And probably not even for the last time! At the time of writing the Eurogroup has reconvened after an inconclusive week to decide on the Greek question. It has apparently taken a break for…  calculations? Are these people serious? Rhetorical question that one I suppose.

But after the collapse of talks on the budget and all this coming and going and reconvening over the Greek question, with Ministers and Prime Ministers coming and going and coming back to Brussels for talks… or rather for the apparently excellent wines served, one can not help wondering why? Why on earth?

In another age, in another world, summits were really only held after all the work, or damn near all of it, had already been done. Details, calculations, fall positions and so on had been wrangled over and settled by those wonderful faceless aids no one ever met or ever knew much about.

So one cannot help but ask. Have they really not done all the calculations prior to the meeting? Have they really not done all the background work for the alternatives on offer? If not, why not? If they have, then what is all this show in aid of? Are they trying to convince us they are worth their exorbitant salaries or something? If so, they are hardly succeeding because all this smacks of gross inefficiency, and not competence in any way whatsoever!

And totally absurd. Of course matters may be complex and difficult and everyone is trying to do the dirty on the others while getting away with murder themselves, but that is nothing new. All negotiations are like that in one way or another. But this arrant display of dithering around, with no idea of what they want to achieve (other than the German maxim of Heads I Win, Tails You Lose) still less of how to do so, is not only pathetic, but criminally negligent!

And to the point. Christine Lagarde is on record as stating that what we want for the Greek question is not a quick fix but a real fix. Germany of course wishes to achieve the opposite of a quick fix which will be no fix at all, just to get her through to the elections The Frau and Wolfie are hell bent on winning.

So it remains to be seen whether the real fix will prevail despite the interests, not of Germany, but of The Frau exclusively and personally. And if we are presented with a real fix, whether it will indeed be a real fix or some kind of compromise sham that will only get us through the next few months. (If that.)

In any case, the Greek Prime Minister, who so far has confined all his input into vigorously nodding his empty head as soon as The Frau says anything at all, seems to have panicked, and : “… to ratchet up the pressure on the eurogroup, Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has reportedly said the country’s government may collapse if it does not get a decision on the ?31.5bn loan tranche today.“*

One can’t help wondering why he feels this is a persuasive argument. I don’t think anyone at all will care if his so called government collapses, other than the actual members of this so called government who will lose their jobs. But no one else. Certainly not the Greek people, who already know they have not had a government for the last three years at least, and certainly not the Eurogoup and the IMF, since if they cannot decide on whether to hand over the 31.5 bn loan installment, chances are they were only looking for some kind of way not to do so.

After all, everybody knows Greek debt is completely unsustainable. Everybody knows the so called troika programme that has been imposed on Greece is nothing other than a one way street to complete collapse of the economy. So really, quite frankly and in all honesty, why on earth would anyone want to lend even more money to an over indebted country that will default one way or another in the very near future?

They can’t be that daft can they? Well no. They’re just playing the narrow self interest game and to hell with anyone or anything that gets in their way. Greece, that is, at this juncture.

So if the Samaras government does collapse, at least they will have done us some kind of a service!

What can you say?… Other than “Everybody knows the deal is rotten”

And all the lyrics to this song are apt. “Everybody knows the Captain lied.”

*From The Guardian Eurocrisis live blog.

The more we see the EU “in action”, the more we despair of there even being a “European Union” left, if ever there really was one. The European Coal and Steel Union which evolved into the EEC of the six and then went on to grow into an ever larger EU was always a project from above. Nevertheless, in its object of bringing peace to the “Dark Continent”* of Europe it appears to have been successful.

I say “appears” because although it is true that Europe, or what was then still known as Western Europe, did indeed enjoy unprecedented peace and prosperity, till the wars of Yugoslav succession and then the bursting of the  finance capitalist bubble, there were many more factors in place that ensured this peace. Not least of which was the institution of NATO and the Cold War.

The Cold War as a factor of peace? Indeed. Since this signaled the dwarfing of the once mighty, ex Imperial Powers of Europe that had ruled the world for Centuries, and the rise of American hegemony, and, most important perhaps, the Marshall Plan and Bretton Woods accords.

