Germany leads the EU

[Pauli]

All "useful idiots" for the USSR did not live in the USSR. (The term is attributed to Lenin. You've never heard or read it before?)Influence is one thing (any one country can "influence"); actual command is another. Given that the word "Reich" has been invoked by more than one politiician deeply involved in the EU's machinations, a leading role for Germany is more than a mere problem, especially since there are members of its banking sector (and across the Eurozone) that openly express animosity for the so-called "Anglo-Saxon capitalist model" (remember, the Soziale Marktwirtschaft is directly written into every EU treaty, so that is a chief indicator of undue influence, or control).

That members of the German banking community, and across the Eurozone as you say, are hostile to the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model should come as no surprise to anyone. They've concluded, in all probability, that it doesn't work.

[setanta]

That members of the German banking community, and across the Eurozone as you say, are hostile to the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model should come as no surprise to anyone. They've concluded, in all probability, that it doesn't work.

AI doesn't actually get how all this works, Pauli. His capabilities extend to little more than obsessional rants against Germany and the Germans mingled in with sidewsipes against other "foreign" things like the EU.

[MookieBaylock]

We were economically crippled by government policy. We were and remain crippled by a total reliance on FDI and ignoring domestic industry. We were economically crippled by the construction industry being allowed to constitute 25% of the economy. We were economically crippled by the government's populist nonsense in foisting upon us decentralisation, benchmarking and a vastly overpaid public service. We were economically crippled by a tiny element of that government nailing our economic future to neo-liberalism, light touch financial regulation and Anglo-Saxon ecomomic "thinking" with disastrous results. We are crippled by economic crony capitalism which leads to rigged markets. We are economically crippled by a rip off mentality which, as you right say, used the introduction of the Euro to jack up prices for the hell of it.

Fact is, you are right, one size does not fit all. When the Euro fixed rates which suited Germany and France, it was incumbent on us to realise we were at a different point in the economic cycle and take measures to mitigate the effects of cheap credit. It wasn't even recognised as a danger, never mind acted upon by a myopic and incompetent bunch of clowns running economic policy. The German and french economies will always be more important than ours and we should act accordingly. If that means taking economic policy out of the hands of incompetent politicians, so be it.

+1

[Al.]

That members of the German banking community, and across the Eurozone as you say, are hostile to the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model should come as no surprise to anyone. They've concluded, in all probability, that it doesn't work.

Foregone conclusions do not facts make. And frankly, the (openly racist term) "Anglo-Saxon capitalist model" suffered when it allowed socialist elements into it, whereas the Soziale Markwirtschaft couldn't get off the ground and achieve the Wirtschaftwunder without the (frankly, naïve) help of the "Anglo-Saxon" free-market model at the top of its strength and without socialistic pollution. (Note: So-called "Victorian" capitalism is not meant here.)

Note that the Soziale Marktwirtschaft had to expand via treaty (reminiscent of how Bismarck formed the German Empire; its constitution was a treaty, just like the Treaty of Lisbon); the "Anglo-Saxon" model expanded via robust trade without onerous government control, within the bounds of law.

[Pauli]

Foregone conclusions do not facts make. And frankly, the (openly racist term) "Anglo-Saxon capitalist model" suffered when it allowed socialist elements into it, whereas the Soziale Markwirtschaft couldn't get off the ground and achieve the Wirtschaftwunder without the (frankly, naïve) help of the "Anglo-Saxon" free-market model at the top of its strength and without socialistic pollution. (Note: So-called "Victorian" capitalism is not meant here.)

Note that the Soziale Marktwirtschaft had to expand via treaty (reminiscent of how Bismarck formed the German Empire; its constitution was a treaty, just like the Treaty of Lisbon); the "Anglo-Saxon" model expanded via robust trade without onerous government control, within the bounds of law.

Where were you in March 2008 when Bear Stearns went tits up? Or September 2008 when Dick Fuld finally ran Lehmans into the ground? In both cases, the organisations hit the wall by failing to understand the risks involved in uncontrolled use of instruments dreamt up within the Anglo-Saxon capitalist system. Such hubris, stupidity and arrogance on the part of Cayne in Bear Stearns and Fuld in Lehmans were punished severely. For many Germans, the case for the Sozialmarktwirtschaft has never been stronger. Which is why all major parties in Germany are committed to it. So if I were you, I'd get used to it because it will be around for some time to come. You never know, the Germans may convert some non-believers to its benefits in the future.

[Al.]

