Angela Merkel says that Europe won’t issue Eurobonds, presumably heeding the warning that handing over 133% of German GDP to bailing out PIGS may not go down so very well with the German taxpayer. From Bloomberg:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attempted to shut the door on common euro-area bonds as a means to solve the debt crisis, saying that she won’t let financial markets dictate policy.
Joint euro bonds would require European Union treaty changes that would “take years” and might run afoul of Germany’s constitution, Merkel said. While common borrowing might arrive at some point in the “distant future,” bringing in euro bonds at this time would further undermine economic stability and so they “are not the answer right now.”
“At this time — we’re in a dramatic crisis — euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer,” Merkel said in an interview with ZDF television in Berlin yesterday. “They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt.”
The real question, though, is whether there will be a European Union left in the “distant future”, or just a giant sucking sound. Three weeks ago I wrote:
The problem is excessive borrowing by European governments, and the basic and simple fact that a Europe-wide monetary policy can never be tailored to the economic and budgetary requirements of individual nation states. The panic is that the debts will never be repaid, and that creditors will incur massive losses, sending shockwaves of further defaults around the globe. The European Monetary Union is a strange and bloated mish-mash of industrial dynamism and low unemployment (Germany and Scandinavia) and excessive debt, bloated budgets and huge unemployment (the Mediterranean).
The reality is that Europe can go one of two ways: disintegration, with the return of national currencies, and the demise, or partial demise of the Euro; and full integration, where nations give up their budgetary control to Brussels, which produces an integrated budget to match the integrated monetary policy.
So which will it be, Angela and Nicolas? Full-monetary union, or disintegration? As with most crises, doing nothing and hoping the crisis will simmer away is not really an option. Doing nothing — burying heads in the sand — means disintegration and-or a botched rescue program. European banks are severely under-capitalized. From Bloomberg:
And I suppose that gives everyone more reason to panic, falling into the necrotic arms of a liquidity crisis, and a full-on crash. Perhaps it is the time for decisive action to end this uncertainty — like calling time on the Euro experiment?
azizonomics 
aziz, i think you’ll find this is a more appropriate anthem for europe:
For the Motherland !!
All inspirational but not quite as much as this one: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5128943945501615502#
Wonder how different the world would be in terms of economy and peace… if women held the highest offices in every country?
It is an interesting question. I remember there was a policy forum after 2007 on “What if Lehman Brothers Had Been Lehman Sisters?” And — not that I support Michele Bachmann (as you know I support RP) — but one of her ultra-conservative female supporters endorsed her “because women are just better at running the household and maintaining fiscal discipline”.
Merkel is caught in a tough position. She believes ideologically in maintaining Europe, and yet knows that the German people will incur great cost if they bail out the PIGS. Every European leader knows the only way to save the monetary union is with Eurobonds, and probably budgetary integration. Merkel seems to be hoping luck takes a turn for the better… but doing that means more inaction, more uncertainty, and more fear.
Uh, yeah, no. Though it may not be popular (lol), I am confident that women running things would not show any better result and in fact would lead to a waste of resources on an epic scale. Since women tend to use emotion to guide their decisions, I suspect the truly hard decisions would never be made. Welfare, Socialism, Alternative Lifestyle acceptance ;), Multiculturalism, and so many other -isms, are a direct result of the emotionals being in some semblance of control. I will never work for a female boss; and not because they aren’t capable, but because they are easily swayed by their emotion and maternal instinct and can be distracted by trivial influences (gossip, PMS, family issues [trying to have it all syndrome], etc, etc, etc…). Though I love women for what they bring to a relationship, to the family, much of the beauty in life; I would never be ruled by one and have the intellectual capacity and resources to make sure that never happens.
Most women I know, my wife included, are coming to the realization they have been duped; that the old economic maxim of “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” applies and they have lost time, life, and love as a result. I believe there will be a return to women as the nucleus of the family and men will plod on as the majority bread-winner dealing with the mundane day-to-day tasks leaving women to being content with raising and guiding their families to success. I know some women are put in difficult positions because of unacceptable partners (abusive, cheats, etc…) and of course they should not remain in that situation. I am not advocating that women not work, but I do hope that they see a return to the role of matriarch as being their ultimate and rewarding passage through life (for the good of us all).
And stop with the oogling of Merkel’s breasts for goodness sake; I agree they are healthy but let’s not objectify women (unless they want to be objectified).
I concur fully with Ironshield, see also my post further below.
Well aziz, this game is definatly one of hotpotato. There are some countries who have willingly and knowingly exploited the; Fiscal and Monetary status quo that has been created.
People are not saints the majority is unable to admit their past mistakes, furthermore i don’t think the holders of pensions are willing to cover this with a shroud of forgiveness and reconsile with the fact that they will lose 70% of their pensions.
Wow, I can’t un-see that picture of Frau Merkel. Can you imagine all of the assembled guests just praying she wouldn’t sneeze those “Panzers” out of their confines?
Here at azizonomics we love Frau Merkel, and fully endorse her decision as a christian, and as a liberated woman to wear revealing dresses. It makes Eurozone politics fruitier, and saltier. Well, fruitier and saltier than that
dry, drunken gasbagSarkozy.hey aziz – when you use the term eurocide, you’re implying something else aren’t you? something bigger, nastier and more destructive?
TJ:
good guess
Hey Aziz:
just found this!!!
Omg, Leni riefensthal at work the, i hope not that the big-angry spider flag is being pulled from the Jerman basement again.
you win, TJ.
In fact here, in Europe, we watch a battle on life and death between politics and financial institutions. That battle ended in US back in 1963, when banksters killed JFK. There was no ground for such battle in an Iron Curtain divided Europe, but the fall of the communism allowed the owners of the leaders of G7 to “dare for more” . Thing is that Europeans are not a hybrid nation, with a single flag, a single puppet as Commander in Chief and one religion (The Dollar). There are things that we think to be of more importance than Eurozone and a Polish or a Romanian don’t give a dead rat skin for what an Italian, French or German political leader wants to force on his fellow citizens. But we do love the German Chancellor boobies and we will suck them dry just because of that.
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>>> Wonder how different the world would be in terms of economy and peace… if women held the highest offices in every country?
Endless wars, that’s what.
Anyone here fail to notice that women carry grudges for decades?
Long-term Grudges have no place in politics or business. But most women carry them for years. They also take offense at slights that most men wouldn’t even notice, as any guy can tell you.
Anyone who has observed the kind of internecine emotional cruelty and passiuve aggressive in-fighting that goes on in any high school knows that the meme of women as “peace oriented” is a ludicrous crock spread by the feminist movement.
Women have been behind the men leading almost every war in history. If they had not been, the wars would not have occurred or they would have been very short.
What is notable about the “Lysistrata” meme is not how women ended a war, but how that’s practically the only time in recorded human history they’ve exercised that power. So it’s rather obvious that, historically, women have approved of wars.
This is further evinced by the spike in birthrate 9 months after the onset of almost every war in history. If you want to provide a guy with positive reinforcement — if you want to MAKE SURE that he’s getting an “Attaboy”, then having sex with him is certainly the best damned way to do it. We’re wired that way. So, at the onset of every war is a vast array of women telling their men in the most direct way possible “Go for it, Tiger!”
And, as a final point, I cite the fact that it was not the Roman FATHERS telling their sons, “Come back WITH your shield or on it.”
Q.E.D. Women are not in the least peace oriented, and, in fact, since they have no expectation of being at the front lines in wars, have no genetic predisposition to resist going to war.
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