore but to the EU tax payers. Pacta sunt servanda.
Well, I don't see Greece invading Germany anytime soon that's fer sure.
Don't see Poopie Pants and his Poopie Paper even doing that actually.
Interesting that Hamburg might go against the CDU.
That's a lot of cheap stuff...along with I imagine very competent Russians...suddenly coming to port.
That sounds like a German victory fair and square to me.
The Balkans are a messy place. Not sure I'd want to start screwing around in there either....but what the heck, the whole world is on fire....might as well add ye olde timey Powderkeg as well...
Bullshit. Germany profited highly from the Euro and from a high influx of Euro coming from other European countries and from their own tax payers due to reunification tax and lower salary demands (which gave them a competitive advantage). German banks were loaded with cheap Euro that they loaned at everybody that wanted to borrow. That money served as an export subsidy. German products were cheaper than same products from other countries because due to lower labor costs they were cheaper. All that loaned money came back with interest. And when the shit hit the fan, these banks were bailed out. By the same European citizens and their offspring that gave the German banks their Euro.
When you and me make bad investments, we don't get a bailout. Why should banks? That is not capitalism.
This blog is a great overview of the debt based monetary system ponzi. It starts off a bit slow with the goldsmith bankers but lays some good ground work that is used later in the first post. The bitcoin stuff gets a bit out there but still interesting. I hope the blogger continues to post http://debtcrash.blogspot.com/
No shit, the Greeks owe you 8% that is the percentage that did not go the EU banks but to the people. That they owe you prior to reparations, the rest find a banker and take it out of his hide.
Really? That was not said to Germany back in 1953 when their debt was forgiven. Don't you know your own history? Debt and repayment burden leads to economic hardship leading to the rise of brown shirts and men with funny moustaches and before you know it you have armies marching.
All of Europe's industry was in West Germany in 1953. (That includes Russia, North Africa and Great Britain BTW.)
That "forgiveness" was done for Wall Street's benefit...not "Germany's" per se (Germany had to still repay those loans...which they did BIG TIME.)
The USA will never see that type of money ever again. Still...the USA did have the foresight to create that system...unlike this go around I might add.
Bailouts for Wall Street.
Bwhahahahaha.
Pathetic.
Putting aside the comments of that idiot Meijer, there has been precious little reform or austerity in Europe. Govenrment control of markets and the economy remains in place everywhere. The only thing that has been done is that a few public employee parasites have been fired and taxes have been raised. Some of the more outlandish benefits have been cut as well. None of this will solve the problems of the slowly collapsing Socialist Continent. The Greeks in particular want nothing less than neverenging handouts from Germany and rest of Europe and deserve nothing less than being booted out of the Eurozone. Good riddance!
The debt needs to be addressed they need a Iceland action for the whole of Europe. I am very surprised they have been able to kick the can for this long I didn't think they would be able to go for more than 3 years before they ran out of juice but like all things time takes its toll. RIP EU, long live the Independent Nations of Europe.
froze-all predicted 10+ years ago by a few. time has come for very bad agreement to end. but saddest of all is the wealth transfer and the poverty left in the aftermath.
in a macro sense that is what is suposed to happen to bad monetary decisions. but we are talking about peoples welfare, not a corporation fucking shareholders...
"The debt of these sovereigns needs to be addressed. There are going to be losses that have to be taken by the debt holders. No doubt the economy of these countries will contract drmatically at first. But in time the forces of natural and organic growth will occur. But until this debt is removed and allowed to become a bankrupt situation nothing will be of a long term solution."
Nope and nope and rope a dope.
Central banks need to go. The power of printing money/issuing debt needs to come home to roost with the nation and it's citizens. NO reason to have private banks in charge of any nations future. And absolutely no reason to allow, the private banks that own the Central Banks, power to decide the future policy of any nation,
The debt was created deliberately. The aim was??????
the "debt-based" argument is imho quite half-baked, taking no defaults and no NIRP/Deflations in account... then of course it comes from Neo-Keynesians "at heart", with it's "grow or die" ethos
As Raul-the-Author is quite wrong, here: "It must realize that the euro will fail if it tries only to dictate all policies to everyone at every turn. If Germany insists on applying the kind of dictatorship to Europe that it has been doing, the euro is dead. Both for political and historical reasons – nobody will accept being bullied by the Germans for long – and for economic reasons, because Germany’s economic ideas are simply too damaging for other eurozone nations."
the "ideas" are Austrian School, "at heart", and are based on balanced budgets. further, it's not Germany, alone. whatever you want to say about EU/EUR politics, you can't deny that it's based on national interests, expressed by the national governments, with lots of diplo-bitching, of course. All this "Germany dictating" stuff is just boring. Does not explain Ireland, for example
funny how Raul-the-Author expresses strongly leftist arguments which nevertheless are so usefully inflaming the strongly right side of the political spectrum
EU is un-salvageable in its current form. It doesn't matter how much "political" effort (i.e. money) is thrown at this concept, it won't survive because it is an economic aberration. That aberration was created by the common currency, which removed any possibility of internal adjustment for a national economy to outside economic factors (like differences in productivity and social expenditures).
