The United Kingdom has been downgraded by Moody’s. France is teetering on falling into recession. The whole of the EU is sinking into sluggishness. Unemployment is soaring to astronomical heights. And the unelected, irresponsible, highly dogmatic Olli Rehn is not only still in his place but lording it over everyone. It will be fun to watch him dressing down the French. I don’t really think they will stand for such nonsense. But we shall see.
Now why has the austerity dogma been pushed down our gullets here in Europe? Well, because Germany is top dog, or in other words the bully on the block and can do as she likes. And why does she like such a wrong headed ineffective policy? Because Frau Merkel and Wolfgang and so on are of a puritan protestant mind set whereby you must be punished and made an example of.
Take for instance the brilliant economics of: if you don’t manage to balance your budget you will be fined! Hmmm. Considering that one usually is unable to balance a budget because one has a lack of funds… Yes but what else? You can hardly expect her to publicly flog the Prime Minister of the deviant country can you? Why not? It would be fairer than screwing the people to dust. Yes, but not so much fun.
Anyhow, through the threat of being downgraded and incurring the wrath of the markets, austerity has been imposed. So why then is it that Britain has been downgraded? Poor old Osborne has been doing his damnedest to take austerity in Britain beyond its limits. Well yes. And that has led to a sluggish performance, fears of recession and so on and the markets don’t like that. Hence the downgrade.
So we put on the austerity screws because that’s what the markets want and then when the results of those screws appear, recession, unemployment etc, the markets don’t like that either and they slap on a downgrade. Does this make any sense?
It makes perfect sense to me. The world should not be ruled by “The Markets”. They are not there to shape economic policy, they merely react to the results.
However, the dogmatic hijack of economic policy only uses the threat of The Markets to do as it pleases, punish. And by punish we mean really stick it to the workers who should have no rights and no pay, if that were possible, or only subsistence pay. High unemployment is good because it keeps wages down and people cringing. Oh, and while we are at it we shall stick it to all those uppity middles class yobs who like to read bad books and think.
And hey presto! The Dogmatics rule the roost! They are having their way! I dare say they are rather enjoying it too! Only… only the global economy is going to crap.
Isn’t it about time we all woke up and called a spade a spade? And said out loud that not only is this cruel, inhuman, dastardly but also that it simply isn’t working! Even The Markets say so! (Thank you Moody’s).
Isn’t it about time the global leadership (however this might be defined) threw dogma straight out the door, sat down round a big table, dusted off “bad ideas” like those put forward by Keynes at Bretton Woods (the ones that got scotched by the Americans) and tried again?
Will they do that or will there have to be some terrible war before they realise that that is what they must do. Because do it they must. And soon. Otherwise it will be resolved by other means. Like diplomacy…. ?*
So Lets stick to diplomacy. But not in the way The Frau and little Olli practice it. Which is “Either you impose policies on your people that will throw them out of work and starve them to death, but you keep your perks, or I will se to it that you are starved and destroyed altogether by with holding funds from you!”
This idiocy really must come to an end. Diplomatically. But soon! There’s not much time left!
*Clausewitz is credited with the maxim “War is a continuation of diplomacy by other means”.