The #FisCom is the Euro elites' final hope against the collapse of the common currency. It formalizes what was part of the Maastricht Treaty, that laid the foundation of the euro zone. It stipulated deficits must be no more than three percent of GDP. France and Germany were the first to jettison the requirement in the early naughties. Now it has come back to haunt them.
But the Fiscom does more: it requires governments to have their budgets checked and signed off by the overlord in Brussels before the national parliaments can put their rubber stamp. In effect, the core business of parliaments - the budget right - has been handed over to Brussels without so much as by your leave.
But now the entire EU appears to be rebelling against Frau Merkel's fiscal policy. Italy and Greece had their governments's replaced by EU technocrat hacks, the governments of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Romania fell over austerity measures, while key country France seems set to replace Nic Sarko with the socialist Hollande. This is the overall status in various countries:
Greece - The new paradigm in the run up to the general elections on May 6 is the anti versus the pro bailout narrative running across the political spectrum. It leaves the main stream socialist party (PASOK) isolated. Greece looks set to elect a majority of parties against the bailout. The leader of the leading right-wing New Democracy Party has always refused to sign the troika's loyalty declaration, which is why Samaras' actions are eyed suspiciously.
Italy - Mario Monti, the troika-dropped techno bankster had this to say to journalists last week: "While budget discipline was needed, it must be accompanied by policies that drive economic demand". Fully on board the austerity drive, is Super Mario.
Ireland - Ireland, like Greece a bailout country. The last budget complies with the Fiscom rules. Neverthess Ireland is having a referendum on 31st May. So Merkel's 'consensus' of 25 government leaders could become 24. The latest poll bears out this scenario. The exit of a member state was always to be avoided at all cost. It was unthinkable even a few months ago.
Spain - Spain's independent provinces are giving the newly elected conservative Rajoi government a very hard time. Centralization would trigger a national revolt against the government in Madrid. Rajoi has already told Merkel where to stick the austerity targets. So he is negotiating about the ability to negotiate with the Fiscom.
France - Merkel's partner, Nic Sarko looks set to lose the presidential elections on May 6. His rival, Monsieur Hollande says he won’t join the FisCom unless Merkel agrees to set growth targets as well as austerity targets. So he will be negotiating the scope of the FisCom.
Netherlands - After the right-wing minority coalition lost support of Geert Wilders following an austerity drive to get the country to comply with the FisCom, the rump cabinet joined forces with left-leaning red/greens to agree on an a package that does. It combines higher taxation without reforming the extensive subsidy program. Apart from a VAT hike set for October 1, nothing may come of the agreement, whose sole purpose seemed satisfying the Fiscom regulations. Elections will be held om September 12.The new coalition may well set other priorities.
Czech Republic - Like Britain the country has opposed the Fiscom from the get go. Nevertheless, the center right party in power has struggled in the face of repeated confidence votes, delaying reforms aimed at cutting deficits and debt. The austerity drive has angered Czechs and sent the cabinet's approval rating to an all-time low of 16 percent. The government did not survive last Friday's confidence vote.
Romania - Romania's left-leaning opposition will try to form a new government after torpedoing the centre-right cabinet in a confidence vote on Friday, the latest collapse of an austerity-minded ruling coalition in Europe.
Germany - There are calls for a referendum on the Fiscom and ESM and failing that, a constitutional challenge. The official situation is like this: the final vote in parliament #ESM and the FisCom is expected mid-June, shortly before the ESM is taking effect.
“What should they [the elite] regard as too obscene, since they held that all morality was a mere subjective byproduct of the physical and economic situations of men?… From the point of view which is accepted in hell, the whole history of our earth had led up to this moment.” ~~ C.S. Lewis
The US and French Revolutions were based on two contradictory views of man. The motto of the French jacobins, Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood (solidarity) stands in sharp contrast to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Property).
In the present dust up in the US, whether religious employers should be mandated to pay for contraception through health care coverage, the two perspectives are colliding head on.
Unintentional pregnancy is presented as a menace to society as a whole, a human tragedy on the personal level (Obama: girls shouldn't be punished with a baby), and perhaps wordt of all, as a burden on the environment (humansRevil). In both philosophies men are born equal, with a clean slate (tabula rasa), but from thereon the two views split irrevocably.