It's dead Jim... stick a fork in it ! And, the sooner Germany sees the light and goes on its own, the less painful the collapse will be for everybody...
Soveriegnty now terminally linked to counterparty exposure. Banking knows no boundaries, nor has alligiance to any nation.
Some TBTF will blow, one way or another. It's a law of nature: what cannot be sustained, won't ! All this political squirming might affect the timing a bit, but not the result.
can someone explain the motive behind the formation of the EU in the first place? well, atleast the motive that was marketed and packaged and sold to the public? how did europe let this happen in the first place? hmmmm lets unite a bunch of culturaly diverse nations under one currency umbrella, and allow a bank to dictate economic policy to all of said countries! fucking retarded
yeah but how did they get the people to play ball? but nevermind i already know the answer. its just crazy to think its actually happening
Started out as a coal and steel union actually.
Economically VERY sound. Italy, France and Germany. There was never anyway Great Britain was going to compete with that.
Nor the Soviet Union as it turned out.
Times were much different then tho.
... can someone explain the motive behind the formation of the EU in the first place?
Some politicians thought it would be a great idea. Maybe they were envious of US (that would be back into Clinton years, mind you...). Who knows ? However, as Draghi would love to tell you "it's a political project" ! Which means two things:
1. Real motivations are irrelevant...
2. It doesn't necesarily have to make economic sense (and it doesn't !)
think 1913 fed creation, rhymes anyways...
Read The Red House Report (EW-Pa 128), a US intelligence report detailing Nazi plans to set up a European Union. It was a blueprint of how the Nazis would take control of Europe not by military conquest but through economic means.
The corporate preparations for World War II started as early as 1925, when Bayer, BASF, Hoechst and other German multinationals formed a cartel called “IG Farben Industry”. The declared goal of this cartel was to obtain control of the global markets in the key industrial sectors of chemistry, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals. On April 24, 1964, the key architects of the “Brussels EU” – all of them active members of the IG Farben/Nazi coalition during WWII – met at the “Brussels EU” headquarters to stake their claims on the future of the European continent.
Key architects/founding fathers:
EU Commission President Walter Hallstein
German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard
Ludger Westrick, Head of the German Chancellery
Karl Carstens, German Secretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Karl-Günther von Hase, Head of the Press and Information Service of the German government
Walter Hallstein, a German lawyer, had been appointed the founding president of the so-called EU Commission, the highest body within the “Brussels EU.” In 1964, the time above meeting took place, he had already been the chief architect of the “Brussels EU” construct for seven years. Hallstein, not legitimized by any democratic vote anywhere in Europe, ruled like a “tsar” – imposed by the successors of the IG Farben oil and drug cartel – over an army of 3,000 administrative servants in Brussels and a budget of billions of Euros (in today’s currency).
Before and during WWII Hallstein had served the Nazi regime as a fervent advocate of Nazi law, among others at the University of Rostock, Germany. In January 23, 1939, three years after his Nazi law colleagues had issued the Nuremberg racial laws – and only months before the Nazi/IG Farben coalition launched WWII by attacking Poland Europe – Hallstein talked about future European law under German leadership (“Rechtseinheit Großdeutschlands”). He left no doubt to whom his loyalty belongs: “One of the most important laws (in Nazi occupied European countries) is the protection Law for German blood and honour.”
Ludwig Erhard had been an economic consultant to the Nazi/IG Farben-coalition. He was founder and head of the Nazi-financed “Institut für Industrieforschung” (“Institute for Industry Research”) from 1942. He was married to the sister of Dr. Guth, the head of the infamous “Reichsguppe Industrie” – the Nazi’s official association of the German Reich’s industrialists. In 1944, Erhard wrote “War Finances and Debt Consolidation” (“Kriegsfinanzierung und Schuldenkonsolidierung”), a study about the reconstruction of the economy in a post-war Germany.
After World War II, Erhard became an economic consultant to the Allied forces and later Minister of Economic Affairs and Chancellor in post-war Germany. He was then a member of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU). In his functions, he was responsible for the reintegration of the IG Farben managers sentenced in Nuremberg for crimes against humanity into leading corporate positions in post-war Germany.
One of those to be “reintegrated” was BAYER's WWII director Fritz Ter Mer. This executive of the world’s largest pharmaceutical (!) company was convicted in the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal No. VI for genocide in connection with the deadly human experiments with patented Bayer drugs in the KZ Auschwitz (www.profit-over-life.org). With the help of Erhard – then Germany's Minister of Economic Affairs – Ter Mer was released from prison and reinstated as the chairman of the board of BAYER by 1956.