So rather than preening itself on its great success and basking in the otherwise ironic award of the Nobel Prize for Peace, Europe should perhaps start pondering its failures and its mistakes. And basic lack of vision or genuine popular support at any time.

The European project, even at its most popular was never something the peoples of Europe related to much and in any case it was never perceived as their project. It was an institution that supposedly facilitated trade, that gave subsidies to farmers at best, and ruined one’s eating habits through prohibiting traditional English pork sausages on the one hand and the Greek intestine and liver delicacy cockoretsi on the other.

But it was never something citizens of the European member states ever really identified with. Something they would fight and die for. In other words, it never won the hearts and minds of the people. No one ever honestly felt him or herself to be a citizen of Europe, rather than a citizen of France, Italy, Germany and so on.

And this is becoming more and more evident through the Eurogroups and summits. And is, I expect, what will lead, or rather is leading, to the unraveling of the European Union. In fact just as the Marshall Plan from the US led to the creation of peace and prosperity in Europe, so the bursting of the global financial bubble has led to the unmasking of what really underlies our so called European Union.

As we can see from the current wrangling over the budget in the summit being held, there is no European “Union”. Instead, there is a bunch of different nation states, with different interests, with no interest in propping up some kind of Union any more. Each leader is playing to his own audience. The wealthier countries, having been forced by The Frau’s imposition of austerity through her idiotic “golden rule”,  wish to reduce their contribution. Understandably. The poorer countries are desperate for more subsidies, or at any rate no reduction in them. Understandably too.

Cameron is talking directly to the British Euro-skeptics. He is pandering to the Opinion Polls that show a growing tendency of wanting to leave the EU altogether. Angela Merkel too has her own agenda, which is nothing other than her elections in about a year. The same goes for all the leaders. Not one of them has a word to say about the “European Project”. What it is supposed to achieve. How boosting the Economy on a European level will benefit every member state and perhaps help mould these states into a whole.

Nothing. None of that. No one believes in any of that nor has any interest in trying to create any European solidarity, any European identity. I think one of the main reasons for this derives from the “democratic deficit.” No one can feel any direct sympathy for institutions that impose all sorts of unpleasant things with no direct democratic legitimation. Pork sausages, Cockoretsi at best, wilful dissolution of social welfare and labour relations at worst.

But as I have said before, and will no doubt say again, the way The Frau has catastrophically mismanaged what began as the European sovereign debt crisis, has made the underlying European disunion toxic. Whether inadvertently or not, she has stoked and kindled the flames of hate. Of European hate which has caused the worst and most barbaric wars humanity has ever witnessed.

And no one appears to have any interest in trying to douse these flames or mend the situation in any way. We are back to national prejudices, power politics, the strong Germans stamping over the weaker ones with their jackboots and expecting everyone to fall in line with what they want.

None of this augers well for any kind of European Unity, let alone “solidarity”. And unfortunately any hope of some sense appearing at the very last moment, in what the Euro idealists say is “the way of Europe”, is becoming remoter by the day.

*The title of Mark Mazower’s excellent book on Europe.

No surprise that the talks to determine the EU budget are in another chaotic mess. Oh but completely inconsistent. The Frau faction wants to INCREASE the budget. However, quite a number of other leaders of member states do not. They would like to reduce it. And this does not go for David Cameron alone who would settle with a freeze.

Mario Monti has joined David Cameron’s ranks, saying perfectly logically that you cannot raise the EU budget while pressing countries to cut theirs so drastically. Quite so. And there is indeed scope for cutting back quite a lot. Why does the Euro Parliament have to convene in both Strasburg and Luxemburg (or is it Brussels?). Why do commission personnel have to have so many perks and such high salaries? Why is there such waste and overlapping in Commission operational costs all around?

Not to mention why do they have to hold so many Eurogroups and summits and meetings and what nots, with all their dinners and teas and breakfasts and all that. Particularly when hardly anything is ever agreed in these. Of late, everything is always postponed for the next meeting and then the next one after that. Hardly very efficient, nor, I would say, all that “competitive”, is it? 