Whereas in individualism man's rights are inherent, based on Natural Law or endowed by God, in collectivism rights are temporarily bestowed by the state (or whatever collective is applicable). While in individualism man himself chooses his standard of morality, in collectivism it is the collective that is the yardstick. It is therefore not absolute, but fluctuates as the mores of society shift with time and under the pressure of activists. In the former it is man who is responsible for his actions made in free choice, in the latter it is the collective that assumes responsibility on his behalf.
We witness this shift of responsibility from personal to the public sphere time and again: in Obama, who is blaming Bush or just about everyone else for the disasters befalling the USA; Muslims are consistently refusing to take responsibility for deadly riots and acts of terrorism; Nazis and communists turned to scapegoating a discredited leader or a group, but never themselves or the ideology.
After birth, collectivism separates man from his actions. Responsibility for crimes, stupidities and/or any deviant behavior, is deemed a form of disease rooted in the collective which set the norm; the public body is accepting the responsibility on the individual's behalf.
This is how the Left is turning such private cases into a public issue, while going roughshod over individual liberty, the freedom of conscience and free speech rights: pregnancy, abortion, contraception, crimes, addiction of all varieties, eating and behavioral disorders, homelessness, poverty, autism, unemployment, depression, vagrancy, everything is disease! Disease paves the way for costs to be foisted on the public purse. Panic and fear emanating from health scares keep a population docile and responsive to white coated, authoritative control.
Once the separation of a person and his actions has been made, it is unclear what precisely constitutes this morally lobotomized non-being, but we have a name for a human without moral compass: we call it a sociopath. N.B. My interlocutor was shocked by this absolutism, but this is exactly what a person without morals is: a perfect moral relativist like Hannibal Lector. And they are surprised their therapies don't work!
Collectivists are proud of their work. Taking the moral high ground, they believe their system is much more humane towards criminals and deviants. The matter becomes acutely visible in the American versus the European criminal justice system. In fact the collectivist system is less humane than the collectivist thinks: in the moral system, once the debt is paid the slate is considered clean and the criminal gets a new lease of life. But in the demoralized, European 'disease' approach to crime, treatment may well be for life among the busy bodies in a mental institution with as huge lawn, a politically correct copper name plate, in a quite corner in the country. Psychotherapy is now known not to make a flipping ass's end of difference
The core of the radical dogma is equality at birth; during life compensation for the 'under privileged' and handicaps for the overachievers; ensuring absolute equality of outcome on the administration 'soft death', now well on it's way in Europe of becoming a 'right'.
While in individualism rights are limited to life, liberty and property rooted in the nature of man, to collectivists rights are bestowed by the collective on the basis of 'consensus' (whatever that may be): their definition of 'universality'. A philosophical irreducible primer is debased to a piece of paper signed by diplomats they call the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Muslim world didn't sign up to this 'consensus': they have endorsed a corrupted offshoot called the Cairo Declaration. So far, no one has woken up to the contradiction yet!
Update: the Obama has now made cell phones a human right! You get them free with welfare! Hat Tip: @GoldWerewolf Update: Not to be outdone - and there are probably many more cities and towns that follow in its steps - the northern Dutch city of Groningen is dispensing flat screen TVs to the unemployed. This is to remedy a collectivist disease called social isolation. More likely it's to ensure enhanced indoctrination by the lamestream media LOL Hat tip @VictorSterren
"The Tragedy of the Euro" deals with the recent monetary history, from the banking crisis to the credit crunch in 2007/8 to the current euro and sovereign debt crises in 2011.
Philipp Bagus is a young economist and Professor at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. The Mises Institute has kindly released the booklet on PDF (download). It's assigned reading for all students of the (post)modern monetary system. The tome is concise, easy digestible, never boring and doesn't get overly technical. "The Tragedy of the Euro" reads like a who-done-it from cover to cover.
