A "Greek Tragedy" Hegelian Style ...
Greece will be the EU's excuse for economic and political union
Information Clearing House has an interesting article on the demise of the EU as a consequence of the Greek debt crisis.
However, it's a mistake to underestimate the EU. Not because the EU is wise, but because it is ambitious.
The aim of the EU has always been to effect an economic and political union. This crisis has just demonstrated that a monetary union is not possible without economic and political union. So, where the sane person might say that monetary union has been a failure and should be abandoned, the EU mind will use it as an excuse to push for political union.
How did the powerful gain power over the rest of us? In a time when the power and freedom of the average American is being eroded at terrific speed, many of us wonder how this could be happening. What we may not realize it that the powerful have specific tools or principles to use to con the rest of us into surrendering our power to them. One of the most effective principles used in the last several years with great success is the Hegelian Principle ~
The principle is simple, consisting of only three steps toward a preconceived goal. Once you are able to see how it works, you may want to analyze many of the events unfolding around you in terms of this principle. As the principle is often used today, it can be explained as:
Step One: Create a problem or conflict - Perceive a problem that exists and build it up out of proportion to its actual importance, or create a problem or conflict where none existed before.
Step Two: Publicize the problem and create opposition to it - Relentlessly place stories about this problem in the major media outlets. Report on it daily until it becomes a steady drumbeat and a truism for the public who then begin clamoring for a solution to this problem.
Step Three: Offer a solution - The best solutions are those that appeal to the emotions of the public and make them think something really good is being done for them, when in fact, something really bad is being done to them. This solution is one that the public never knew it needed until the conditioning of Step Two was successfully completed.
Mar 23, 2010
Germany Backs Major IMF Involvement In Greece If Needed -Source
*Adds details, including the German government official describing a "last-resort" scenario.
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- A "substantial contribution" from the International Monetary Fund would be necessary for any package of aid to Greece, a German government official said Tuesday.
The official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the government's position, said Germany still insists that Greece receive aid only as a "last resort" and doesn't expect an agreement to help Greece at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
Germany sees a last-resort scenario as one in which Greece has exhausted its ability to borrow on capital markets, the official said. The official's account of Berlin's latest position is the first time IMF help has been described as "necessary," rather than just possible or interesting, as Chancellor Angela Merkel herself has said previously.
The official also said that Germany wants to see tough preventative measures and sanctions enacted within the euro-zone to discourage member countries from racking up unsustainable debts. Such measures would require an EU treaty change, the government has acknowledged previously, meaning the agreement of all 27 members and a tedious process that could take years.
While EU and Greek officials have called for leaders at that meeting to agree on an aid package or at least the framework for such support, German leaders have grown increasingly critical of a package that would include EU support.
The official hit back against claims that Germany was harming its relations with European partners, saying "European friendships are validated by advocating for a stable euro."
And ...
March 23, 2010
Impossible for Greece to leave eurozone
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday any aid to help Greece deal with its fiscal crisis should be a loan with conditions attached, adding that it’s legally impossible for the country to leave the eurozone.
“We can only be talking about a loan without any subsidy element; that needs to be extremely clear,” Trichet told the European Parliament in Brussels. “A loan is the only possibility in our view.” The euro rose from a three-week low against the dollar on Trichet’s comments which dampened concern about a possible breakup of the eurozone. The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3553 in early afternoon trade in New York, from $1.3530 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Greek 10-year bonds fell to their lowest since the end of February with yields rising by 16 basis points to 6.51 percent. The risk demanded by premium investors to hold Greek securities over comparable German bonds widened for a third day by 18 basis points to 342 basis points. “The uncertainty over who will provide Greece with funds is extremely high and this is unlikely to support Greek debt,” Kornelius Purps, a fixed-income strategist at UniCredit SpA in Munich, told Bloomberg.
http://ow.ly/1pIYE
And ...
Barroso says Greek aid not a bailout: report
Monday, March 22, 2010 10:45pm EDT
LONDON - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said any euro zone aid package for debt-stricken Greece would not constitute a bail-out as European Union partners clashed over possible financial support.
In a interview published on Tuesday Barroso, hoping to reassure markets by finalizing a financial safety net for Greece, also said he was confident of winning German backing for a deal.
"I know Chancellor Merkel. She is a committed European and I have no doubts that she will, if needed, be in favor of providing financial assistance to Greece," Barroso told the FT.
The 16-nation euro zone is divided over whether and how best to provide financial help to Greece, whose struggles to cope with high debt and deficits have plunged the currency bloc into the deepest crisis of its 11-year existence.
EU leaders are slated to meet March 25-26 to address the crisis.
Merkel, facing fierce opposition in Germany to any bail-out, said there was no need to discuss an aid mechanism at the EU summit since Athens had not sought help and it could only be a last resort in case of imminent insolvency.
Other euro zone members favor action to end a speculative assault on Greek assets that has made it twice as expensive for Greece to borrow as for Germany.
Seeking to build consensus Barroso repeated an appeal to Germany's interests as the biggest economy in securing a stable single currency area, which is its number one export market.
"There is no stability without solidarity and no solidarity without stability".
But any financial support for Athens would likely be challenged in the German Constitutional Court, which set strict conditions barring transfers to other states in the monetary union.
In an effort to gain support, Barroso stressed any euro zone aid package, which could come in the form of bilateral loans, would not constitute a bailout of another member state.
"It is not a bail-out," he said.
"We have checked this from a legal point of view... But no bail-out does not mean no help."
While some member states have pressed for Greece's crisis to be tackled within the euro zone, Barroso said he would not be opposed to intervention from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"Frankly speaking I never understood these theological debates about the IMF being associated with our efforts," he said.
AP
