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Will The European Union Destroy Itself Just To Save The Euro?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

David McWilliams (of Punk Economics) begins his latest excellent discussion by conjuring Clint Eastwood and noting that when it comes to the Fiscal Compact in Europe "they are pissing down our backs and telling us that it is raining". The Fiscal Compact will NOT strengthen the Euro but in fact by cementing the austerity agenda into law it will make the political environment even more unstable. The Irishman goes on to discuss why Europe is imploding as he insightfully notes that "financial panics do not cause the destruction of wealth, financial panics merely tell you the extent to which wealth has been destroyed by reckless speculation". The realization that current account deficits and not budget deficits were always the problem in Europe which leaves the fiscal compact akin to a doctor prescribing chemotherapy for heart disease. McWilliams explains why France has seen such a change and why the fiscal compact has nothing to do with the Euro but is all about reassuring the German electorate that they will be protected from the consequences of a monetary union that they were bounced into in the nineties; as they are terrified of 'Peripheraid' - the constant drip-drip feeding of German cash to the periphery. Critically, driving to his final discussion of how the Irish should vote on the referendum - remembering that the German elites want a Federal Republic of Europe and that the entire union is in the midst of a massive negotiation - he lays out in cartoon simplicity why Germany is stuck with a massive personal interest in 'cleaning up the EU neighborhood'. Ireland should not give up cheaply in the referendum 'poker match' as all nations try and figure out who the sucker at the table is. Must-watch clip to comprehend the 'game' occurring in Europe and how it is changing recently.

 

 

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Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:15 | 2439649 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Insanity is self replicating, self perpetuating and always perfectly sane to those lost within.

 

".....by conjuring Clint Eastwood......"

Come on punk Facebook. Make my day year.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:15 | 2440458 JOYFUL
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..."Will The European Union Destroy Itself Just To Save The Euro?"...

If we gonna channel Clint Eastwood, he pretty much summed up all that them sidewinders down on the Euro spread needed t know way back in Outlaw Josey Wales....  

Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy.

But, if yu wanna get fancy n all, Baudrillard kinda paraphrased the great Merikan actor\director here...

The simulacrum is never what hides the truth. It is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true...

in a perfectly applicable rendering of Euromerikas'\Facebooks' plight de jure; whichever way yu slice it, that horse is headed for the glue factory!

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:28 | 2439653 taniquetil
taniquetil's picture

Yes. But I don't think it will be done on purpose.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:53 | 2439688 Chaffinch
Chaffinch's picture

+1
Good answer!

Excellent video: my bet is that the late night poker games are going to go on for a long long time.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:45 | 2439741 ihedgemyhedges
ihedgemyhedges's picture

Gold is agreeing with your "yes" answer..............up $56 last two days.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 20:24 | 2442440 boogerbently
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UHHH

Let me think......

NO

Well wait a minute....

NO

On second thought...

NO

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:31 | 2439670 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

They will destroy households before they let the banks fail.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:35 | 2439696 Chaffinch
Chaffinch's picture

+1
Another good answer!

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:49 | 2439753 Rip van Wrinkle
Rip van Wrinkle's picture

They already have.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:53 | 2439762 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Hold please. Still working the problem.

"I have not yet begun to destroy." - John Paul Jones Bernanke

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:40 | 2441103 narnia
narnia's picture

Does anyone really believe the $ would still be legal tender in the US were it not for the federal authority to tax individuals combined with the fact states are spineless to stop the federal government?

They need the power to tax individuals for the currency to work & to justify enforcement across borders.  The EUR brass knows that.  The IMF knows that.  It's as simple as that.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:33 | 2439684 kito
kito's picture

euro will be a great currency to have once the piigs are gone. no more debt albatross for the euro like the dollar or yen. the european union will stay together, the piigs will only drop the currency. it will eventually work out to be beneficial for all as the piigs will be much better off with their weaker currencies but still keep the benefits of trade within the union. and next time the piigs find themselves on debt suicide watch, it wont create havoc in the world.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:47 | 2439744 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

But in very short supply when everybody withdrawls their money in the PIIGS which will make it to strong and than there will be the flood of euros which will cause severe inflation

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:26 | 2439994 kito
kito's picture

they wont have a chance to withdraw the money. capital controls and bank holidays are just around the corner in greece and spain.......

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:03 | 2440361 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

That don't work!
THEY NEED TO STEP INTO THE CAR, CROSS THE BORDER AND USE THEIR CARD ABROAD!

Maestro! I love it! :)

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:29 | 2440394 kito
kito's picture

ha, as if any relatively healthy european country is going to allow a stampede of spainards, greeks or italians to overrun their country. besides, how will they pay for the gas to get there?