Two rival world views
The history of the EU is the battle ground of two rival, mutually exclusive views on Europe: the Classic Liberal, rooted in individualism is about economic freedom in a voluntary, economic confederation of nation states. The socialist vision is the opposite, and will eventually lead to full integration and central governance from Brussels. That view is laid out in the usual statist-collectivist shibboleths as 'solidarity' and 'social-economic policy'. It pushes for a political union which will inexorably lead to an end of the nation state, without as much as one European citizen ever having cast a vote for it.
The covert statist agenda
The political foundation of the European Monetary Union (EMU) is an economic disaster. An economic argument has been used to conceal the true agenda of the statists. Not for a moment have the proponents been able to convince the citizens of the advantages of the single currency (dispensing with money exchange on trips, or else World War Three will ensue). The euro is a facilitator of central planners, and of the French Empire, to curb the economic power of Germany.
Independence of the ECB?
It was the duty of the Bundesbank to ensure price stability, but the only stability the ECB is ensuring is increased inflation. It's independence has proved to have been a myth. The ECB is an auxiliary for the Commission's social economic policies.
Governments, banks, central banks and the ECB are caught in a revolving door. It's an organic entity. While shortsighted, democratic politicians and their makebility ideals have created the crises, they are demonizing capitalism, markets, neo liberalism, speculators, lazy Greeks, banks and lack of regulation. The crises have the statist fingerprint of deficit spending, confiscatory taxation, stranglehold regulations, control and inflation all over them.
Inflationary policies
The ECB has discretionary power to 'print' money, the virtual creation (QE) of fiat money. The ECB has recently lend banks 500 billion euros in 'new' money. That is after they covertly created hundreds of billions of new money in the 6 months prior. Originally this had to be done through the banks, but now the ECB has begun buying bonds with new money out right.
How does it work?
Banks create new money by buying government bonds and use that to finance the ECB. Governments finance sovereign debt with new money that has been created by banks and banks receive new money using bonds as collateral.
Bailouts
Bailouts of banks are nothing but the guarantee, that governments are good for their sovereign debts. Bailouts of countries are nothing but the guarantee that EZ governments are good for the debts of other EZ governments. Bailouts aren't corporate or transnational welfare, but the propping up of the currency with new money (and tax payers money).
Alternative solutions for the bank bailouts would have been available, but governments preferred throwing tax payer's money at the banks, covering corporate risks taken by the banking system; it set a self perpetuating, vicious debt machine in motion.
Unintended consequences
Governments do not even take the trouble of redeeming sovereign debts anymore. Bonds are simply rolled over and covered by new government debt paper.
Debt is used as collateral for financing new debt. A vicious debt spiral ensues.
Bailing out banks and governments encourage making more debt by a mechanism called 'the tragedy of the commons': no one feels responsible for public property. After exploitation it's simply written off.
As a result of inflation the interest on loans is going up, which deteriorates the situation even further.
The bailouts of banks as well as countries are a double moral hazard: as irresponsible banks and governments are aware of the financial safety net, they are taking risks they otherwise would not have taken.
Against the citizens
The fundamental human right to property is violated by purposefully inflationary policies. First and second users of new money benefit, everyone else pays the price as properties lose value.
Conclusions
Monetary policy is used as political leverage to remake Europe into the collectivist, statist vision.
The project isn't faltering by the lack of integration (although it is used for that purpose); it's because governments do not want the discipline of a standard value. They want unlimited deficit spending to buy elections. The policy is aiming at redistribution in favor of countries whose banking system inflate faster than others. It rewards bad behavior.
For the time being the political will exists to extend the route to self-destruction to its unavoidable end.
This article and this one here, and this one explain precisely how the economic-monetary system is being blown up. The pOmo war on reality strikes again!
Let's clarify this! Take a concept like, peace. Tensions and clashing interests will have to be absorbed by self control and endless parley, opine the peaceniks. What they are actually proposing is pretending there's a state of peace. Which makes it an end in itself. But guess what? Sooner or later stress will rebuild. It's a natural state of affairs. You can't make that go away by merely wishing it. Thought does not make reality.
