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Schaeuble – The Man Behind The Throne
Submitted by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,
It was about 20 years ago when Wolfgang Schäuble, current German Finance Minister, wrote his paper on the danger in the Eurozone reflecting on European policies, even describing his tough behavior towards Greece. Schäuble is the politician who has done much to shape contemporary Germany, and his falling out with Helmut Kohl remains alive and well to this day.
The key point in the paper produced by Wolfgang Schäuble and Karl Lamers in 1994, who were of then the ruling CDU/CSU parliamentary majority in the German parliament, called for a “quasi-constitutional document” based on the model of a federal state. He proposed that the European Parliament should have “the character of a legislative body and [enjoy] equal rights with the Council”. The Council of Ministers should be “called upon to assume, in addition to other tasks belonging essentially to the inter-governmental sphere, the role of the second chamber, that is to say of the house of member states, with the Commission exercising the attributes of a European government.”
The competences of the Union and the member states would be subject to the principle of subsidiarity; they would be reviewed and some would have to be given back to the member states. This was a rather boilerplate federalism structure, yet what was critical and largely overlooked, perhaps intentionally, was the political statement which explains Schäuble’s hard-line position with Greece. The political message stated the need to maintain the Franco-German relationship as the leading role in the enlarging Union. The Schäuble-Lamers paper proposed a “hardcore” Europe, in which a group of countries based around France and Germany would coordinate their policies in order to lead the Union as a whole. However, this core grouping would not establish specific institutional arrangements beyond those already operating in the broader Union.
Many Europeans are starting to see a very hard-line German position championed by Schäuble, which they are characterizing behind the curtain as a more selfish edge by demanding painful measures from Athens and resisting any firm commitment to granting the Greek relief from crippling debt, despite the fact that it was such debt relief that enabled Germany to recover. Yet the position of Schäuble from the outset was his vision that the other nations must coordinate with the core, of which the other nations were not actually regarded.
That perception of a selfish Germany has been fueled by Schäuble’s statement suggesting that Greece would get its best shot at a substantial cut in its debt ONLY if it was willing to give up membership in the European common currency. Schäuble is expected to take his tough stance once again with the next crash candidate. For many, that appears to be Italy, which is now considered the greatest risk within Euroland. Yet, his views are spelled out in his 1994 paper.
Schäuble seems to have foresaw the crisis back in 1994, distinguishing between core members and non-core members. Therefore, his thinking is quite different from that of France. Paris has jumped the gun after the Greece disaster and now want a core Europe push, but clearly with Italy as a full-fledged member into a new federalized Europe.
Behind the curtain, the federalization of Europe is the ultimate goal, although politicians always denied that in front of the curtain. The curtain is starting to be drawn, but the equal federalization of Europe was never part of the German mindset. There seems to be a conflict emerging between Germany and France because France wiped out its economy with insane taxation. It too will fall in this next downward cycle.
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What a scowling, ugly, individual.
"a very hard-line German position"
Ja.. Und was ist der problem???
And why is it I keep picturing Wolfie on the bridge of the Bismarck?
Sunk.
Always has that: 'Get off of my lawn!' look.
personality cult may be entertaining, but i look at it as the main scourge of any political debate.
Wasn't there bankrupcy legislation being debated in the U.S. congress back in 1993/1994? German families have finally done it, taken over the world without ever firing a shot...
The German people have been screwed over for 300 years (?) or so by the tribe banksters and elites. They have been mass murdered in at least 2 years. They seem to never learn. Very sad.
How many Christians did the banksters kill in WW2 plus their "bolsheviks" in Germany and Russia plus the rest of the Europe? 60 million?
Wake up Germans.
Poor analysis. Scaheuble is too small to matter. I think the better explanation for the problem was elucidated by Another, Friend of Another and FOFOA on USA gold website. Their analysis has been pretty much spot on.
I agree. This one man is powerful, but he is a puppet of much greater forces. He is a water boy for the big players. Inside the giant Banks, Law Firms, Corporations, Security Services and the Military sit a select group of people who all know each other and who have a common goal. They use men like this to drive their elite agenda. The difference is he is a smart water boy working for his masters. They really are The Powers That Be.
Exactly. The current public players are the current clowns of the same circus whose sociopathic goal is "to own the earth in fee-simple." Hundreds of years of dis-information, outright lies, theft and murder to continue to try to reach their goal. They'll probably do that in our times because the general public at large has been turned into sheep. Sometimes The Dragon Wins. I understand the frustration of Markopolos (Madoff, SEC) trying to warn folks for 10 years. It gets old.