Mind you, the Commission employees have gone out on strike against cuts to their salaries. Quite understandable. No one enjoys salary cuts. No,

We could have a little more sympathy for them had they not whistled in the wind and looked right the other way when salaries, wages and pensions were (and are) being brutally slashed in countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and perhaps worse of all Greece?

Solidarity matters. It is one of the virtues sorely lacking in the EU. At all levels.

Perhaps it is time to say goodbye?

The only way to go. Laughing!

If there is one good thing (and there may be more than one) coming out of this Euroshambles, it is that the masks of hypocrisy are dropping off ruddy faces. (Hypocrisy in Greek is acting).

Yesterday’s failure to reach any agreement has highlighted what is wrong with Europe. It is not the budget deficits, it is not the debt, it is a grand failure to tell, and face, the truth.

The whole Greek fracas is as much about disinformation and denial of the truth as it is a problem of finances. The Frau had a populist ball with the Blame the lazy Greeks game which spread throughout Europe. Then the myth about how the hard working German tax payer was “giving” money to the lazy Greeks who sat in the sun all day doing nothing.

Never once was it mentioned that the Euro had been set up with faults, one of which was the complete failure to design some kind of “Surplus Recycling Mechanism”, which directly led to the weaker economies piling up debts and deficits which translated into the surpluses of the stronger countries.

And this failure to tell the truth continues as witnessed by German antics. Greek debt is completely unsustainable. The “program” everyone is congratulating PM Samaras of Greece for implementing is not only impossible to attain but will have disastrous consequences. Consequences that of themselves will lead to a default and a possible Grexit, and all that that might entail for the Eurozone.

Why? For petty self interest. The Frau wants to win the next election and has decided to keep Greece moribund and on life support till she does. She has consistently spun the yarn about the German taxpayer “giving” money to Greece, while carefully avoiding to mention that so far Germany has made some 80 billion from the Greek crisis through interest payments and the negative interest on German bonds achieved owing to the crisis.

Instead of opting to come clean and help solve the crisis, she prefers to take Europe to the brink of dissolution. No! She says. We will not write down Greek debt, even though we know it is unsustainable, even if this does lead to a break with the IMF and possible worse consequences. Why? Because if she tells the German electors the truth they might possibly not vote for her, because she will have admitted to lying to them through the teeth.

So unless Merkel and her side kick Schauble decide to become serious and responsible, and look further than their own reelection, things do not auger well for Europe, nor even Germany.

What are we to make of all the utter nonsense being spewed out with regard to The Greek Problem, due to be discussed this evening in the Eurogroup. I will not go into the details of the various propositions and stands being leaked out, demonstrating complete confusion and indecision while the realities of the problem are swept hastily under the table lest anyone notice the real filth that has been amassed.

Truth number one. Nothing of all of this has anything to do with “getting Greece back on track”, or with Greece at all. It is all to do with German petty politics and how nothing at all must be done that could jeopardize The Frau’s return to power in any way. The Greek problem was supposedly put on hold till the American Elections, now the idea is to put it on hold for almost another year till the German Elections. Is that any way to deal with such a desperate drastic economic collapse within the Eurozone?

Well yes. For the Germans. They have already established their protectorate there, so as with everything else it must bend to German wishes on this too.

It remains to be seen whether the whole thing will not blow up in The Frau’s face BEFORE her precious elections. But since she knows the Greek PM Antonis Samaras is completely servile and supine before her, rushing to carry out her most barbaric demands, she is not worried that Greece might rock her boat. And will once more agree to her worst excesses. But since this will lead to Greece ultimately exploding, one could wonder whether she may not have misjudged the time she has available.

Next piece of nasty truth swept under the carpet. In this horrible German Europe that has emerged rather than the European Germany, there is no way Greece can remain in the Euro. After all, the terms being imposed to achieve this, with worse to come, have ensured that there will be hardly any demand left in Greece, that the Greek future within the Euro will remain not only uncertain, but less and less credible, ensuring there will be no investment from anywhere.