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:18 | 2440968 DFCtomm
DFCtomm's picture

We can see that you haven't lived in the U.S. since 1965. Hasn't the illegal immigration here proven to you that where there is a will there is a way? You think poor mexicans can afford the gas? I don't think that Europe will have the political will to do what is necessary to stop that anymore than we have.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 20:28 | 2442447 boogerbently
boogerbently's picture

They can't have a "currency" without a "coalition".

They can't have a coalition without a currency.

GEE

This is hard !!

Can't we just have all of the STRENGTHS of the union without any of the weaknesses of the union members ???

Who will promise me this? We will vote for him.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:19 | 2440971 Matt
Matt's picture

a) open borders

b) bicycles

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:51 | 2440249 giovanni_f
giovanni_f's picture

correct, +1. The economically significant part of the Euro zone currently is being deterred from important projects (energy supply, reducing bureaucracy e.g.) because of the mess caused by by the banks and club med countries. The U.S. will be able to cope with a strong EU no longer a conglomerate of vassal states. The UK will vanish from the list of nations that matter.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:35 | 2439692 citizen2084
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Brilliant - simply brilliant vid...

 

peAce

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:15 | 2439914 Spitzer
Spitzer's picture

The video is joke.

It is vintage keynesianism. I almost punched my computer scree when it said "austarity doesn't work". Austarity is the bitter tasting medicine that you have to swollow.

The Euro is less keynesian then the US dollar. Does anyone disagree ?

 

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:10 | 2440420 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

Not me! Though it's written austerity, methinks...

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 13:04 | 2440719 DFCtomm
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The problem is that there are two types of spending that are covered by "Austarity". You have the acceptable government spending for roads and such, but then you have entitlements which is the bad type. The socialists don't want you to realize this, and they also don't want you to realize that the bulk of spending goes to those entitlements. Every Western nation needs desperately to cut the bad, but as the vote in France showed that won't happen. You have a strange coalition ensuring this outcome. You have the productive who have paid into and supported the system all their lives and they damn well intend to get what they've been promised. Then you have the leaches who will vote to ensure that the gravy train keeps rolling till the biscuit wheels fall off. This train isn't headed for the cliff it's already over the cliff but it hasn't hit bottom yet, but don't worry we'll get there.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 20:29 | 2442450 boogerbently
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AUSTERITY for EVERYONE......except me, I deserve better.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:27 | 2441001 Matt
Matt's picture

Spending less than you make doesn't work. The problem is that the system doesn't allow for this at the individual level; at some point, people must either default or spend less.

This is what causes economic downturns. We need a fair system that allows everyone the ability to run perpetual, increasing deficits in their personal lives.

Hoarding money (AKA saving) just causes less spending to occur, and does not work. In order for the economy to grow, we need to provide those who cannot afford to spend twice their income with additional assistance. 

Those who do not have any income MUST be provided with a minimum standard of living in the form of social assistance, PLUS that amount again in the form of a credit card which has an automatically increasing limit each year. Better yet, we can empower the people by letting them each set their own debt ceiling!

</MDB impersonation>

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:36 | 2441073 DFCtomm
DFCtomm's picture

You're really, really making this too complicated. Why not just let people print dollars on their inkjet printers.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:35 | 2439695 Nussi34
Nussi34's picture

The solution for Germany is to move out of the crappy neighborhood!

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:36 | 2439702 Chaffinch
Chaffinch's picture

You're not suggesting they move to Poland, are you?

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:35 | 2439698 BandGap
BandGap's picture

I like cartoons. And cartoons where the narration has an Irish accent are the best.

Germany is to Europe what China is to the US.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:41 | 2439728 wisefool
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Hypothecation! The US is to europe as ________ is to ________?

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:00 | 2439804 RoadKill
RoadKill's picture

No the PIIGS are to Germany what Mexico (15 years ago) and Peurto Rico are to the US. Do you make them states, knowing you wont be able to charge taxes and will have to send them money all the time... Or do you have ope. Trade agreements with them... Let them set their wages and currencies at a level wherr you will buy them... Let in their educated and/or hard working immigrants and leave the bad ones across a fence.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:10 | 2439859 sockratte
sockratte's picture

rather row is to china, what greece is to europe...

 

looks like tsipras saw, who will be the fool ;-)

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:37 | 2439709 q99x2
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Hope they don't have a Karl Rove with ballot trucks over there.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:08 | 2439854 el_brio
el_brio's picture

Screw you man.  So sick of seeing lame, poorly thought out, mindless comments like this.  Democrats freaking OWN voter fraud.  Every state that has tried to implement voter ID requirements has had a conservative as governor.  Holder et all will do anything they can to prevent the enforcement of such laws because they KNOW that without rampant fraud the Democrats will get their asses handed to them.  Come visit us in Chicago on election day and you'll see what happens.  Buses showing up at polling places full of permanent welfare recipients that are getting payed a carton of smokes to vote a straight Democrat ticket.  You know what I see at a polling place in a nice conservative neighborhood?  Lots of action in the morning and the evening because these voters have jobs.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:20 | 2440501 gckings19
gckings19's picture

gave you one greeen arrow...wish i could hit it 100x.  you are so right and it is sickening.