Where were you in March 2008 when Bear Stearns went tits up? Or September 2008 when Dick Fuld finally ran Lehmans into the ground? In both cases, the organisations hit the wall by failing to understand the risks involved in uncontrolled use of instruments dreamt up within the Anglo-Saxon capitalist system. Such hubris, stupidity and arrogance on the part of Cayne in Bear Stearns and Fuld in Lehmans were punished severely. For many Germans, the case for the Sozialmarktwirtschaft has never been stronger. Which is why all major parties in Germany are committed to it. So if I were you, I'd get used to it because it will be around for some time to come. You never know, the Germans may convert some non-believers to its benefits in the future.

False conclusion. Such precipitations were due to abandoning the principles of the so-called "Anglo-Saxon" model, not through upholding them. And where were you when the ECB was raising interest rates through the roof and wouldn't stop until the cataclysm thus perpetuated hit Wall Street? (How would the Sozialemarktwirtschaft even have gotten off the ground without the support of its Anglo-Saxon "enemy" in the first place? As is self-evident, nobody "converts" to the SMWS except by either treaty or by market manipulation at a global level.)

Anyway...back to stark reality. Back when the Lisbon Treaty came into effect, the US ambassador to Germany actually described Germany as "Washington's most important ally" (not any other country in the EU, certainly not Britain; remember, Obama's cast off the "special relationship"). Shows how far the US has fallen.

Philip Murphy, the US ambassador to Germany, has called on Berlin to work closely with Washington to together to tackle challenges ranging from Afghanistan to global warming.

Calling Germany’s partnership with the United States the most important relationship of the past 60 years, Murphy said the transatlantic alliance still formed the foundation of US diplomacy around the world.

“We need strong partners – and nowhere are there better or more committed partners than in Europe. And Germany is the centrepiece of the European Union,” Murphy said in a speech on Monday evening at Berlin’s American Academy. …

[rant_and_rave]

Consider the EU to be a Bus ....

Germany & France are co-drivers steering it
The UK is hanging off the back bumper precariously
And the rest are Passengers looking out the windows .... some up the front and some down the back where the hard chaws always sit

Was it the Irish that got sick and stopped the bus so they could get off and throw up?

[McDave]

Where were you in March 2008 when Bear Stearns went tits up? Or September 2008 when Dick Fuld finally ran Lehmans into the ground? In both cases, the organisations hit the wall by failing to understand the risks involved in uncontrolled use of instruments dreamt up within the Anglo-Saxon capitalist system. Such hubris, stupidity and arrogance on the part of Cayne in Bear Stearns and Fuld in Lehmans were punished severely. For many Germans, the case for the Sozialmarktwirtschaft has never been stronger. Which is why all major parties in Germany are committed to it. So if I were you, I'd get used to it because it will be around for some time to come. You never know, the Germans may convert some non-believers to its benefits in the future.

Volltreffer!

[The Field Marshal]

The Germans are either at your throat or at your feet.

They have recently designed and produced a state of the art UnterseeBoat of advanced capability and virtually undetectable.

The Hun is flexing her muscles and exciting prospects lie ahead particularly now as the ex Third Reich has grabbed more power under Lisbon Treaty,

Its leaders know full well that the majority of Europes leaders are supine spineless worms and that German steel is needed to firm up their backbones.

Their late leader Adolph Hitler, who was worshipped as a virtual God in Germany, had similiar views on the calibre of Europes non Germanic leadership.

It will be interesting times ahead. Due to the yes vote for Lisbon the Irish had better fasten their seatbelts as we are now going to be led down paths and byeways that none of us want to go.

The contemporary casual approach of the Irish to these matters : "Arrah shure twill be all right"

[Pauli]

The Germans are either at your throat or at your feet.

They have recently designed and produced a state of the art UnterseeBoat of advanced capability and virtually undetectable.

The Hun is flexing her muscles and exciting prospects lie ahead particularly now as the ex Third Reich has grabbed more power under Lisbon Treaty,

Its leaders know full well that the majority of Europes leaders are supine spineless worms and that German steel is needed to firm up their backbones.

Their late leader Adolph Hitler, who was worshipped as a virtual God in Germany, had similiar views on the calibre of Europes non Germanic leadership.

It will be interesting times ahead. Due to the yes vote for Lisbon the Irish had better fasten their seatbelts as we are now going to be led down paths and byeways that none of us want to go.

The contemporary casual approach of the Irish to these matters : "Arrah shure twill be all right"

There have been some changes in Germany since 1945. I would hesitate in comparing Angela Merkel to the 1933-1945 regimes major figures. There have been a few posters crawling out of the woodwork trying (and largely failing, it has to be said,) to associate the present German Chancellor and government with the architects of the Holocaust. Silly really.