In other words, there is no way Greece can remain in the Euro at all. And since the Greek public may have shown itself as incredibly cowardly and frightened so far, it is at least interesting that the percentage of Greeks waning to stay in the Euro at all costs has dropped by a drastic 20% since June. So frightened and cowardly we may be, but at least we are showing signs of not being completely dumb.

Now, the so called “showdown” between the IMF and the Euro tyranny over cutting Greek debt down to size, is again being treated by Europe in narrow self serving terms. No, we don’t want to take a loss on our loans to Greece. No we will not cut down Official Sector debt. Yes, Greece will pay us back in full. Yes we shall continue to destroy the country while keeping it on moribund life support for another twenty years. (And get our money back from a corpse? One has to wonder at the pig headed insistence.)

So the day has come where Europe has made the IMF look far more humane in comparison!!!! South America please note! Not only that. Today’s extreme ultra neo liberal German Europe has also made Obama’s US look like a socialist paradise in comparison.

Congratulations Mien Frau. You have achieved what would once have been considered impossible!

So, we are being told, even the Bundesbank is beginning to sound alarmed. Germany is slipping into recession. Demand is down, exports are down, hence production down. And the country’s 0.2% growth in the third quarter of 2012 is expected to turn negative by the end of the year. Alarm!!!!! Not Germany!!!! The other countries can all go hang and self destruct through recession and depression, but not Germany!!!!

Nevertheless, the German leadership seems to have an inbuilt mechanism of denial of the truth. Their precious numbers show them without doubt they are headed for recession. Why? They ask themselves. They have a simple answer. The German leadership adores simple answers… not just simple ones, but facile answers that protect them from the underlying truths they would rather not accept.

So the answer is simple. It is all the fault of the European crisis that has pushed the EU/EZ into recession! In characteristic Shauble logic, it is some one else’s fault. It is always someone else’s fault. Which is how he countered American exhortations to stop with the austerity and stimulate the European economy instead. He told Timothy Geithner it was all the fault of the American sub prime bubble.

And no doubt that was part of the problem. The other part was the reckless lending of the European banks, in particular Deutsche Bank, to take a random example. And when it comes to the recession of the German economy which is important, whereas recession in any other country is not (according to the Schauble mentality), then the fault lies with the other Europeans. Not with Germany.

Does it not even cross their little minds that perhaps, just perhaps, the German insistence on the most stringent austerity ever encountered in peace time imposed on the Eurozone, might, just might have something to do with it? Because apart from the very guilty countries like Greece and even Spain now, what about the virtuous ones like Holland and Austria say?

The Frau, who has not a clue how the economy really works, was at the peak of her power trip when she imposed the maximum deficit clause on the EZ. That is, all EZ members signed up to never, ever allowing their budget deficits to exceed 3% on pain of the most terrible penalties. Now, did no one really think to point out that imposing further penalties on a country with a deficit problem would only increase the deficit? And worse, did not one of the other European (in)dignitaries, think they could perhaps point out, that if there was to be a maximum deficit then there should also be a maximum surplus level imposed?

And if The Frau may be excused for not having a clue how economies work, does that entitle ALL the others who signed this abomination with such servility not to point out that simple fact? That if all countries must have a deficit level of preferably 0.0%, then how is any country going to achieve a surplus if no one will buy any more?

Excess surplus should be recycled into deficit countries, through purchases of their products to stimulate trade. And if Germany thought it was a good idea for her to have ever increasing surpluses which she should horde at the expense of the struggling countries who were made to suffer, does this excuse every other Minister of Finance, every Euro Commissioner from gently pointing out to her, that what she wanted was goofy?

So Germany has not lost demand for her products from the distressed countries alone, not all of which are under bailout conditions, but also from the AAA rated countries of the north who were doing very well before The Frau decided to impose her Nonsense turned Vampire Economics on them too, instead of the reverse.

So after having very successfully bulldozed all her brain waves through a pathetic European so called leadership, whereby the economies of the EZ have been effectively from stifled to strangled to waterboarded, as is the case of Greece, The Frau now wonders why demand for her brilliant produce has dropped. That wasn’t supposed to happen*! She screams. And it is all the fault of the European recession, which, by implication is nothing to do with her!

