Skip to main content

The hopelessly corrupt structure of the Eurozone & the Eurogroup

by Ramin Mazaheri

Part 6 - The first rule of Eurogroup is: ‘You don’t talk about Eurogroup!’

Such facts make it clear why the Eurogroup cannot be considered compatible with democracy, and thus cannot be supported. Full stop.

You might support creating a new Eurozone or changes to the Eurozone structure, but supporting the current Eurozone is simply morally indefensible, and you don’t have to be an open communist like me to see that.

What will you get if you keep supporting it, like by voting for mainstream politicians or fake “outsiders” like Macron? You will get exactly what has occurred ever since the Eurozone project began in earnest after the fall of the Bretton Woods monetary system/gold standard in 1971 – crisis and austerity across the Eurozone:

Each one of those heart-rending attempts at monetary union led to the same pattern: a promising beginning that soon degenerated into tears and recriminations as economic warfare erupted and recession impoverished the weakest Europeans.

Hmmm, efforts at capitalism turned out typically-capitalist results…shocking.

The secret is out about the Eurozone’s false prosperity of the late 1990s and 2000s – it was all built on the ruses of high finance. But – and this actually really important right now – nothing has been fixed since the 2012 sovereign debt crisis:

Since then it has been in a deep crisis reinforced largely by the European Union’s denial that there is anything the matter with its currency’s rules, as opposed to their enforcement.

Should we be surprised that the banker cabal that is the Eurogroup has concocted a “recovery” which has only targeted the needs of bankers?

The Quantitative Easing that is the alleged “fix” has only gone to the 1% and fueled property price bubbles and stock bubbles; the Eurozone’s average growth rate – the “real economy” – since 2011 has been 0.8% – total stagnation.

What’s amazing is the mass denial – the real propaganda effort – that back in June a pathetic projected 1.7% growth rate for the Eurozone qualified as a “surprise recovery”. Jobs don’t even begin to be created until 1.5%…and unemployment is essentially stuck at record highs in multiple countries. This makes the projected growth rates of 1.8% and 1.7% for the next two years just as pathetically inadequate.

I can best describe the media hypnosis like this: If a bully punched you 10 times yesterday, but only 8 times today, I suppose you could say that “things are getting better”…I would hope that no one paid you for that analysis, however.

What’s certain is that QE has to stop soon, simply because they are nearly out of bonds to purchase.

There’s no reason why they should even be buying bonds from economically healthy, trade surplus Germany, LOL, but the ECB will reach their 33 percent limit of debt in Germany this spring, at the current rate. Germany gets paid first, of course, not the countries which actually need it – Greece is excluded from QE.

And what happens when Germany’s 1% can’t get free money? Well, I can tell you it’s not: they finally start playing nice.

I have another theory: High finance/financial media around the world (and not just Germany) has decided they are not reaping enough from the years of no-questions-asked free money – years of gutting Greece has them sharpening up their Troika tools for the tastier meals of Spain and Italy. Therefore, they are trying to dupe/pressure everyone into stopping QE – thus the crazy nonsense that 1.7% annual growth is a “recovery”.

So, given all these real facts and plausible theories I have listed, the reality is that ECB chief Draghi is expected to announce in October that “tapering” will begin.

I have repeatedly written that when high finance is no longer being placated by the free money of Quantitative Easing, they will go back to what they were doing in 2012: squeezing the national bond markets in Europe and provoking a crisis across the Eurozone.

Here is another, different case of willful blindness: the Eurozone is the same as the US. Many believe that just because the US had no major bond problems after they started tapering their QE, then the Eurozone won’t have any issues as well. One size fits all, right?

But they ARE very, very different regions! Firstly, the US isn’t dumb enough to be run by a Eurogroup.

Secondly, the risks in the national bond markets for Eurozone nations are not anywhere as secure in comparison with the United States. They weren’t as secure in 2012, and the Eurogroup’s policies have not corrected these differences in risk whatsoever in 2017. Nor has the Eurogroup strengthened the resilience of the “real economies” in their member nations – indeed, austerity policies and labor code rollbacks have worsened the real engine of the “real economy”: the People (everyday consumers, for our capitalist readers).

So even if Draghi kicks the can down the road for a few months, a crisis is inevitable. For the reasons I’ve listed and because: this is capitalism.

And this is where Varoufakis’ lack of leftism – his failure to see capitalism as incorruptible pattern of guaranteed corruption – blinds him to the reality that the Eurozone should not be saved with his right-wing solutions, but scrapped completely in favor of central planning, safety nets, regulations on cabals: modern socialism.

The Eurozone is still as primed for collapse as ever, but that is the title of the next article in this series.

And as regards the Eurogroup…what else needs to be said?

These are our masters, and it is the IMF, ECB, and banker-loving, ex-banker finance ministers who pull the strings. All of us in the Eurozone must dance, even if these mobsters have already broken so many legs and backs.

***

Source, links:


[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Read also:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Netanyahu Is Getting His War Between The U.S. & Iran!