Erhard publicly defended such an unspeakable act by stating that the selection of Germany’s post-war industry captains was necessary because of their “expertise in the field of economics and chemical technology.” Obviously, Erhard did not bother that Ter Mer and the other pharmaceutical drug lords had been tried in Nuremberg for war crimes. As part of the “give and take”, Erhard was rewarded with the appointment of vice-chancellor of Germany only one year later.
Ludger Westrick was chairman of the board, president, and later central trustee of the state-owned “Vereinigte Industrie-Unternehmen AG” (VIAG) during the Nazi era. In post-war Germany, Westrick joined the Christian Democratic Party (CDU).
By 1964 – at the time of the above meeting – he had been appointed head of the German Chancellery, one of the most powerful positions in the German political system. In that function he controlled all key decisions of German politics, including economics, foreign policy, secret service, political funds, public relations and propaganda of the post-WWII German government.
Westricks predecessor as head of the German chancellery – and the man who had coordinated the political and financial support for Hallstein and the construction of the “Brussels EU” from the German chancellery for the first 6 years of the new European politburo of the cartel in Brussels – was Hans Globke. Globke was a key figure in Hitler’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was the lawyer who was responsible for implementing the Nazi laws and regulations, subjecting the occupied countries in Europe under the rule of the IG Farben/Nazi coalition. Moreover, Globke was co-author of the legal codex that made the Nuremberg racial laws binding law in Nazi Germany. This codex formed the legal basis for the annihilation of Jewish, Slavic and other people in Nazi occupied Europe. The second author of this codex, Wilhelm Stuckart was a State secretary in the German Interior Ministry and was one of the selected few participants of the infamous “Wannsee Conference” that decided the extermination of more than 10 million Jewish people.
Westrick, the man on the above picture, was the immediate successor of Globke and had been introduced into his office by this man.
Karl Carstens was an enthusiastic Nazi follower, joining the SA already in 1934. He was a registered member of the Nazi party, the NSDAP from 1940 on. In 1955 he became member of the German Christian Democratic Union.
In 1954 Carstens joined the German Foreign Service and from 1955 he was the official standing representative of the German Federal Republic at the European Council in Strasbourg!
Concurrently, he advanced to the position of Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs with the defined field of responsibility: “European Questions.”
In 1958 he advanced the Head of the Division “Europe West” within the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Karl-Günther von Hase joined the Wehrmacht, the German army in 1936. He participated in the Nazi-German Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Battle of France in 1940 and the Invastion of Russia from 1941 to 1945 and married the daughter of a Nazi-General.
After the war, von Hase joined a diplomatic school in the Federal Republic of Germany and started a blitz-career in German politics. From 1962 to 1967 – including the time of the above meeting in Brussels – von Hase was head of the press office of the German government and responsible for its public relations and propaganda.
Only 19 years after the IG Farben/Nazi-coalition had caused the death of 60 million people and destroyed half of Europe during WWII, they were already at it again. Their third attempt to conquer Europe would not take place in military uniforms but in the grey suits of corporate and political stakeholders of the cartel.
Why does the german try take over the world? Cause he's a german!
The formation of the EU was mostly a function of the nonstop warring in Europe up until that point. Common prosperity via enhanced trading would lead to lasting peace. It's worked so far.
The euro was a later artifact. Collapse of Bretton Woods system of exchange lead Europeans to believe they needed a hard currency of their own, else they'd forever be at the mercy of the Americans (see 70s oil crisis). It was also another step towards further EU integration.
It... has its problems!
EU with no Euro would have been some strange creature, bizarre but with a fighting chance for a place under the Sun. However, the Euro eats at it like a deadly disease... Hence peoples' reaction: they know the end is coming, yet they hope for a miracle while trying to postpone the inevitable...
So says a Pro-putin troll. That's the whole agenda at present, they would love to see German policies and EU sanctions dissipate in break up, so Putin can continue his attack westwards ... for the good of the revolution of course.
They sure aren't arguing like rabid dogs for that out of some heartfelt concern about the best interests of the German people, or for Europeans in general, either (whom they hate the shit out of).
Welcome back (to the sewer) Ghordius.
Fuck Off, my good man ! You're on the wrong thread... FYI, it's either Germany leaving euro, or Germany paying for everybody else to stay in. Take your pick.
The Euro was sold to simple folks as a way to avoid foreign exchange fees when crossing borders!
Nothing is going to happen with Greece it never does , this shit has been going on for years ,Greece is going to collapse I'm so scared, this new bunch of muppets will take the money and run or they will die it's as simple as that.
The Greek strategy is logical. They know they are broke, as is the EU and most of the West. They know the 'loans' are fiat nothing, but want to use them as a claim on real physical resources from outside the country.