 

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 20:33 | 2442456 boogerbently
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This also explains their stand on immigration "reform".

Immigrants = dem votes

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:40 | 2439722 bigwavedave
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We need to remember which side the Irish were on in WW2

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:15 | 2439906 Mitzibitzi
Mitzibitzi's picture

Huh? The Irish were quite rightly neutral during WW-II. And, to the extent that they were dragged into the conflict, they lost merchant shipping to both sides, though mainly to the Germans.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:39 | 2440598 Sandmann
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They were so neutral that German U-Boats refuelled in Irish waters and De Valera signed the Condolence Book at the German Embassy on the death of The Fuehrer

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:45 | 2439735 Stock Tips Inve...
Stock Tips Investment's picture

Europe has several major problems. But the more urgent is the budget deficit. Thesecountries have been growing since spent more than what they produced. But now, whowill finance these deficits? themselves? to where? until when? Many people seek to "revive" the economy. The question is: how? with more government spending? .. and more deficit?. We return to the same: And who will finance these tremendous deficitsnow?. I think they'll have to make an effort to reduce government spending. There is no alternative. That means recession and realize that they were not as rich as they believed.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:47 | 2439746 kridkrid
kridkrid's picture

Compare this to garbage video below by the guy from Stratfor.  A wide gap in understanding... or perhaps propaganda.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:49 | 2439751 l1b3rty
l1b3rty's picture

There is so much political will tying the Union together, it will be fought for until the last split second. The incompetence of the lapdogs of the elite, the politicians, will crash the construct.

http://silvervigilante.com

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:51 | 2439756 Zero Govt
Zero Govt's picture

matters not if it's the Euro or anything else

Politicians will destroy everything to save their skin. Period.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:14 | 2440439 Lebensphilosoph
Lebensphilosoph's picture

Politicians destroy everything anyway.

 

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:52 | 2439759 spanish inquisition
spanish inquisition's picture

In round 1 the Irish sold out and let themselves be bent over for the price of a happy meal. Lets see if they learned anything and can resist the urge to give it up cheap again when they get an offer to supersize and a shake.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:53 | 2439764 Village Smithy
Village Smithy's picture

The truth, when it is revealed, is always so simple and elegant. Very nicely done and good luck with the vote.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:55 | 2439765 RoadKill
RoadKill's picture

Love watching this guys stuff... But I hope hes wrong for my sake and Europe's sake.

The elections in France and Greece show they arent willing to stop voting themselves other peoples money. Like all OPiuM addicts they wont get clean and get a job and fix their own house unless they are FORCED to. Saying "ok guys Well pay to fix your house just this one last time" makes it clear that Germany should leave the ghetto where it built its McMansion when everyine thought the area was gentrifying, and mive ti the gated community on the golf course.

They will have to pay the help more as you see in suoer rich areas like Menlo Park or 5TH AVENUE... But would you rather have a $19mm house in the Ghettos of Mumbai with cheap labor food etc... Or buy a place in Vail and pay more.for your coffee?

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:55 | 2439769 Martin T
Martin T's picture

“Panics do not destroy capital – they merely reveal the extent to which it has previously been destroyed by its betrayal in hopelessly unproductive works” - John Mills, “Credit Cycles and the Origins of Commercial Panics”, 1867

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:02 | 2439813 RoadKill
RoadKill's picture

Nice quote

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 10:56 | 2439777 Burgess Shale
Burgess Shale's picture

Clint Eastwood?  You mean John Vernon.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:05 | 2439835 slackrabbit
Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:05 | 2439834 BeetleBailey
BeetleBailey's picture

Excellent.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:11 | 2439865 ArrestBobRubin
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Will The European Union go the way of the dinosaur and in the process Save Europe?

There.... that's much better.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:34 | 2440088 Olympia
Olympia's picture

The end of the world is near... The ten plagues of Pharaoh “have been brought upon” the USA.

From the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to the Global Financial Crisis of 2007

http://eamb-ydrohoos.blogspot.com/2010/02/ten-plagues-of-pharaoh.html

.