Just WHO are these guys??
One of the MFWICs...
Everything I can think of to say is both obvious and redundant, so party on......
Wolfgang
Say what you will about the Germans, they do have some pretty cool names.
Yeah I named a German shepherd Hellmutt way back..
Dated a Brunhilda once. Cool name with a bit of an edge to her.
http://pre01.deviantart.net/73b0/th/pre/i/2014/166/f/1/am_freedom_der_to...
And they wonder why Britain wants out! The UK signed up to the EEC (Euro Economic Community) not a EU or feberalising Socialist Superstate. Uk and allies defeated the French Euro Imperial Empire in 1815. UK and allies defeated the German Euro Imperial Empires in 1918 and 1945. Now it must fight the revived Franco-German Euro Imperial Empire again! My how history repeats!
As soon as people allowed the public bailout of private losses they accepted a socialist/fascist system. So long as the bad debt, the majority of which is fraudulent, is not allowed to clear, nothing changes. The fucking owners don't want to "take the hit"...
"As soon as people allowed the public bailout of private losses they accepted a socialist/fascist system."
Exactly. And not only that, it's a one-way ticket.
Since they can print money and own so many hard assets, I'm not sure they care about taking the hit. Maybe the real point is leverage and power. Going back to the Economic Hitman - the point was never to get paid back but to make the debt unapayable and turn the borrower into a debt slave.
WTF is "equal federalization??????????"
"WTF is "equal federalization??????????""
It means that in the (hypothetical at this point) United States of Europe, there will be countries more 'equal' than others.
In other words, some sovereigns are more equal than others.
No high speed railway tickets for him!
Behind the curtain, the federalization of Europe is the ultimate goal, although politicians always denied that in front of the curtain.
This is very true. The ultimate goal of big business, Banks and big military is to unite Europe under one central government. Imagine a diverse group like all of Western and Eastern Europe governed from Brussels. The voice of democracy would be nil! Given corporate control of media everywhere. Read a news site in Kiev or London you would get the same general brain washing script. Why is a United States of Europe important in such a complex age as today's? Well, one should consider Banks and large Corporations, they would hold a death grip on any Brussels United Government. With no borders, exploitation would be the rule. Labor in a race to the bottom.
Consider this one issue today as a lesson for why Central Power over all Europe is wanted. Today, over 40,000 illegal migrants sit in Southern Europe waiting for resettlement to their new Northern European homes. BUT, in todays system, each individual nation must agree to take their share, a quota. BUT, nations are refusing to take their share and Brussels stands impotent. Corporate and Liberal Europe wants these migrants settled to get more cheap labor and to drive the new multi ethnic goals of liberals. Under a United States of Europe. The central power, lobbied by corporate interests would simply issue an edict making all migrants legal citizens and givning them free movement. No nation could object, because they would not exist. Just one of many examples of why the drive for central power is paramount to the Elites of Europe.
Seems like a lucrative opportunity for selling small arms, ammunition and other weapons to allow the People of European countries to resist their rich masters' plans.
no, no, NO.
the "federalization of Europe as ultimate goal" is something that a very small portion of european politicians or people or even elites want... the way you understand it
you are simplifying the issues to the max. the end result looks like populist propaganda, i.e. the sort that preys on the ignorance of the masses
take the principle of subsidiarity, which is in that paper that one of our "core federalists" like Schäuble wrote. subisdiarity is many things, but for sure not "the boilerplate of a federalist structure" as ZH claims
have a look at the wikipedia article about Subsidiarity
it's an old principle, carried over by the Catholic Church (!) from it's origins in the Holy Roman Empire and even before from the Roman Empire
and it's dear to the Christian Democrats, the very "staple" european conservatives which the English-speaking media loves to gloss over, even though they are the driving political force in Europe
"The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary (that is, a supporting, rather than a subordinate) function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. "
Does this sound like "Union" or "Federal" the way it's done in the UK or the US? Where the central government lords it over subordinates? (or keeps them at "arm's lenght")
Subsidiarity means that the center is subordinate to the needs and will of the supporting members, and only does what they can't do effectively on their own
THE SAME WAY A CLUB IS A SERVANT OF IT'S PATRON MEMBERS, NOT THEIR MASTER
this very paper issued a confederative approach, btw. by it's emphasis on the Council as the "higher chamber" of the thing. and the Council is nothing else then the appointed governments of the members, remember? As such, servants of their elected parliaments
have a look at what "US author Reid Buckley writes:
and what your regularly forget, whenever you talk about "the EU" or "the eurozone" is...