Now let's have a look at the fallacy. Peace isn't an end in itself, but a condition, the result of a number of factors resulting in an equilibrium. Who wants peace, must make sure that these factors are in place. But by basically taking a short cut and aping peace, the result is a peace of plastic and styrofoam. It's the perception of peace, form without content. With pOmothinkers this stuff is on the order of the day!
Now let's turn to the monetary system. Like the peace of the peaceniks, QE is producing fake growth: it's in fact a hoax. Politicians evading the factors leading to growth do so because they hurt. Because prior to growth there's weeding, bankruptcies and creative destruction (here an explanation from nature). That sort of stuff doesn't make you popular as a politician. So they prefer a short cut, and try to think of ways to mimic growth. In the last century we had the printing press and the state interventions thought up by Keynes (tax and spend and the non existent jobs plans). Now we have QE. Like the fake peace, this will collapse at some point. What precisely will happen, no one knows. Here be dragons, no one has ever pulled a hoax like this.
>>> The fallacy exists because pomo thinkers deny the existence of concepts. Therefore they're unable to properly identify: what is this object in essence, how do I know that, and then solumnly declare: A=A, it is what it is.
Another example from the peaceniks: "Make love, not war" is the morality of a backward infant. The concepts 'love' and 'peace' are being crushed here: love is the reward for integrity of values, and peace isn't the absence of violence, as we have just seen. Holding elections in a failed state is a short cut to a civil society: it's pretending it's a 'democracy'. Gaza teaches us where such a deception may lead.
These pomo creation of perceptions are actually short cuts to something for nothing, the mindset of the criminal. There's a word for coveting a value without wanting to do the necessary effort, or paying the price: it's called theft. The mental crime caught fire by Marx, who proposed to abolish money, so that material inequality might be banned. Here value is being crushed by money.
What is money? Money is a thing in itself (paper, metal), but the real value is in the energy and the material of the surplus production which is represents. QE, or fiat money is just money in itself (paper and metal) without the value of the surplus production. Without a gold standard or some other value reference, it is hot air, funny money.
On the philosophical level pomo thinkers are making the same 'mistake' (actually they do it on purpose) Marx made in economic terms: if you strip a thing of its value, equality will be the result, or at least that is the logic. But abstract values are immaterial and therefore indestructable. In the end the war on values will fail: cynicism, nihilism, ridicule, delegitimization, stripping words of their essence and warping their definition will not lead to more equality.
In the picture above: pomo art, a wild attack on values, but note the projection! It is supposed to be Capitalism, but it actually is QE! We're in a bond bubble! We are printing money to buy our own debt! It doesn't get any more perverse than this!
The #OccupyWallStreet movement started in the United States. The protesters want more equality and less avarice. It is mostly the private sector that is being targeted (barring a few grunts against the FED).
Since the last couple of days the protests have spread to other cities in the world. Since Saturday October 15 #Occupy rallies are being held in 82 countries.
Should you be one of those braindead nihilistic lemmings, you are probably unaware what the Occupy movement is forcing on us. But the next chart is making that plain in the blink of an eye.
This chart is showing the strategies and tactics used over the last decades to lumber the world with Socialism/Marxism. The colored text represents the most recent period. If you look carefully at the terms and the paths taken, you'll see that Socialists over the years have often chosen much less direct propaganda methods. Those methods were not chosen haphazardly, but were developed by the Frankfurt School.
The last method worked wonderfully until very recent, but it has been losing ground due to the free flow of information on the Internet. So Socialists were forced to think of new ways. Many powerful Leftists involved are well capable of such a feat, for instance: Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, Slavoj Žižek, Naom Chomski, Paul Krugman and George Soros.
A broad coalition was formed who said rthat the soft, indirect method isn't working anymore, so let's use the current momentum (the crisis) to adopt a more direct way. Enough already with the half baked rants about multiculturalism and environmentalism; let's take a blunt implement to ethics and reality. The result is your typical Occupy protester: semi and full throttle hippies who often enough don't even know why they are there and are unashamed to admit it; complaining that wealth and money are the root of all evil.