The EU will cave and kick the can down the road. In a few months they will be in the exact same place as now. If the EU doesn't cave, the time frame will merely be moved up a few months.
Control freaks have a passion for . . . . controlling others. But, their dreams of a NWO will fail. The pesky peons on which such dreams are reliant are too lazy, stubborn, greedy, and full of hubris to make it all work in the end. Such 'failings' end up being virtues.
Yes, and isn't it funny how a few broke Greek Sheeple, turning out to elect some folks who are not a part of the globalist establishment, can throw such a monkey wrench into the grand schemes of the financiers. Outsiders, who looked at the issues and said this is ridiculous, and can't be allowed to continue. Kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz pulling back the curtain.
This is truly grand theater, but meanwhile, the EU/ECB will kick the can again. Greece will get the extension, cause bondholders will go to any length they can to keep the coming chain of defaults at bay. In the long run, it will be like keeping the sun from setting at the end of the day.
Sure, every stupid idiot knows that correlation does not imply causation.
Every thinking idiot knows, however, that correlation does not rule out causation, even if it doesn't prove it. Or disprove it. What an interesting correlation should do is make you go "hmmm...", and look for further evidence, one way or the other.
If you take a few levaquin (an antibiotic) pills, and you suddenly become dead from rhabdomyolysis (massive muscle breakdown), would you parrot "correlation is not causation, the levaquin didn't cause it"? Probably, if you are a doctor or drug company. Probably not, if you are a dead patient, and you do a little research on the subject online.
This "correlation is not causation" argument has become the major tool of argument of many a semi-educated idiot. Such as Wolferl. And of those who need to deny awkward pieces of coincident data. Such as doctors.
DOW 22,000 if Greece bails!
Hey! Dow and S&P are showing nice Head and Shoulders right now at 1:30PM on wallstreet ! Will the market roll-off the right shoulder ?
I am getting so tired of waiting for the shit to hit the fan. My SPY puts are killing me waiting. Seems like the market goes up no matter what.
head and sholders + head up ass = current market...
Fuck Raul Ilargi Meijer & the Horse He Rode In On.
If Germany caves, Portugal, Spain, Italy (check out their bank loans in arrears), and yes, then France, are next.
Germany's economy will be crushed in a vain effort to support the EU, and its taxpayers will be vain, sacrificial lambs in that ultimately fruitless attempt.
This is simple arithmetic, people, but clouded by politicians & socialists dressing as economists such as Krugman.
And perpetuated by oligarchs and thier bankers.
Germany's 80 million citizens - and 50 million taxpayers - can never support/carry the weight of the 400 million strong PIIGS+FUK, even if taxed at a 100% rate!
So?
Its not about taxes its about the Eurozone issueing debt, just like DC issues debt for the US states. This removes power from countries forceing them to do the will of those who will issue the debt.
Yes, As Martin said. They didn't issue a Bond for the whole thing.
That was the tragic mistake at the begininng that ensured it's downfall.
it's one thing to admit failure, but truley another to do something. germany cannot see past their potential losses and understand exactly what was said above.
they will go down with their sociopathic leadership, unless a hero rises. they have democracy and that chance exists. much less likely than greece though. merkel is not that person...
it's one thing to admit failure, but truley another to do something. germany cannot see past their potential losses and understand exactly what was said above.
they will go down with their sociopathic leadership, unless a hero rises. they have democracy and that chance exists. much less likely than greece though. merkel is not that person...
It seems to me that the German economy is going to see some downward adjustments either way it goes. Only speed and distance are variables. Greece will suffer, too, no doubt, but will survive, again.
Probably slobbing furiously for a refill.
Not much else explains how she got such a job. Fucking poli-sci major... what a joke. That field of study, in itself, is an oxymoron. Should be renamed to "abnormal psychology."
I like how she always has her hair and makeup perfect as though to make herself look cute. Perhaps washing her face would help, because it's got "dumb bitch" written all over it.
Obama jobs are all reserved for murderous, ISIS child rapists. Greeks need not apply.
The Euro was a french idea to put a tube into the German wallet. If Germany fails to keep its stability policy, it will be sucked out, and hole of EZ-Europe will be a poverty mess shortly.
Socialism doesn't work!
"Germany – and Holland – are so full of themselves at present – both the politicians and the people – that they are busy blowing up the EU, their cash cow, without realizing this even one moment."
BS - It's the other way around, Germany and the Netherlands are the cash cows of the PIIGSF, they got the BMWs and machines, the "real value", without beeing able to pay for them, since they are less and less able to pay back their debt (fiat money has no intrinsic value!).
You got it!
France has been fucking with Germany for centuries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French%E2%80%93German_enmity
And it ain't gonna stop anytime soon either.
Ya think the whole Euro thing was concocted just to pull down Germany from ruling Europe economically?
Nahhhhhh... The French couldn't be THAT sneaky? Could they?