Does she so conveniently forget the cause of the recession, the flawed, anachronistic economic policy she imposed by jackboot? Or does she really not realise what the heck she has been doing to Europe and hence the global economy? After all, if China is facing a problem it is also because The Frau has successfully ruined her markets in Europe. (The Chinese cheap clothes shops are closing down by the day in Greece, because there is no money left even for cheap clothes.)

Perhaps it is high time we stopped blaming Germany and put the blame squarely where it belongs. First and fore most with the (ir)responsible European Commissioner, Olli Rehn, secondly with the head of the Eurogroup (on his own admission more interested in getting re elected than doing what he should) Jean Claude Juncker and last but not least, on all the other EZ Ministers of Finance and Heads of state or government.

And there is no excuse for their criminal inaction. Aiding and abetting a crime is just as serious, if not more in many instances, than the crime itself.

*”That wasn’t supposed to happen”, was what the bewildered American crack commando troupes wailed when they were ambushed and cut down in Somalia some 20 years ago.

What is this myth? Well, simply put the myth goes like this: every time the EU faces a crisis, some kind of crisis, any crisis, it muddles, it procrastinates, it comes very close to the brink of disaster, but in the end, at the very last moment, it pulls back and solves the problem.

That has indeed been a feature of the EU. I dare say when the problems were of a different nature and easier to solve than the current crisis deriving from the bursting of the global financial bubble on the one hand and of an extremely badly designed common currency on the other.

There are many analysts, politicians, commentators throughout the whole of the EU who resort to this facile conclusion with a shrug. “Oh well, that is how the EU works. But don’t worry. In the end they will get it right.”

Another reason why it is taken for granted that the crisis will be solved, is, to put it crudely, that the Euro “is too big to fail” and it is. But does any of the above constitute any guarantee that “they” will get it right? And why?

First of all who are “they”, the ones we expect will get it all right in the end? In times gone by the President of the Commission was very instrumental in shaping EU policy and thought. In days when people such as Jacques Delors was the President. Unfortunately the current President of the Commission and the newly designed President of the EU are both nothing but superfluous rubber stamps.

The leaders of the major member nations were also part of the EU “they”, leaders such as Francois Mitterand and Helmut Kohl who knew they had to work together and knew how to do it. Unfortunately today, despite many hypocritical protestations the “they” has been reduced to “she”. The German Chancellor. A simplification perhaps, but short hand for the German government.

So we are all expecting The Frau to fix things at the last moment. But the disastrous results of the German imposed policy in this EU crisis has clearly demonstrated that she does not get it right and may well not be relied upon to get it right in the end either. For very many reasons.

The main reason at the moment is that she is facing reelection in 2013. And for her and her party (major player in this Wolfgang Schauble) their top priority is not Europe, not even the long term prospects of the German economy, but getting back into the seat of power.

It is for this reason and this reason alone that in the pressing case of the unsustainability of Greek debt, they do not want to take any action towards what Christine Lagarde has termed a “real fix”. Firstly they do not want to admit that their policy has not worked. They don’t have to admit it was disastrous, but they do not even want to hint that well, perhaps now, we could do something a little differently.

No! More and worse of the same! Squeeze the secondary Greeks until their worthless pips squeak! They do not want to admit to the electorate that far from “giving” their hard earned money to the lazy Greeks, they have turned this whole crisis into a nice little (albeit short term) earner for Germany. Not only is she receiving revenue from the relatively high interest rate charged on loans to Greece, but she is also profiting very nicely thank you very much, from the negative interest on her own bonds. A development due directly to the crisis in the south.

I heard an estimate this morning from a MP of the Free Democrat party of Germany’s financial gain. It was over 80 billion. But since The Frau has acted as a rabble rouser, vilifying the lazy Greeks and slovenly south, telling her electorate that they are the hard working ones paying for this, she can hardly own up to the truth now.