People who support liberty, individualism and life, are at a loss how to handle the new, in your face movement. They are scared stiff, like a deer in the head lights. And that is not very clever and it's very dangerous besides. In form and nature these protests are in the tradition of the agitation that led to the rise of Communism, fascism, the 1968 student rebellion and the ensuing counter-cultural revolution, and the Islamo-Marxist Arab 'spring'.
Rest assured that with lack of a prompt answer the direct method will be even more effective than the indirect way. Within months the thousands may become millions. The only reason why the direct method has failed in the past, is that it was tried and self destructed. The world cannot afford another socialist experiment. Do not allow the Occupiers their Utopia! Destroy them (with the pen) before it's too late.
Houston, we have a problem! Far leftist anarchists with a view to taking a sledge hammer to the ruling paradigm have been uncovered. By Andrew Breitbart, no less. The meta theory is: Washington is intolerably corrupt, but it isn't nearly as powerful as it should be: the Flea Party are Obama's foot orcs, blaming a broken Congress, the rich, the banksters and Big Corporations for Obama's devastation that is called the US economy: the demogogue has been feeding his cretins on a steady diet of class warfare!
But now it seems no-government anarchists are involved in the fleabaggers movement: Andrew Breitbart:
(...) By embracing the Occupy movement, President Barack Obama, the Democrat Party, and their union allies may be supporting an effort to harm both the domestic and global economies; to create social unrest throughout the democratic world; and to embrace other radical causes, including the anti-Israel movement. Ironically, the emails suggest that the President and the Democrat Party may soon find their friends in the Occupy movement to be a political burden. (...)
The relationship with George Soros fascist propaganda outfit has already been made, who incidentally also signed for inciting the Arab Spring. This in turn inspired the European Indignants, who are currently putting up camp just outside the gates of Brussels.
Limbaugh has traced the origins of the #Occupy fleabaggers back the Vancouver based, SoroS backed anti consumer organization Adbusters, which is also staunchly pro Pali antisemitic. The racist association of Jews with bankers and Wall Street is an easy one to make.
That this 'revolution', which should culiminate some time tomorrow, is a completely artificial construct has been clear for anyone who cared to watch it. Here's some evidence of actors being involved. But great fun is had by all, including under cover Conservative muckraker, James "Bankster" O'Keefe!
Europeans are buying the deception hook, line and sinker. But then, they wouldn't recognize evil collectivists if they were to fall over them! 56% of Dutch support #OccupyAmsterdam, Rotterdam etc. etc., 16% oppose.
Another movement involved is Zeitgeist, a progressive, Utopian, sustainable, social engineering madhouse that wants to replace current civilization with a money-free and cybernated "resource-based economy" (home page). What is the Zeitgeist movement.
The Zeitgeist Movement and the Venus Project promote replacing human labour with automation, government will be through collective participation of the public, aided by advanced cybernation. According to the movement, there will be no decision-making process regarding greater social issues by human beings, those decisions are arrived at by using the scientific method, based on the carrying capacity of the Earth, rather than using human opinions. The replacement of human decision making by artificial intelligence is termed 'Social Cybernation'. Private property will not be abolished, but it will become obsolete as culture grows, being replaced by "a system of universal access".
By the time Utopia is attained no doubt the bodies will be piling up.
It didn't have to be this way. The revolt that has been brewing for the last couple of years, that temporarily came to the eruption known as "the Arab Spring", is now on its way to the West. It is at present converging on Wall Street #OccupyWallStreet and Brussels #OccupyBrussels #Revolution_info #globalchange.
- The New Counter Cultural Revolution, same
as the Old Counter Cultural Revolution -
The apotheosis of this 'spontaneous, grassroots rebellion' is foreseen for some time next week. It's a wide range far lefty outfit, consisting of midguided libertarians, #Anonymous Wiki Leaks supporters, eco fascists, anti consumer brigades, anti globalists, unions and other rag tag lefty causes. For an illustration visit Occupy, a global action site against banks and banksters.
Spooky Dude, SoroS' money is involved (just as it was in the Arab Spring). Now here's a tentative hypothesis about the next move on the global chess board.
Although the Obama regime's closest friends are keeping shop on Wall Street, let's not kid ourselves where loyalties lie. A Limbaugh informer has confirmed Obama needs rioting in the streets to fan his re-election strategy for class warefare.