You mean it wasn't the Jews? Oh, please tell me it was French Jews. Mossad is watching. /sarc
the annoyance value versus all the FX traders of this world, particularly those resident in the UK seems, as usual, completely forgotten, as well as the currency grids before the EUR
Europe has aways been playing top or bottom for centuries. Its silly, disturbing and cancerusly stupid. But play they do. They All play those old royal court dances.
...ignores the misery it unloads upon its citizens has a short shelflife.....
Obviously not fuckin' short enough.
It doesn't matter, when it's all said and done there will be only rubble to rule.....
Why is Germany the "bully" here? It's their $$.
Greece is like the homeless guy who walks into a restaurant and demands to be fed for free.
Obsessive Euro Compulsive Disorder?
Germans work for Russians, literally.
What if it is all staged ? Germans want to end the Euro
Fiat experimentation.
It was good while it lasted, now back to work ! (and actually do something)
Economies require actual value added, not fianancial claims and loans.
Real growth (capital, infrastructure, etc.) is many times overlooked to just have virtually financed gains (non-GAAP, etc.)
Fiat build stages ... and we are all being played out as far as possible before the FAT LADY SINGS.
Reality is 99% perception, 1% magic.
they also require a non debt based society, where "interest" on loans is no longer a policy but made illegal. the only fix we have and history proves this, is a global society without the debt interest sucking parasites being part of it.
there should never be again people who derive their wealth from the backs of others through interest on debt. they have climbed to the top, flase as it is, through sucking the life out of everyone and everything without giving anything.
i will get downvoted only by those who still suck their wealth from the backs of others.
disolve fiat currencys, remove for ever interest on loans and realize once and for all that people, the people of every country need to be in charge together and never again have "appointed\elected\diebolded" leaders who can never restrain from corruption, as history has shown us over and over again.
this is our world, lets get it back on track for the good of all.
Why would the smartest people in Europe want a gold backed currency?
When there is so much worthless pieces of paper backed by nothing but NATO tanks and missiles.
This is a really hard question to answer.
Even a German backed currency is better than the Euro, no ?
There are many other 'backings' possible before going precious metal.
That is why many countries have their own fiat currency and their currency is supported by their country's economy.
A German mark would be preferrable (and more valuable) compared to many other currencies.
Germany has bee supporting the Euro currency for (too) many years.
The myth of the bleeding heart Germany. German Government did mercantile (sometimes called vendor financing) as did China and Japan and now they can't stop. Germany is destroying the EURO because the EURO might succeed if they weren't part of it. Open secret (see China Financial Markets in the sidebar).
Fiat currencies are supported by debt capacity, which will inexorably be filled up because it is the only thing of actual value in the equation. Once that happens, the fiat currency is doomed, waiting only on the realization that it's not backed by anything anymore (as the debt capacity gets exceeded).
Germans want control, because they think they are the brighter lightbulbs on the christmas tree.
And yet they can't win any of the wars they start ...
Never trust a Yid banker.
So....the Germans are yid bankers?
...ending up having their debt nulified (and get Marshal planned)
Old saying---Behind every piece of machinery in Russia stands a German
I love the smell of oligarch suicide in the morning. It smells like....victory.
Yea, just great.
For every oligarch that dies, millions of serfs die.
Will they someday take Berlin?
First they take Manhattan.
Please!!! And as a side bar we'll throw in D.C. as a bonus!! Hows them apples. Milestones
But greeks ARE wasteful and lazy
Well... not exacly... they just want to drive complex machines and walk with technology in their pockets while only producing olive oil and worthless socialist services...
So....exactly how many wars has Greece initiated in the last 30 years?
More proof of their laziness!
how many wars has Japan/Germany/Singapore etc initiated since 1945....
They are vassals, they don't get to start anything but they must serve when called upon.
We keep them alive to serve this ship! Row well, and live!!!
They don't have the ability to wage war, that was taken away from them.
Japan and Germany each sport top-10 worldwide defense budgets. Any lack of capability to wage war is entirely mental.
Here is what the EU is offering Ukraine.
“Those Ukrainians who gave in to the’pro-European’ media propaganda were hoping that the association would result in an unheard-of economic miracle, while in reality the agreement is humiliating to Ukraine, if one is to compare it to similar agreements signed by other countries,” says Ukrainian economist and political scientist Aleksandr Dudak. “It deprives Ukraine of the remnants of its political and economic sovereignty. Europe gets everything, Ukraine gets nothing. Ukraine opens its market without obtaining access to EU markets. Ukraine did not participate in the EU division of labor and at the same time it tore up the irreplaceable economic ties with the Eurasian Union.” His ultimate suggestion for youth of Ukraine is simple. "Leave the Country!"Did we just give up when the Germans blew up Pearl Harbor? NO!
