That is Germany destroying Europe for a THIRD time within a century, albeit “by other means”, perhaps more “benign” as Anatole Kaletsky puts it in his excellent article Can The Rest of Europe Stand Up to Germany? More benign perhaps, but no less destructive. Greece already resembles a war devastated county barring the actual bomb sites.
In a radio interview this morning Professor Yani Varoufakis enlightened us a little as to why an effective and reasonable solution to the Euro crisis (even perhaps the dislodging of The Frau from the Euro as Kaletsky suggests) is not so easy. No, not because Germany holds the purse strings and simply relishes throwing her weight about and bullying the weakest kids in the school yard.
Our great hope for a showdown with The Frau, he tells us is not Hollande. (Hardly a great surprise there), because he is controlled by the Bank of France, which in its turn does nothing without consulting the Bundesbank. So not much hope for any light from there.
No, Varoufakis tells us our only hope at the moment is the unlikely Euro technocrat Mario Monti. Why? Because The Frau’s Nonsense Economics (aka Camerkozy, as Paul Krugman has dubbed it) has led to an ever accelerating destruction of the Italian Economy. Not only are bank deposits flying fast out of the country like paper caught in a wild gale, but also assets are being sold off in haste and capital is racing wildly out of the country.
It is not a condition that can, or should, be sustained for very long which is why, he believes we have a greater chance of Monti doing something to stop the dreadful, destructive German Juggernaut in its tracks. My personal hunch is that it won’t be poor Monti after all, but another Italian gentleman, one that The Frau and the defunct Sarkozy had the audacity to sneer at when they were at their peak, even though he was, at the time Prime Minister of Italy.
Following Kaletsy’s analysis, should Germany be persuaded, forced, pushed out of the Euro (rather than hapless little Greece who wouldn’t make any difference one way or another), the Eurozone crisis could be easily solved. The Euro could be devalued by 50%, and inflation could be allowed to rise, so we could diminish overall debt and give a real boost to growth through stimulus of the economy rather than the retrenchment induced by austerity.
Oh if only. Unfortunately I do not think we have the leadership in Europe that could remotely rise to such a challenge. Unfortunately, Anatole Kalestky’s closing remark is spot on.
German voters “…. need to be reminded that trying to create a German Europe always leads to disaster.”
Since I don’t think the German voters, already being whipped up into a frenzy by the populist press and The Frau’s own electoral ambitions, will be reminded by anybody…..
So…. Maybe we should just batten down the hatches and prepare for disaster!
Plan B anyone? Particularly the bed ridden Greek government!!!