that the patron members themselves are armed polities
some of them are in NATO, some are not. some are republics, some are monarchies. most use classical parliamentarism, two are presidential republics, some use the EUR (the eurozone 19), and some don't, and won't
nevertheless, they all collect their own taxes, have their own sovereign budgets, their own sovereign debt and their own sovereign and national armed forces. those are facts
and none of them want to relinquish that, regardless of the pressure. and boy, isn't that a lot of pressure, both from corporates and liberal forces
again, nobody ever mentions european conservatives in any discussion in English about europeans. it's always "liberals vs socialists". wonder why? not me
because it's nearly too simple to bear: you think in a two-dimensional political spectrum, we think in a multi-dimensional political spectrum
you give near-absolute authority and legitimacy to one person being elected to one job, be him a judge, a sheriff or a warlord president
and we find this approach... extreme, and prefer generally elected parliaments that are designed to represent all, not only the winners, and councils of peers
Do not forget that Schauble's first name is Wolfgang. That name is made up of Wolf and gang.
For the clown that downvoted me it is clear that he has no real knowledge of German because the wolf bit of the name does in fact mean WOLF as in the animal. Furthermore GANG in German means path.
gang, in modern German, means corridor, yes. but in the original version (Althochdeutsch) it means the attack, the storming, the fight. ergo "Wolf's fight", or "storming like a wolf"
now that is profound. So who is white fang and who is gang bang?
Could it be that white fang has no nuclear device and gang bang can't control the Squid's man in ECB?
Doesn't the ADL have any dirt on this guy, or has he already done the obligatory atonement tour...?
The haus always wins!
The Fourth Reich is gonna be a barn-burner!
Gonna be? It already is IMO!
Where do you think Werner Von Braun and his scientist buddies were allowed to escape to after the fall of the 3rd Reich was complete?
Sie haben immernoch uberhaupt nichts gesehen!
(You ain't seen nothin' yet!)
Allowed to escape?
Operation paperclip was not "allowance to escape"! Its was "you come 'cos Uncle Sam Needs you!"
Thats the difference between "invisible hand" and "oligarchy hand" !
Next you'll be saying "the Rothschilds and Jews did that" !!
Sorry it was pure WASP America plays!
The tail never wagged the Dog!
Pax Britannica benefitted from Rothschild's acumen.
Wasp America and subsequent Pax Americana benefitted from Jewish inventivity--just like Hollywood-- to create risk taking Investment Banking, alongside Waspish deposit banking under Rockafella's Chase/City and BOFA, until Reaganomics and Clinton abolished FDR's Waspish Barrier between the two : Glass Steagall, to feed the NWO thirst for Imperial "no holds barred" financialized order, now subcontracted post 6 Days war and Dear Henry's shuttle diplomacy and Friedmanite floating rate fiat hegemony --all based on Saud handshake-- to zionist Israel, as Templar state guarding the Oil patch -- and its AIPAC backup supporting the Investment bank clique of Long Island and NY jewish elites from haberdashery origins -- that now controlled the "Great Gatsby" legacy of WS.
Understanding the time line of history, of causality, destroys all the ilusions of false premises.
I'm using the word "escape" artistically, I know all about Paperclip, etc., and who was behind it. You could call it "recruited", you could also call it "stay with the 3rd Reich and suffer the consequences", no difference really.
And the Rothschilds and the Jews DID.
I urge you to read Nicole Foss's excellent post over at AutomaticEarth on this.
The Death of Democracy in a Byzantine Labyrinth
Absolutely !
"Behind the curtain, the federalization of Europe is the ultimate goal, although politicians always denied that in front of the curtain"
True, but there's hardly anyone across Europe who doesn't already know what the EU plans are for a U.S.E. The constitution (name changed to Lisbon Treaty to hide its true intention) was one more step along that road as was the Euro itself.
________________________________________________________
"...with the Commission exercising the attributes of a European government"
Didn't anyone tell Schäuble that the EC cretins are unelected?
The best thing for the EU is that it implodes in a ball of fireworks.
"Didn't anyone tell Schäuble that the EC cretins are unelected?" that's populist propaganda, i.e. that preys on the ignorance of the masses
the "EC cretins" are appointed. by both the elected parliament and the council, i.e. the appointed governments of their own national and elected parliaments
the British PM Cameron is appointed by the elected Westminster Parliament, too, to serve it or be kicked out by it
and so the current Juncker EC were all appointed, too, by two chambers. it's parliamentarism, and I vastly prefer that to any other way
Why is everyone suprised the socialists in Europe are fiscally sodomizing the Greeks with debt?