Yeah! It's not over until we say it's over!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-xgd_eETE
Now blow up the muthafukka already you mooks!
I recommend they panic.
Please, even war is simply negotiation by "other" means. Germany is simply negotiating. I think most agree that the majority support keeping Greece in the E.U., okay fine, someone has to pay the membership dues as it were...
Regardless who pays the dues, I guarantee Oblama will still have access to the golf course.
However it ends (Which at this juncture is a likey to be Greece being cast out by the EU) Greece will be blamed.
My Lord, the poor Greeks, dealing with the EU/IMF/WB et al must like be trying to make sense of a clown car dis-engorging the multitude of madness.
Deal with one guy and got one answer, another a second, the clowns can't decide on the size of shoes, noses, color of hair or hats between themselves, but demand the recalcitrant Greece dress in the very same manner upon which the clowns cannot even agree when they wish not to even participate in the madness!
Lunacy! How can one trust or deal with peoples such as these?
Greece always capitalized on their craddle of Europe story to get subsidized. They should never have entered the EURO and should now take the opportunity to get out. Leave Germany with the NEURO (Northern EURO). Italy and Podemos-Spain should follow the same advise.
The EU has been going thru its death throes for about 5 years now. Its terminal and on life support, headed over to hospice soon to die.
And yet everyone still ignoring the elephant in the room... follow the fucking money assholes (including YOU, Mr. "sharkjumper" Keen).
Good luck Greece, may you win out.
DavidC
EU has a HUGE problem on their hands - Syriza "virus" is spreading fast... and the funny thing is not just the PIGS are infected...
...and the only vaccine is ink stored at the CBs. Of course, there is always amputation.
If the Greeks were going to tell the ECB to take their debt and shove it up their a$$ they would have already. No need to waste time about it.
That is why I believe a "deal" of some sort will occur. As always the top will reap the rewards and the Greek population will take it up the poop shoot.
Whatever the case get the fucking thing over with already!
The tragedy is, that the Euro was forced on Germany. The Germans were not asked nor would they have ever given up their Deutschmark.
Merkel or Schäuble are anti-German and they are creating anti-German ressentiments with their stupid austerity politics. Austerity in a debt based ponzi system can not work. The system needs exponentially growing debt. Otherwise the system collapses. The anti-German governments in fake-Germany keep the Germans in the illusion, that austerity could reduce debt. But all money is only created as debt. Reducing debt means reducing the money in circulation.
Additionally the fetish of trade surplus. The Germans all day long hear, how great that was. But trade surplus means, that a country produces more than it consumes and the difference is being paid by more debt of the ones, who consume more than they produce. Who is the stupid one? The one printing the money to pay the goods, or the one being proud that his products are taken for paper promises?
A healthy economy will have roughly a balanced trade blance.
The Germans have nothing from their car factories. Their real wages do not grow. What is growing is shareholder value. Thanks! :D
Who says you can't make this shit up?
http://drudgereport.com.co/hollywood-studio-caught-producing-isis-videos/
That last video of the twenty coptic christians being beheaded really took the cake. Victims all in orange, beheaders all in black except the spokesman. Set in a desert background. It could have come out of a macabre version of Raiders of the lost Ark
What a joke this propaganda is becoming. As I read on ICH recently the only commonality between the seemingly random ISIS attacks is the subsequent advantage taken by the west and pro-west of the ensuing outrage
So far, says an FB Eye Spokesman, the videos appear to have been sent to the WH, and were then sent overseas to ISIS for distribution by an uploader only known as 'barry007.'
Don't believe the hype.
"One source told us that authorities learned of video elements being sent via encrypted FTP servers to a producer “somewhere in the United States.”
" agents were tipped off when they intercepted what appeared to be raw video elements being downloaded on computers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area."
Think about it, too many people have been calling out those ISIS videos as fake (I'm sure they are) now they can say , yes the poor bastards were beheaded,burnt alive etc but the only fakery was cleaning up the videos for dramatic effect, ISIS really are the bogeyman so carry on being scared.
Without media notice [I wonder why], Iceland's supreme court has rejected the appeals of 5 Icelandic Bankers found guilty of fraud and other financial crimes. Now that last appeal went against them, they will be the only Bankers in Europe or the USA to go to jail for the 2008 fraud driven financial and banking collaspe.
Iceland is the only nation with a working legal and justice system. All otehr nations have judicial sustems owned by hedge funds and Banks. Do not laugh, how else explain the entire fraud driven financial crisis in which the USA sent 0 bankers to jail. The same for the EU.
Iceland has also woken up, and withdrawn it's EU membership application. An application the Iceland's new banks and right wing politicians sought to get approved. Thus making Iceland a ward of Berlin and Brussels, and ending the independent judical system of the country.
Gotta love Iceland. I hope their Yhgiisehlullrssstyt volcano blows and shuts down Eurotrash airspace for a year or three.