The Jimmy Dore Show   Little progress is being made in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, and that may be by design. The U.S. is demanding a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for the Iranians. Meanwhile, the U.S. appears to have reneged on a promise to get a ceasefire and humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for the release of the last American hostage, so Hamas — and by extension Iran — feel the U.S. cannot be trusted in negotiations. Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how Israel appears to be orchestrating a U.S. attack on Iran that few Americans have any interest in.    Related: Trump makes key move to beat Biden in their race to start a war with Iran

Trump in SHOCK: Putin & China FLIP His Grave Mistake into STUNNING Victory

Danny Haiphong   Putin & China just gave Trump a rude BRICS awakening, and this bombshell will change everything for generations to come. Geopolitical analyst Ben Norton details the truth about Trump's biggest failure against the rising power of BRICS led by Russia and China, and why the US's role as super power is now in serious question.     Related: Trump's tariffs: A unique opportunity for BRICS and the Global South to fully escape from dollar tyranny

Trump's attempt to divide Russia & China is failing, badly

Geopolitical Economy Report   Donald Trump claimed he would "un-unite" Russia and China, but the US divide-and-conquer strategy is failing. In a meeting in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of their nations' victory in World War Two, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that "China-Russia relations have reached the highest level in history" and will "jointly resist any attempts to interfere with and disrupt the traditional friendship and deep mutual trust between China and Russia". Ben Norton explains.     Related:   Why China supports Russia

Inside Iran's Savak torture museum

The Grayzone   Caution: This report contains depictions of simulated violence that may upset some viewers. Max Blumenthal tours one of the most disturbing museums on the planet. Set in Tehran's former Ebrat Prison run by the anti-sabotage unit of Shah Reza Pahlavi's Savak intelligence services, the museum is filled with shockingly graphic exhibits featuring lifelike mannequins recreating the hideous torture tactics deployed to repress dissidents rebelling against Iran's monarchy. Many mannequins on display represent notorious torturers who either fled or were executed after the Islamic revolution in 1979, while others are modeled after famous prisoners locked away in Ebrat like the current Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.  

"Kidnapped in Int'l Waters": Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Aid Ship, Detains Greta Thunberg & Others

Democracy Now!   Eleven peace activists and one journalist on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship, the "Madleen," were detained by Israeli soldiers as their ship carrying vital humanitarian aid for starving Palestinians approached Gaza.    The ship was intercepted by Israeli forces in the middle of the night in international waters. Its supplies were seized and communications jammed. The unarmed activists will likely be transported to Israeli detention or "immediately deported," says Ann Wright, a U.S. military veteran who has participated in four Freedom Flotilla journeys and now serves on the steering committee of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. She calls on citizens of countries around the world to push for the activists' release and an end to Israel's war on Gaza. 

14,000 babies could die if aid doesn’t enter Gaza in 48 hours, UN warns

Some 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC today. Though Israel said it would allow “basic aid” into Gaza, only five trucks entered the enclave yesterday, two carrying shrouds to help bury Palestinians killed in Israel’s bombs. Others were in Gaza, but were being held by occupation forces and had not reached Palestinians. This was the first delivery of aid since 2 March, when Israel completely sealed the enclave. This, Fletcher explained, is a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for a population of over 2.3 million, and for which no aid has been allowed to enter for 80 days.    “Tonnes of food is blocked at the [Gaza] border” by Israel, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday. This comes just weeks after the UN agency of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians eat only one mea...

Latest on Los Angeles anti-ICE protests in US

CGTN     Views of downtown Los Angeles where protests against immigration raids entered their third day on Sunday local time.   Protesters clashed with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles during the latest wave of demonstrations against statewide immigration enforcement operations that swept across California over the weekend.  

Never, Ever Let Anyone Forget What They Did To Gaza

by Caitlin Johnstone   I will never forget the Gaza holocaust. I will never let anyone else forget about the Gaza holocaust. No matter what happens or how this thing turns out, I will never let anyone my voice touches forget that our rulers did the most evil things imaginable right in front of us and lied to us about it the entire time. I will never stop doing everything I can with my own small platform to help ensure that the perpetrators of this mass atrocity are brought to justice. I will never stop doing everything I can to help bring down the western empire and to help free Palestine from the Zionist entity. I will never forget those shaking children. Those tiny shredded bodies. Those starved, skeletal forms. The explosions followed by screams. The atrocities followed by western media silence.   I will never forget, and I will never forgive. I will never forgive our leaders. I will never forgive the western press. I will never forgive Israel. I will never forgive the main...

They Will Starve You In A Killing Cage Too

by Nate Bear   Starvation is taking hold in Gaza. Twenty-nine people have starved to death in the last few days.  Death by starvation is horrific, the body feeding on itself, first consuming carbohydrates and fats, and then moving on to the protein parts of tissue. Once these are used up, vital organs and tissues start to fail as they aren’t being nourished by essential nutrients. The heart, lungs, muscles, ovaries, testes and brain physically shrink and shrivel. The kidneys start to fail. Eventually the body begins scavenging muscle, including the heart muscle. When this starts to happen, death is hours away, preceded by hallucinations, severe mental disturbances and convulsions. With less stored fat and higher metabolic needs, children die first. Starving parents hold their dying children, at this point nothing but skin and bone, in their arms. Adults can survive anywhere between twenty and forty days without food. Those already weak, chronically ill or immuno-compromised di...