Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Unraveling of Germany

The Melting Euro

The story below — about the German parliament’s capitulation to the Eurozone — arrived just as I walked out the door to catch my flight to Brussels, and had to be delayed until now. Ah, well — better late than never.

Many thanks to JLH for translating this article from Junge Freiheit:

Everyone is Watching Karlsruhe
by Pieter Stein

Horror was creeping up for anyone who was following the Bundestsag debate and vote on the ESM (European Stabilization Mechanism) last Friday. You saw a parliament that had surrendered itself. With a mixture of casual routine and jocose holiday mood, late in the evening, a monster treaty was waved through — a treaty which deprives the Bundestag of authority over its own budget and exposes Germany to the liabilities and extortions of EU debtor states.

Only a few upright representatives stood out, who honored their name as representatives of the people: Peter Gauweiler, Frank Schäffler and Klaus-Peter Willsch, who were speaking for those who had decided to vote Nay. Nota bene, the Left Party too, whose interjection on behalf of Germany’s nationalist constitution cannot be diminished.

All eyes are now on the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, where urgent motions have been entered against the ESM decision. The announcement of an oral hearing indicates serious objections. But it would border on divine intervention if the highest German justices considered and then stopped the constitution-inimical act of the federal administration, the federal parliament and the federal council.

Birthrate at Record Low

All foolish chatter about “sustainability” notwithstanding, our nation and our continent are in the grasp of an irresponsible nomenklatura which has internalized how to drain supplies without creating new ones. Which maintains its position by constantly making new promises to the people, so as not to be voted out of office. No one before has ever lived so high at the cost of coming generations. And so the decay of morals spreads when debts are communalized and economic misfeasance, whether by banks or by nations, is not punished with bankruptcy. The ESM is working here like an accelerant which will raise the willingness to conduct economy on credit to an unmanageable level.

There is an internal logic to the report on the 2011 birthrate in Germany, which has again fallen to a shocking, historic low. “A land is dying out,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung laconically headlines its article on this traumatic report, which relentlessly documents the dissipating vitality of our people. And the political establishment? It prefers squandering hundreds of billions for a currency union built on unstable foundations, instead of getting to work on a renewal of our own substance.

Last weekend, a “storm of the century” with 8,000 lightning flashes came down on the capital city. Standing at the window was like looking into an inferno. Meanwhile, it is appalling how quietly the unraveling of Germany seems to be passing across the stage. Or is this just the calm before the storm?

4 comments:

Doug said...

Sorry to start with an OT, but this is too good to miss!

John Kass pens the best article of this election cycle!

I knew he had it in him, I had no idea what the specifics would be.

Who else, Mr. President?

John Kass
July 18, 2012

When President Barack Obama hauled off and slapped American small-business owners in the mouth the other day, I wanted to dream of my father.

But I didn't have to close my eyes to see my dad. I could do it with my eyes open.

All I had to do was think of the driveway of our home, and my dad's car gone before dawn, that old white Chrysler with a push-button transmission. It always started, but there was a hole in the floor and his feet got wet in the rain. So he patched it with concrete mix and kept on driving it to the little supermarket he ran with my Uncle George.

He'd return home long after dark, physically and mentally exhausted, take a plate of food, talk with us for a few minutes, then flop in that big chair in front of the TV. Even before his cigarette was out, he'd begin to snore.

The next day he'd wake up and do it again. Day after day, decade after decade. Weekdays and weekends, no vacations, no time to see our games, no money for extras, not even for McDonald's. My dad and Uncle George, and my mom and my late Aunt Mary, killing themselves in their small supermarket on the South Side of Chicago...


Protection Racket:

One of my earliest memories as a boy at the store was that of the government men coming from City Hall. One was tall and beefy. The other was wiry. They wanted steaks.

We didn't eat red steaks at home or yellow bananas. We took home the brown bananas and the brown steaks because we couldn't sell them. But the government men liked the big, red steaks, the fat rib-eyes two to a shrink-wrapped package. You could put 20 or so in a shopping bag.

"Thanks, Greek," they'd say.

That was government...

Doug said...

Sorry, Baron, I didn't see the news feed advice:

Where do I find that?

Regards,

Doug

Anonymous said...

The party must go on. The bankers must have their cut no matter what, even if it means the end of Germany or a revolution.

If Merkel had a brain(which she doesn't) she'd invite all the bankers to a palatial castle and lock them all in it, with no food or water. Then shut down all the major banks and investment firms.

And it's no different here in the U.S. where Congress has surrendered everything to the bankers in return for lifetime seats and nice honorariums. The banks are killing us here.

The only thing in question is what sort of end result will occur when the system collapses. Will it be a mass revolution, race war, or some sort of strange combination of several events.

Dymphna said...

Doug - thanks for that essay!

So many of those enforcers still extant, too. Michelle O's dad was the ward worker on his patch. In exchange they gave him a city job doing some kind of maintenance.
-----------------------
Boy, it sure is good to see you! Everyone, meet Doug.

Doug from the long-ago wars - I mean discussions - on Belmont Club, where he still hangs his hat.

Doug is one of the very first cyberfriends we made as we put our toe in the ether. And I'd pull my foot out real quick if Nahncy told me we talked too long.

Doug and his ilk were what fooled me into thinking that cyberspace was friendly. Quirky but basically benign. Because *he* sure was just that. Doug and the Scandinavian from Texas - they were both smart and good. Thus it was that I thought the worst it ever got was Nahncy with her sniffy imposition of commenter etiquette.

I don't know why you suddenly showed up again, Doug, but I'm glad to know you're still compos memphis. Though I think the fellow w/the funny name would argue the point.

Thanks for coming by. Your visit is a fleeting reminder of our blissful ignorance back then...

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