If you want a good laugh, here's their list of demands consisting entirely of entitlements. Oh, but that's not us. This is just dizinformation to confuse "irresponsible news/commentary agencies like Fox News and Mises.org". Confused? Nah. You won't be after reading the official demands issued by a rival lot (don't miss the page on spirituality!).
- The anti corporation agenda of Occupy,
attacking the very source of jobs, wealth and value -
The Europeans are on the side of deep cuts and austerity. On 17th September we saw how tax cheat Timmy Geithner warned the assembled European FinMins. Today he'll testify to US lawmakers that "Europe’s Financial Crisis [is] Increasing Risks to Global Growth", calling for a more “powerful financial backstop” for European banks and government borrowers, one that is “conditioned on policy actions that credibly address the underlying causes of concern.”
Have Obama's commie Americans been plotting a coup against Europe? They sure are on the side of international Socialism. According to good revolutionary theory chaos and mayhem is the way to accomplish it. Besides, you're so much more persuasive if a few million useful idiots in the streets are screaming their affirmation.
As said, it didn't have to be this way. Here's a word on solid money, backed up by gold. Never again let it be said after Rousseau, that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It was never true, but certainly not since 1980, thanks to
(...) Professor Robert Mundell, the primary source of the original supply-side manifesto, “The Mundell-Laffer Hypothesis,” which led to the low-tax-rate, strong-dollar policy at the heart of Reaganomics. The world’s GDP in 1980 was around $11 trillion, reports the World Bank. Today it is around $60 trillion. Mundell had much to do with this. The added $50 trillion-per-year capitalizes to over $100 trillion in new wealth — even when adjusted for inflation. Lower tax rates, free trade and more stable currencies moved something like 2 billion people out of dollar-a-day penury into prosperity. That achievement arguably makes Mundell the greatest living humanitarian.
Then, a reminder who stood at the birth of the single currency: staunch Europeans like Delors, Kohl, Schroeder and Dr Lubbers. Margaret Thatcher wasn't able to prevent the approach to a European super state. Read in an atmospheric article on the history of the plojri how Utopianism trumped common sense -
Why the mistakes that would later threaten the euro were already made in the foundation phase. How Greece and other countries cheated their way into the monetary union. Why the common currency is a trillion-euro bet made by politicians against the markets -- and one that they would ultimately lose. (...)
The true problems were not addressed in the wake of the Jan. 1, 2002 introduction of the euro. Despite all the declarations of intent in Maastricht, the 12 new euro countries drove up their debt by more than €600 billion in the five years of preparations for the introduction of the euro. By the end of 2002, they had a combined debt of €4.9 trillion, with Italy's debt alone amounting to €1.3 trillion. (...)
Rogoff observed that a trans-Atlantic rift was developing between two groups of economists. The Americans and the Western Europeans, who usually more or less agreed on key macroeconomic issues, were suddenly arguing to the point of insult. The Europeans accused their overseas colleagues of failing to recognize the historic processes, the grand vision and Europe's great leap forward. The Americans, dry and pragmatic, accused their European counterparts of downplaying the risks. Once again, they felt that Old Europe was being overly romantic and blind to reality. (...) >>>
The following posting on the site of the German publication Welt Online, written by Gunther Lachmann is relaying a video that has lately gone viral on the German language section of the Internet, much to the dismay of supporters of the parliamentary system.
- Will Europeans defend
their sovereignty? -
What started out as a bailout program for Greece and Ireland, rendering these former proud sovereign nations de facto wards of state of the EU, has now grown into a hatchling Leviathan, EFSF. By 2013 it is to morph into a fully fledged monster (ESM) that will usurp the Parliamentary budget right of all euro zone countries.
We are sleep-walking into serfdom. The future will be taxation without representation! Where is the EuroTeaParty?
It's important to keep an eye on Germany. The Constitutional Court has pulled the brakes at the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, when politicians forgot for a moment that Europe isn't (yet) a state. In fact, there's a new ruling:
The new EU financial authority is seeking rights for itself that has left democrats dumbfounded. Politicians know it since May - and are keep stum about it.