Socialists TEACH that debt shuffling to less influential citizens is ok, we see this in practice now: What do you think the national debt represents? It is the handing of the bills for socialism to future citizens with less power - the unborn can't vote against this debt being handed to them. And US colleges are teaching kids not to question this Crime of the Century - billing the unborn for current expenses.
It seems like the liberals have it out for the unborn, doing them wrong seems to be a pattern of contempt, to me.
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shouts-Modern-Patriot-Action-ebook/dp/B00OLR...
"socialists" ...hahaha!
Words have meanings. Even Caesar learned that! When he crossed the Rubicon preaching "I am the New Republic!"
He got his comeuppence !
Caesars are not socialists !
It has little to do with 'socialists', although I dislike their policies and wasteful spending. Nixon was a republican and he decoupled the Dollar from gold, a huge factor in this debt crisis. Reagan was the first to make the debt explode.
This is a problem of democracy (where politicians want to give the voters what they want) and lack of monetary discipline.
the evil face of German "we first"...a bit like US hegemony. Both heading for the dustbin.
Tarpley:
Merkel-Schäuble Eurogarchs Risk World Banking Panic in Demented Quest for Regime Change
US, France, Italy Seek to Avoid Berlin-Induced Chaos; Need Obama Ultimatum Demanding 50% Debt Haircut for Athens Now as Preferable to Chinese Takeover; Greek Ultra-Lefts Sabotage Unity, Ignore Lessons of Brest-Litovsk; S&P 500 Closes Ominously Below Head and Shoulders Top After Over $5 Trillion in Worldwide Greece and China Losses, with Ukraine about to Blow; Putin Says Iran Sanctions Must End; Michigan Appeals Court in Grand Rapids Must Free Political Prisoner Rev. Pinkney Pending Appeal
http://www.voltairenet.org/article188131.html
The French are so far over the Laffer curve it is all downhill from here - more taxes to pay for their bloated elitocrats... Laffer must be laffing!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
And Germany, while tough, is also slagging their taxpayers with a "temporary" Soli tax that is now 26 years old, a full grown irritating child. And now some German politicians want to feed the Soli-sohn steroids and whack the German taxpayers harder!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_states_of_Germany#Economy
Ugh.
The Soli?
How about you take a look at the even bigger elephant called Rentenkasse and all the measures to prop it up from Oekosteuer to 3% VAT increase - and without since then the other Euro members taking up debt (from German banks) to buy more German stuff and increase the Exportueberschuss, it would still have imploded already.
.
.
Oh, SCREW YOU, Armstrong.
Whining just because the responsible are keeping the corrupt losers at arm's length?!?
SCREW YOU.
Would YOU gladly without reservation pay for a neighbor
who has spent irresponsibly and repeatedly proven through behavior
that they WILL not change their ways?!
SCREW YOU.
We BOTH know the answer to that.
So fuck off.
"That perception of a selfish Germany has been fueled by Schäuble’s statement suggesting that Greece would get its best shot at a substantial cut in its debt ONLY if it was willing to give up membership in the European common currency."
Alt media pundits are ludicrous. They are anti-€ but trash Schauble for proposing grexit. No consistency whatsoever.
We're all in the same boat. EU / Japan will probably sink first. US will follow. I don't know where China fits in.
I respect Schauble. He knows these bailouts will change a very problematic situation into an unmitigated disaster. Nobody wants to take haircuts, because it will make the current account deficits explode. So the orchestra keeps on playing.
Some people are spilling the beans. The finance minister in my little country (Belgium) actually said last week on public tv that it's 'very unlikely' the tax payer will ever see the money back that was lended to Greece. You'd expect national outrage, but I guess most people were watching the Tour the France.
At the end of the day, nobody knows how this will play out. The debts are so huge that a socially acceptable solution is next to impossible. I think we have to look to Iceland or nineties Russia to have an idea how this will play out.
I know that most countries had a debt restructuring about 70 years ago, but this time is different. There is no room for further population growth, women are already in the workforce, there's the threat of scarce resources, societies are far less homogenized and in Western Europe we have forgotten about scarcity and survival. This will test our resilience. I do not look forward to it.
Isn't that post sidestepping some important consideration.
What about the other member of that Franco-German core?