It is the absolute tragedy for the USA. The former illegal immigrants had become the masters of their land; the ultimate masters. The people who wanted to collaborate with the Jews to become “Pharaohs” had the same bad luck. The greedy “locust” of the Asiatic desert swapped the USA and left absolutely nothing standing. The formerly rich people of the New World have been drained of their money to such a degree that they have passed the point of poverty and are headed towards starvation. The Americans now experience desperation and trust in God. Poor and hungry people gather around the fire to warm and cast their eyes up to heaven as their last hope. These are the former planet leaders...

Authored by Panagiotis Traianou

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 11:45 | 2440186 Bicycle Repairman
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No mention of the US or China.  I guess Europe will do all of this in splendid isolation.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:37 | 2440586 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

So what is it to do with the USA or China ? Don't you have your own problems in China and the USA with corrupt elites stealing from the Commwealth ? Don't you have Bankers and Politicians raiding the Community Chest and passing Go and not going to jail ?

So why not concentrate on sorting out that mess ?

Europe is as the man says - and Americans have no idea how it is to have Government after Government take away Currency, Flag, Identity and merge them into a new European bran Tub run by UNELECTED Officials who override national parliaments and lay down laws that are nevewr debated in national parliaments

 

We get New Regions created by the EU and suddenly we lose our Representative in parliament because they decide to change the boundaries - we get no say. They take away our fishing grounds and hand them over to France and Spain to fish them clean. First Americans then Europeans take over all the Utilities and extract as much as they want from us. Europe is doing all this in "splendid isolation"

It is time the whole scam collapsed. Who funded the European Movement in the 1940s - first MI6 then the CIA. All about bundling up Europe into a nice manageable Bloc to make it easy to manage for Washington. Kohl stuffs us with the Euro as the price for German Unification. Germany gets Berlin back but loses Frankfurt and the Bundesbank - just so the German People can be duped they get the ECB in Frankfurt but NO German is allowed to run it - a Dutchman, Frenchman, Italian - but now Germans know they aren't wanted in this Saftladen.

The only reason Geithner and Obama are squeezing Merkel and pulledc the strings of their Sarkozy puppet is to save Wall Street and divert attention from basket Case USA. As for China - well take a look at

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-myth-of-chinese-meritocracy

 

Fri, 05/25/2012 - 14:14 | 2463164 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

Don't want to burst your bubble, but Europe and Japan are vassal states in the American empire.  The USA owns your ass lock, stock and barrel.  That said, the entire empire is tightly connected economically and the USA has a valid stake in the health of our vassal states.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:49 | 2440651 Silva Plata
Silva Plata's picture

My Irish grandmother used to joke: "The two countries that stayed out of World War II were the peace-loving Irish and the cowardly Swedes."

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 12:52 | 2440652 Silva Plata
Silva Plata's picture

We need the "peace-loving" Irish to start acting up again.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 13:21 | 2440779 cthulhu
cthulhu's picture

The underlying metaphor of the German house in the dicey European neighborhood may have some truth with regard to the German outlook, but what about those dicey neighbors? Is it really better that they never get jobs, never clean up their own homes, and rely on extortion to get by? Is the narrator saying that the Irish should negotiate a better deal to get themselves up to speed, or to perpetuate their subsidized sloth?

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 13:23 | 2440785 AndreiC
AndreiC's picture

So WTF is this guy's point? If he's against the euro, then let's dismantle it; but this is not what he seems to propose.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 14:43 | 2441122 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

This guys got a huge hardon for Angie,... to bad its Northern Ireland's banks in collusion with their Queenies' Canary-Wharf that stuck it up their ass --- not to forget mentioning the corporate tax 'dutch treat' with a Double-Irish scheme that Tyler posted. A really good revenue buster, eh?

Everything the peripheries have done have been counterproductive, period! No one wants to own up!

jmo 

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 16:16 | 2441692 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

its Northern Ireland's bank.

You are cracked. Northern ireland Banks ? Such as ?

 

It is DUBLIN banks that are in trouble - 

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 15:27 | 2441432 Don Diego
Don Diego's picture

nice drawings but mostly crap. For starters Germany has zero power, still occupied militarily, with all the gold abroad for "safekeeping", will pay war reparations for the eternity..... All the theatre about Germany's power is to make believe the average Helmut that even though he is paying for Europe's socialism, at least his country is the top dog. Well, Helmut, your country counts for nothing.

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 21:58 | 2442623 zippy_uk
zippy_uk's picture

So the fool is Germany for buying, and spending good money in a down market street 

BEFORE the crash. Ireland should vote NO (always leads to a second vote anyway to get

the right "result"). EU politics - meet the politics of Ireland (KAPOW)

The fool is always the one who turns up at a poker game with more money any anyone else.

 

SIDE NOTE: Elsmere Port (UK) gets the New Astra car investment and Bochem (Germany) gets the bullet. So even Germany is not immune. The UK house might have a big mortgage, but it is located in a prime Sterling location

 

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