For several days now a video about the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has been making the rounds on the Internet. The video analyzes the draft agreement that the euro-zone countries have charted out in spring of this year. Two interesting things have emerged. First, the features have not yet been publicly debated in Germany, although the draft treaty has already been delivered to the parliamentary parties in May. Secondly, elected officials do not speak directly about the issues as mentioned in the video.
Here is some background information: As of 2013 the ESM will succeed the temporary euro rescue operation (EFSF). The German federal parliament will debate the EFSF later this month. The ESM is to be adopted in December.
In the video, the following points from the preliminary draft Treaty ESM are discussed:
The ESM is to get a share capital of €700 billion. That's twice as much as the entire German federal budget this year.
The ESM members agree "irrevocably and unconditionally" to payment "within 7 (seven) days".
The Board of Governors may decide to change the share capital.
The ESM, its property, and its financial assets enjoy full legal immunity.
The property, funds and assets of the ESM are "exempt from access through search, seizure, forfeiture, expropriation and any other form of seizure, taking or foreclosure by government action or a judicial, administrative or legislative action"
"Welt Online" confronted all parliamentary parties with the findings, produced a "representatives-check.de" video and asked for a brief assessment of the points highlighted in the video. On the advisory board of "deputies check.de" are journalists, such as former "Welt" editor Adam Konrad and longtime "FAZ" correspondent, Karl Feldmeyer.
The SPD announced that it will refrain from "commenting on the video" because of the "dubious campaign" against the euro by "a single operator of various websites - including one on which present video is found". "For further information on its euro policy" the SPD referred us to their Home Page. And since the ESM contract was currently under renegotiation, the statements in the video are outdated and untrue anyway.
What does the Union think
The CDU/CSU parliamentary group is defending the ESM. The financial affairs spokesman Klaus-Peter Flosbach wrote down in their stance for "Welt Online": "The video is much too biased to be informative. This only deepens the voters' confusion. Important issues, central to the functioning of the European stability mechanism, are omitted.
It does not, for example, point to the particularly high hurdles under which financial assistance may be granted. Also missing is information about the participation of the private sector, or that Germany has veto power. This video is but one example of the great need for information. We need to better explain to the voters why we have taken this route in dealing with the European sovereign debt crisis".
What say the Greens
The Green Party said that they had been in conclave the past week and spoke "very intensely about the problems as mentioned in the video". This has led to the following conclusions:
"Despite the need for improvement, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is a useful tool. Therefore, we support it. The ESM must be made operational quickly and credibly. Only that will calm down the financial markets and will a market-driven debt crisis be prevented from happening in the future. At the same time, the rights of the legislature as imposed by the Federal Constitutional Court ruling regarding Lisbon and the integrity of the German Parliament, must be maintained. Therefore a far-reaching involvement of the German Bundestag in important".
The existing laws on the participation and involvement of the German Parliament in matters concerning the EU will serve as a model for the future involvement of parliament in ESM. The Greens call for:
- "The nature, amount of German contributions, and the instruments must be determined by law and can only be changed by an amendment.
- Similarly, should other countries apply to be included in the permanent rescue plan, the agreement of the Bundestag is mandated. Should the federal government for any compelling reason disagree with the decision of the Bundestag, the Bundestag must be immediately informed before the crucial vote takes place.
- Furthermore, the government must inform Parliament of any action in the ESM and decision-making bodies at the earliest possible date, comprehensively, continuously and in writing and orally. The information includes relevant documents, including preparatory articles".
However, should the parliament not agree with the billions of aid, the Greens will immediately reserve their right of democratic participation:
"But the ESM must be able to act in a crisis and be able to respond quickly. Therefore, a mandatory decision of the Bundestag before the granting a loan would hamper coping with the crisis".
But they expect that "the European Parliament will be fully involved: the ESM is to insure financial stability in the euro zone as a whole".
What does Die Linke
Alexander Ulrich, chairman of the Group in the European Union Committee, spoke on behalf of Die Linke about the video: "Die Linke rejects the European stability mechanism - probably the only group in the Bundestag - off hand". Their reasons, however, are different from those in the video. The video completely ignores the participation rights secured by the German Goverment.
