Today was a black day for democracy in Germany. The German
constitutional court ruled in favour of the
European
Stability Mechanism. In combination with last week s
announcement by the European Central Bank to purchase government
bonds without limits (breaking the No-Bail-Out clause at the core
of their mandate more obviously and irreversably than ever before),
the German people have lost a good deal of democracy today.
Why? you may ask because from now on, fiscal and financial
policy will be made in Brussels, by people enjoying full immunity,
but who are not elected democratically by the European people, let
alone the Germans, and they will freely decide over who has to pay
and be liable for whom.
I am talking about people like
Klaus Regling,
who was already involved the very first time the
Maastricht
Criteria were violated. He is now at the front of the largest
and most powerful financial weapon ever conceived. With
immunity.
And people like
Mario Draghi,
whom I would possibly call the most corrupt person I know. His
announcement to save the Euro at whatever cost
accidentally came only a day before his motherland Italy
had to go to the market for more money and was able to place a bond
at such ridiculously low interest rates that anyone who s kept up
to speed with Italy s development had to rightfully ask how that
was possible.
While in the past, for whatever reason, the European people have
let the ECB get by saying that they are not bailing out countries
when they buy bonds on the secondary market (wtf!), they have
finally dropped that restriction (the
law).
And as of today, the ESM is ready to go, along with the fiscal
pact. Germany is now liable for more than quarter of all of the
Eurozone s past
and future debts.
And no citizen will be able to have any more influence in this,
or reverse it. Budget, fiscal policy and currency control are
forever gone.
Not that parliamentarian democracies were ever direct. Yet, in
the past, one could at least vote for those people whose promises
one was inclined to believe the most. You can still do that in the
future, but those people won t be able to influence fiscal or
financial policy anymore.
There is no way back. The ESM and its employees enjoy full
immunity, and the ESM is forever-binding. There is no exit
clause.
Thanks to the ECB s law breaking and the ESM, which I consider
highly unconstitutional, at least in Germany, Eurozone-countries
may refinance their debts at interest rates that are in no way
related to their ability to pay back loans. All other countries
foremost Germany are henceforth liable for others debts. The
fundamental rule of the EU that no country would have to stand up
for another country, is gone with the wind.
Within an hour, the markets reacted. Germany, which previously
had to pay negative interest (a sign of stability) saw interests
on its bond shoot up. And Spain, Portugal, Greece and others who
couldn t previously refinance their old debts, are now getting
fresh money cheaper than ever.
Spain s president Rajoy today didn t even bother beating around
the bush anymore, he s now going to apply for fresh money but won t
bother with any saving schemes or other restructurings. Monti in
Italy has suggested the same.
Wouldn t you take money if you were offered it for free, without
the need to pay it back?
This is more than inflation, in my opinion. What is currently
happening in Europe is active depreciation of individual wealth.
Our heads of state are actively working against the people. The
Euro has lost all credibility and everyone knows it. It is only a
question of time until it will tremble and fall. Meanwhile, the
market celebrates and continues their gambles while they still
can, on the backs of our currency and our wealth.
Most affected are the people who have savings in Euros, whose
life insurances are decreasing in worth and who cannot afford to
diversify into other asset classes or currencies.
On the other hand, those who let their money do the work are
being saved. Whoever previously invested into bonds of struggling
states, hoping to reap massive interest gains, is now proven right.
Brussels has eliminated the risk factor. What kind of message does
this send???
Hands up if you thought that our politicians are even interested
in closing the rapidly widening gap between rich and poor. Really?
That s naive. The Eurozone is corrupt, and our currency has never
been as virtual as today.
Nobody can say whether saving the Euro at all cost is the right
thing and noone knows whether what s currently happening is just
bad. I would have wished that our politicians had taken the crisis
as an incentive to fix the system in the interest of the people and
with a long-term focus:
-
Europe should have returned to the law it gave itself, without
exceptions: The No-Bailout-Clause, as well as the Masstricht
Criteria. In general, you cannot spend more than you earn, and this
principle seems to have been forgotten entirely, and those who had
most actively forgotten it, are being rewarded.
-
A shared currency requires a shared fiscal policy. This policy
has to be in place before the currency, the currency can only ever
be the result of a common strategy. The EU has done this the wrong
way around and it failed. Trying to put a fiscal policy in place
now is patchwork that is guaranteed to fail. And putting fiscal
policy into the hands of undemocratically chosen people in Brussels
is not representing the people.
But on the contrary! Europe s policiticans are making it crystal
clear that the foundation upon which it was built, the laws and
rules, the promises and guarantees, no longer apply. The people
were not asked. The promises once made were broken. Our politicians
have ruled over our heads.
More debts are being made, and more debts to pay off debts, and
so on. It s long gotten out of control, now the process is
institutionalised. I feel sorry for our kids. I find it
irresponsible what is being done to them (in addition to the way we
rape the environment).
I also feel deeply with the people in the struggling countries
who are being screwed by the crisis and are not at fault. What our
politicians are doing is unfortunately not going to help long term.
The problems are just postponed, and with every day, the inevitable
crash will be more painful. I am sorry.
Today is a black day for democracy. We have lost souvereignity.
We have lost control over our currency. We have lost our budget
rights.
And I have lost my faith in the last instance of the German
government that I trusted. As of today, I know that the German
constitutional court is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of
the politicians (who are themselves puppets of Brussels and the
banks).
The limit they imposed (Germany s liability must not increase
beyond 190 billion Euros without the federal parliament s consent)
is worthless. Soon the politicians will explain to us why it s
inevitable that we must raise this limit. Not that the people could
prevent it, but still
I had hoped for a fundamental ruling. They should not have
touched numbers. The EU had a no-bailout-clause from day one. It
was conditional from the start. If one of the fundamental
principles of a contract is broken, the contract becomes invalid.
Not only did I expect the court to rule against socialised debt, I
would have wished them to go a step further. The German national
bank gave up control over the currency to the ECB only because the
ECB incorporated the principles of the German national bank. Once
the ECB overturned those principles, Germany should have reclaimed
their souvereignity.
But noone else in Europe would have wanted that. Merkel became a
puppet herself.
I am grateful that our daughter has dual citizenship.
NP:
Porcupine Tree:
Live at Atlanta 2010
Replying to an old blog post of 
It was interesting to read recently from Martin F. Krafft