The US justice system under Eric Holder is as near to a totalitarian state as you can find today.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/a-whistleblowers-horror-story-...
Go Iceland
ISIS: Next stop - Iceland.
Since it seems they are doing all they can to induce boots on the ground (as per orders from cia), perhaps tossing Algerian Christians or Bhutanese Bhudists into volcanos would work. I see baby seals and puppies coming soon.
Oh, that's good.....those B1B Lancer's won't have too far to fly then to make their bombing runs.....
Today Eric Holder set a 60 day limit for any Attorney General to file fraud charges against Bankers. After 60 days they are home free. So how long does it take to investigate and prepare briefs in a fraud case ? Sounds like a Pardon. Mark your calander to see how many are filed
Re: Justice. Information I have just read suggests all roads lead to... The City of London.
http://lifeinthemix2.co.uk/the_house_of_windsor.html
The government and legal system of the United States is totally controlled by the Crown. I have also stated that the British Monarch is not the Crown. The Crown is the Inner City of London, which is an independent State in London belonging to the Vatican system. It is a banking cartel which has a massive system around and beneath, which hides its true power The City is in fact the Knights Templar Church, also known as the Crown Temple or Crown Templar, and is located between Fleet Street and Victoria Embankment. The Temple grounds are also home to the Crown Offices at Crown Office Row.
The CrownTemple controls the Global ‘Legal’ system, including those in the United States, Canada, Australia, and much more; this is because all Bar Associations are franchises of the International Bar Association at the Inns of Court at CrownTemple based at Chancery Lane in London. All Bar Associations are franchises of the Crown and all Bar Attorneys/ Barristers throughout the world pledge a solemn oath to the Temple, even though many may not be aware that this is what they are doing. Bar Association ‘licensed’ Solicitors / Barristers must keep to their Oath, Pledge and terms of allegiance to the CrownTemple if they are to be “called to the Bar” and work in the legal profession.
Bar Associations are awarded their franchises by the Four Inns of Court at Temple Bar. These are the InnerTemple, MiddleTemple, Lincolns Inn and Greys Inn and they are nothing less than elite secret societies without charters or statutes. They are the law unto themselves. The InnerTemple controls the legal system franchise for Canada and Britain while the MiddleTemple does the same for the United States. Queen Elizabeth II is a member of both Temples. At least five signatories to the American Declaration of Independence were Temple Bar Attorneys who had pledged allegiance to the Crown! Another MiddleTemple operative during the formation of the USA was Alexander Hamilton who structured the American Banking system to fulfil the Crown Temples agenda for total control of the United States. So in truth a State wherever it is on this planet, is a legal entity of the TempleCrown, or a Crown Colony.
It is a very interesting artice.
Exellent post. 98% of the people think the BAR is some part of the ourtroom. BAR stands for British Accreditation Resedency; and as you ponted out is in the swearing by attorney's to alligency to the Crown first and foremost.
In 1809 the ORIGINAL 13th Amendment which was Passed in 1819 by the states shut attorney's from being in Federal government because it took away their CHITIZENSHIP in America because of the immense distrust our settlers had toward Britain and attorneys.
Your article has a great deal of fact and truth to it. Milestones
FUCK THE TROIKA.
"FUCK THE TROIKA" There you go again advocating Group Sex Strauss Hahn style
Strauss Hahn - lol
Who is bullying who ? So I don't want to give anymore free money ? And I'm the bully ??? Eff you .
The reality though is the the money is given to Greece and expected to be immediately returned as debt payments. In return, Greece gets to continue mounting debt which only casts the illusion of a semi-functional economy.
No, you baited your hook, and now the fish you thought you had is starting to pull free...No dinner for YOU tonight!
And Greece is a little fish...wait till the bigger ones start pulling free.
shit will happen over the weekend when the markets are closed. Rinse and repeat.
BULL FUCKING SHIT Germany is bullying the rest of Europe. It is Greece and Obama and the Socialist piece of shit Anti-"Austerity" crowd who are the bullys.
Go fuck yourself you Socialist piece of trash.
Damn Germans, they sure know how to blow things up. They are sure following their instincts.
So Greece lives beyond its means, borrows heavily and then cries the blues because it has to pay it back? That's the way the world works now. If you are stupid enough to loan money to me, then you need to learn a lesson when I don't pay it back. Jokes on you.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIPBKuZU2isAj8v7w8QF;...
Just in case you haven't seen this
I cracked up laughing. Wow. Milestones
Yes, if you are stupid enough to lend money to peope who you know will have problems paying it back, then you get what you deserve. There's a thing called "due dilligence", which seems to non existent these days. If they can't pay it back, then they declare bankruptcy but they're not being allowed to do that, they're being made to suffer austerty, for who knows how long.