"Decisions are either taken unanimously or by a majority which includes a German vote," said Ulrich. Also, the participation rights of the Bundestag are misrepresented in the video, for example that the ESM can't raise capital independently. The Bundestag has set the ceiling for German participation in national law.
"But it is true: Parliament should have more rights in the future, and decide on euro rescue packages," said Ulrich. "What these participation rights should be is up to parliament to negotiate in the forthcoming ratification of the ESM Treaty".
Criticism of the ESM is justified, but the real weaknesses must be pointed out: "We can't waste billions of taxpayers' money in order to save banks and speculative profits. Recipients should not even be driven into recession by socially unjust and economically nonsensical reduction programs that raise their debts instead of lowering them, "Ulrich wrote.
De Linke therefore demand euro bonds and loans from a European Bank for public bonds, so that exorbitant rates of capital markets and speculators are reigned in.
Criticism of economic law expert, Kerber
Outside of politics the issue is viewed differently, says a Berlin economic law expert, Markus C. Kerber, who represents 50 entrepreneurs in a Court action against the policies of the federal government: "The ESM is the future of Finance. The ESM contract will lead to the elimination of the budget right of Parliament". He specifically warns against this road.
Proof has been uncovered the Left is still plotting the collapse of capitalism and the middle class. In the footage a former SCIU public sector union bozo is explaining how a private sector variety of the Cloward-Piven tactic will do the job:
Cutting the states' budgets has brought to the fore a problem with collective bargaining rights as well as the right to strike where civil servants are concerned. Collective bargaining is driving up the cost to the taxpayer to such an extent that the servant is earning more than his employer, the tax payer.
Furthermore, the matter has uncovered a political racket in a nexus between the Democrat Party and the unions: the channeling of money from the taxpayers who are funding civil servants, who pay dues to unions, who donate to the Democrat Party. Statists, being collectivists, are having no problem at all with these arrangements.
In fact, there's a global effort under way to crank up the level of violence and rhetoric a few notches or so. Having just lost the elections in Britain, UK Uncut is an effort by the Left to make up for that electoral loss. The Left is that democratic! Except when it comes to their bottom line!
We are at present facing battles with USA Uncut, Canada Uncut, Ireland Uncut, Australia Uncut, and no doubt soon also on the European continent, the entire civilization is being Uncut. Germany is mentioned, but that may be wishful thinking. Indymedia's Dutch language site - the Left's 'independent' bullhorn on the Interwebs - can hardly contain its enthusiasm.
When the financial crisis broke the Left for a while had images of a Marxist spring, a Socialist Renaissance, believing capitalism would be blamed for the financial and economic melt down. This didn't happen (how this convenient crisis was triggered, scroll down this file, specifically the entries with an exclamation mark in the margin). On the contrary. If anything, the reds have been losing elections in spates!
Their program of 'the moral high ground' being what it is, the democratic process must be somehow by-passed by - let's put it this way - irrational means of the will. The narrative: if corporations had paid enough taxes the crisis would have been averted and budget cuts would not be necessary. This is how an organized looting campaign is legitimized.
So how does Uncut operate? It mobilizes 'the poor and the disenfranchised' to gather at shops, singled out in advance for what the Left perceives to be politically incorrect behavior, or stores that have come into their cross hairs for some reason or other. These are in effect slur campaigns, smearing these businesses as 'tax dodgers' that have created 'a false economy' and 'tax injustice'. The pattern is of course the Left's usual template.
Banks that have been bailed out are specifically targeted as 'double outrage'. Also public services, earmarked for budget cuts - libraries for instance - are being picketed and barricaded. Barclays Bank and Vodafone outlets (video) were targets of 'spontaneous' actions last year in the UK. Great care is taken to create the perception of grassroots actions.
Indymedia is especially proud of the paradigm shift, of the reframing they've attained here: the unwashed are no longer on the defense as looters and moochers, but go on the offense against the people who're "really behind the crisis", and who "caused the deficits by not paying enough taxes".
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