And that is how she plans to run her reelection campaign. On disinformation and populist impulses. But the German election will not be held till November of the coming year. Well past the “last minute” when the EU is supposed to get it right before everyone is washed overboard. Germany included.

I do not think disaster may be deferred indefinitely. Her favourite solution has been scotched. That is of getting rid of Greece altogether. This has been deemed too costly and too dangerous, so the next best solution has been opted for. Keep the moribund Greece on painful life support (as painful as possible to act as an example to others) and then see what to do about it after the election.

However this rather facile approach has not taken into account two factors. The first that the Greeks and other southerners have reached breaking point form austerity. A point China has made a dire warning about. And the second that the IMF cannot sit by and watch as The Frau drags the whole of the global economy dangerously down so she can win her election.

Christine Lagarde is reported to have said, in connection with the Greek debt situation, and German smug complacency in NOT dealing with it:

“It aint over till the fat lady sings.”

And she is getting ready for her aria.

A Greek singer in an Italian Opera. Coincidence.

“Avanti a lei, tremava tutta Le’Europa”. Perhaps.

Christine Lagarde was perfectly right when she said about the Greek catastrophe, “what we need is a real fix, not a quick fix”. Unfortunately the European Nomenclature so admirably being led by Germany has no intention of really fixing any problem. The Frau’s chosen method, eagerly taken up by the Eurocrats, Olli Rehn and Jean Claude Juncker, is of simply kicking the can down the road, burying their heads in the sand and hoping the problem will just go away.

And why is this? Imbecility? Inadequacy? Foolishness? Lack of Knowledge? No. None of this. It is out of extremely short sighted self interest and a certain arrogant bloody mindedness. They know best. They won’t discuss it and the more their plans fail the more they insist on the same plans out of a total inability to admit they might have been wrong.

So Greece, since its leadership has no voice and no… yes, none of those either, will again be subjected to another disastrous Quick Fix. Schauble is already smirking over how he is fixing this one. Greece will get her tranche and possibly all the tranches that were to be payable within 2012, BUT at the cost of having automatic cuts and tax hikes imposed by a bunch of technocrats. That is through abolishing what is left of Greek democracy. The Greek economy has already been destroyed.

What will be gained by that? Well, the illusion that Germany, and the other European lenders, will not only not lose any money but will continue to rake in all the billions in interest from Greece. And secondly, but more important perhaps, that time will be gained till the German elections, after which Greece may be disposed of as useless baggage.

Now this is a dangerous little game since it cannot see further than Schauble’s nose. If Greece is not given the Real Fix right now, the disease will continue festering. Greece will certainly go completely bust and no “targets” will ever be attained. Besides, how much more can you cut wages and pensions and hike taxes? Already there really is not much left to take.

So far from continuing the lovely little gravy train of lending Greece more and more merely so she can pay you exorbitant interest while her economy collapses, you will end up with a destroyed country in Europe that cannot pay anything back any more because it no longer even has an economy. You will keep the Euro teetering along for another year. Problems in the whole of Europe will start going from bad to worse. Europe is already in recession with the smug AAA rated countries Holland and Austria, say, so dismissive of Greece, also falling into recession.

The German inspired policy is catastrophic. The level of competence of the EU Commissioner responsible Olli Rehn is appalling. The so called heads of the EU Rompuy and Barroso are complete nonentities who do as the Great Frau tells them regardless of the consequences. Consequences they do not even bother to think about. (Or even care about, provided they keep all their perks.)

Can disaster be averted? Of course it can. easily. Will disaster be averted? No. Not at this juncture. If the IMF does ratchet up the pressure as well it might, then Germany will fudge and fumble and procrastinate till it gets what it wants. Nothing to be really done till The Frau gets re elected.

An extremely ingenious German plan as always. Will it work? It may, in that it may well achieve its single object of reelecting the Mighty Frau. But since from the beginning of this crisis and as results clearly show, the German leadership* has grossly misjudged and mismanaged the whole situation, this time will be no exception either.

By continually kicking the can down the road at the expense of the peripheral and now core countries, the German leadership has not gained time, it has lost time and time is running out dangerously. And since the German Elections will be held in about a year, I would say there is not enough time for little Wolfie’s brilliant scheme to work.