No, that's how the money lenders make nations clash. The one accuses theother of being lazy, while the indebted one claims the creditor was a dictator. But the truth is, the German taxpayer is being held responsible for the debt, created out of thin air, that the international hyenas gave to Greece.
The system is really not that complicated, but the distractions with the media apparatus works perfectly. Additionally corrupt, stupid or populist politicians and VOILA! The sheeple will never hear the truth, who is really beind their misery. And in case someone educates them, he is called a Nazi and the sheeple immediately stop to listen to what he is saying.
So the international hyenas are the inventors, the politicical actors keep it running and the stupidity of the sheeple prevents that things can change.
And the most shocking truth of all: everyone earns what he deserves.
@ Raul Meijer:
"But Merkel and Schäuble have prepped their people to such an extent with the wasteful lazy Greeks narrative that they would have a hard time explaining why they want to give in."
Wrong, Germany is just paying hard ball. It's a game of whoever flinches first and they are 'playing the game' just like Greece. The media here in Germany is very pro-Europe and it would be very easy to sell any deal to the German people. Sorry Raul, but perhaps you should learn German and start reading German papers and watch German TV if you want to really investigate the other side of that agrument you've made.
"Germany – and Holland – are so full of themselves at present..."
"Holland" is NOT a country! At least get your basic (very very basic!) facts straight if you want to be credible!
"Germany is just paying hard ball. "
yup, it's my way or the highway. great diplomacy.
Wishful thinking. The oligarchs are oligarchs first and foremost, not Germans or Greeks, otherwise we wouldn't have the EU in the first place. But by all means by some puts
Exactly NDXTrader! The EU is all about transfering HUGE amounts of wealth of the ordinary citizens. It's about playing out a Dutch truckdriver against a Polish (= cheaper) one, it's about filling factories in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France with cheap(er) Eastern European workers, it's about transfering well paid banking jobs from Luxemburg to Poland: http://www.wort.lu/de/business/bankensektor-commerzbank-luxemburg-verlag...
The olicharchs will of course not lose a dime in the process.
And that's why the EU(SSR) needs to permanently be expanded from one bankrupt state to the next. The poorer, the better. That means even cheaper labour and even larger sums that can be 'loaned' to these corrupt governments. Ukraine next? Turkey next?
Of course it will implode one day, but not just yet because the German, Dutch, Luxemburgish and Finnish savers are still mostly clueless as to what is about to happen to their savings and pensions...
In other news... Wars of choice that the troika and it's Anglo-American handlers can ill afford!
"Iceland jailed their bankers. Iraq and Libya are kicking out their recently installed US puppet rulers. The plan to start a confrontation with Russia via Ukraine to protect the dollar from the Ruble is crumbling, and the plan to install a new government in Syria, now in its fourth year, by backing Al Qaeda against Assad is stalled as are the plans for war with Iran and China.
The US/PNAC plan to conquer the world and force it back to Bretton-Woods and the petrodollar is in serious trouble.
Message to the government watchers monitoring this site; I did warn you the US could lose this one, didn't I?" Mike Rivero - WhatReallyHappened.com
I don't get the logic of using more government debt to cover for reduced levels of private debt from levels considered "too high." Isn't that akin to blowing a new bubble to offset the effects of the last bubble bursting? When do we start discussing putting more people to work producing stuff through free market capitalism as a way to fix these broken down socialist economies? Why is it everybody i slooking for the economic "free lunch" of big government to build up the economy? No wonder the world economy is in such bad effing shape!
Please do it! Then this idiocy is finally over.
when this unholy alliance fails, it will not have been one day too soon. And hopefully, it will just be the start.
It boils down to a bunch of socialists making promises they can't keep. Even Germany can't keep it's promises. If they keep making promises and trying to keep them then it will all break down.
It will all break down.
In the end we will be back to self sufficiency.
Some intelligible writing here: "The problem is that nobody, not even the OECD can for Germany to answer to a report." The punctuation is awesome as well. Then followed by a sentence beginning with "but" and equally well-constructed.." But that does not make the case that is made, any less obvious, or bitter for that matter."
I stopped there.
Where's Marie "Dumb as a Donut" Harf to weigh in on jobless benefits for the Greeks?
The new mystery novel... "The Girl with the Cream Filled Cranium"
Dat's raycist...Don't insult an innocent donut...
I mean, to keep her job, she must wear out a pair of kneepads in about a week...
The vehicle was one of the many seized from the UAF at Debaltsevo and its vicinity. It seems to be in perfectly good working order. I suppose the most surprising thing about it is that the UAF had no time to put it up for sale, as it did the British-supplied Saxon APCs...
http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/02/us-supplied-armored-humvee-captured...
...and don't miss this one:
http://fortruss.blogspot.ch/2015/02/german-newspaper-bild-gets-inside-us...
Thanks Hannibal , I needed my evil Russian fix. Stealing humaitarian Humvees now eh ? the horror