The only thing Wolfgang can count on with certainty is the idiocy and complete and utter servility of the Greek government which he can do absolutely as he likes with. But then again, though he imagines he will give the Greek government time by granting, or appearing to grant, the loan installments, the consequences for Greece are so horrendous that I do not think the current parody of a Greek government has much more time left either.

* I feel I should clarify that when I say “Germany” I do not of course mean the entire German nation, but merely the bigoted, dogmatic leadership currently in power.

“Employers’ group slams strike

Today’s strike action has been criticised by a European employers organisation, which fears the walkout will damage Europe’s already-weak economy and deter potential foreign investors.

Philippe de Buck , the chief of Eurobusiness ? the Brussels-based EU employers’ federation ? said:

If you start striking at national level and in companies you only will harm the economy, and it is not the right thing to do today… It costs billions [of euros].”

Well good heavens! They are quite right! Any right to strike should be abolished in Europe at once! How on earth are we going to become competitive? It’s not enough to impose below subsistence levels wages. It’s not enough to impose a completely flexible market whereby virtuous employers can fire the lazy rotten vermin at will. No!

Now we must abolish the right to strike. The Brussels based employers federation is quite right. Strikes cost billions of Euros and are therefore quite intolerable!

Now to whom do they cost these billions of Euros? In Greece alone (a tiny country, by now under 2% of the total EU economy) the brilliant austerity policy imposed to put its economy “on track” has already cost ordinary Greeks, workers, professionals (even businesses you know) billions and is set to cost many more billions. So why are the European employers getting their collective knickers in a twist?

And lest these wise employers haven’t realised, the growing number of unemployed in Europe are unlikely to be moved by such pleas. Imagine! Billions being lost! The homeless, the hungry and those out of work with families to care for, really can’t be expect to see your (il)logic.

We all know how history repeats itself as farce. I wonder what kind of farcical instrument will substitute for the Guillotine. After all, by this point in time we are all so much more humanitarian. Aren’t we?

Are we?

Creating humanitarian crises in the richest continent in the world does not convince one that there are any humanitarian sentiments left in Europe, and particularly not in the ruling classes. The ruling classes being the “captains” of finance capitalism and their loyal servants, the politicians.

Whether history repeats itself or not, whether it repeats itself as farce or not, it does appear to move in cycles. What comes round, goes round. So when these wise people of business start screaming against strikes, they should perhaps remember what eventually happens to all oppressors. Throughout history.

“Allons Enfants de la Patrie! Le jour de gloire est arriv?. Contre nous de la tyrannie |: L’?tendard sanglant est lev? 😐 Entendez vous dans les campagnes …”

This was composed and acted on in the heart of Europe and changed the world. Open your eyes and look at what is going on in the real world, not your natty little models! Forget your petty competitiveness and accounts. Forget the number crunching which abolishes people altogether as a concept, replacing them with ideas such as expensive factors of production that have to be cut.

Yo will only end up cutting yourselves. Badly.

Jean Claude Juncker has been quoted as saying, “We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get reelected if we do it.” Yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting was exceptional in just one way. It threw the disarray out into the open, albeit with a ridiculous squabble over whether the Greek debt/GDP ratio could be reduced by 2020 as originally ordained or should be given another two years to become what they define as “sustainable.”

No one appears to have argued, at least not publicly, that all this is nothing but ludicrous nonsense. That any such target is completely arbitrary and anyway bound to fail, since the only thing these wise people forming the Eurogroup and troika fail to address is Greek GDP.

Apparently all were very delighted with the Greek government for having passed the measures and budget imposing further debilitating austerity, with automatic adjustments every month when these impossible and arbitrary targets are not met. Very good! They said. Bravo! They said. Greece is on the right path! They said.

Did not even one of these… dumbos even realise that this very policy is precisely what will lead to Greek GDP disappearing completely? And where would that put their fine equations and the ridiculous squabble over the 120% debt/GDP target being reached in 2020 or 2022? I have already used the Alice In Wonderland image to describe the goings on and decision making processes of the EU and Eurozone, but this surpasses all madnesses, even those of the mad hatter in this philosophical tract!

The German Economy is slowing down dangerously. And why is that? Oh, they say vaguely. It is because of the recession in Europe. An impersonal cause. Something perhaps like Hurricane Sandy that just happened. An act of God. Here we go back to The Frau as God theory. Because it is precisely because of the German inspired punishing austerity policy being imposed on Europe with troikas and Quislings, that not only the European Economy is in recession but the global economy too has come under threat.

Back to Alice In Wonderland logic. Almost three years into the worst and most vicious austerity/IMF plan ever imposed, Greece still has a primary deficit and an impossible actual deficit (including interest and debt repayments), its debt burden has soared and is set to soar even further. Well, when 100 billion is written off in exchange for a further loan of 130 billion, that is, I would say, inevitable.

So the Greek programme is “off track” we are told. Precisely what track it was supposed to be on with a policy that completely strangles the economy is a metaphysical question. The more the economy is strangled the more remote any target of debt repayment becomes. Yet the Eurozone insists. Austerity, austerity, austerity! And claps with joy when the Greek Quisling proudly announces he has passed laws that will bring about the complete and utter catastrophe of his country’s economy.

Now, the IMF, not renowned for its sane economic policies either, says, look guys, this debt business has got entirely out of hand. You have to cut it down significantly by giving yourselves the cut you so relished giving the private sector. But no! They shriek. No! We can’t do that! We won’t do that! Against the rules! Shrieks Draghi, while insisting on redeeming all Greek bonds the ECB holds at face value, even though the bank acquired them at around 30% of their value. If the Greeks can’t pay, never mind, we shall lend them the money to pay us….! (More debt reduction logic form the ECB!)

And NO! Shrieks The Frau. I have elections next year. I can’t tell the volk that I have just flushed all their hard earned money down the drain! Nor can I tell them that I never flushed their hard earned money down the drain, but have merely been making a killing through the high interest rates.

So what to do? Here is the modern day Gordian Knot. Greece is totally and utterly insolvent. However, the Official sector insists it must be paid back at full face value. No cuts, no discounts. Oh and Greece will continue to apply inhuman austerity, lest it manages to grow somehow and make some money to pay us back eventually. No, that is out of the question.

So, no haircut of Official sector debt and no growth to be tolerated. Deficits and debt will only spiral, so the only thing Greece can do is default on its debt and exit the Euro. But No! The cry goes up. Greece may  not be allowed to default and it is not allowed to exit the Euro either! This will cause one hell of a domino reaction, tantamount to a nuclear chain reaction for the fictional financial capitalist economy, so No! They cannot do that either.

So what can they do? Shift the goal posts from 2020 to 2022? And what is supposed to happen by then? Other than complete melt down. Well actually, as far as The Frau is concerned, it is only for a year longer that she wants to string Greece along in this state of limbo, till she wins the next election. Then she can turn around and give Samaras a taste of his own medicine telling him, as he told her, “Well, you know dear, I really did not mean any of that rubbish I kept telling you to keep you in line, and you can just go hang now!” As Samaras told the Greek electorate.

So this is an impossible situation. A situation everybody knows how to solve, as Juncker himself admits, but no one wants to out of sheer myopic, egotistical and idiotic short term self interest. But the knot needs to be untied. What to do?

Alexander the Great under a similar situation knew exactly what to do. He took out his sword and chopped the knot in two in one decisive stroke. Samaras (and his acolytes) is no Alexander the Great. He is a pitiful Quisling, also interested more in his own short term self interest than in anything else.

But the Gordian Knot will be chopped into two. And soon. Not by Samaras of course, but by events overtaking both him and his idol The Frau. It would be so much nicer if they could negotiate all this rationally. But rationality is something the Eurozone has always been sorely lacking in, it would appear.

Which is one reason the IMF may well be using all this just to get the hell out of Europe and devil take the hindmost.

In the Biblical sense of the first shall come last and the last first. Both of these countries begin with G.