Monday, May 14, 2012

Welcome to EuroLand, Not far from Disney Land

Ed Yardeni has a solid take:
Welcome to Neverland! Last Wednesday, I wrote that Europe is a socialist’s wonderland. Actually, it’s more like where Peter Pan resides. Peter, as we all know, never ages and has no interest in ever growing up. He prefers the company of a tiny fairy named Tinker Bell and hangs out with the Lost Boys. There’s no adult supervision in Neverland. It’s all about eternal childhood and escapism. That sure sounds like the Europe that socialists have created and are trying to preserve. Let's join the fun:

(1) A good article on this subject, titled “What the Greek Left Wants,” appeared in last Wednesday’s WSJ. The author is a columnist for protagon.gr. His main conclusion about the Greek elections held a week ago is that “[w]hile austerity measures did play a part in voter discontent, the most important factor in the outcome of the elections was opposition to any talk of structural reform of the Greek economy.”

He observes that Syriza, the radical left party, ended up in second place largely because it promised to maintain the status quo: “The Greek left today does not represent an industrial proletariat that wants a bigger share of the economic pie. Syriza represents all the groups that have been able to grow and flourish under Greece's political system and who now feel threatened by reforms. It derives its support from various professional interest groups--lawyers, teachers, journalists and civil servants--who feel that their jobs and special privileges are at risk if Greece is forced to open up its economy to competition.”

(2) The only adult supervision in Europe’s Neverland seems to be coming out of Germany, particularly Chancellor Angela Merkel. Last Thursday, she rejected calls from her center-left opponents in Germany and Europe for economic stimulus policies that rely on new debt. In a speech before the Bundestag, she admonished, “Growth through structural reforms is sensible, important and necessary. Growth on credit would just push us right back to the beginning of the crisis, and that is why we should not and will not do it.” Yesterday, Merkel suffered a major blow after voters in Germany's biggest region, North Rhine-Westphalia, rejected her austerity policies, raising doubts that her government can stay in power after next year's general election.

(3) In her speech, the German Chancellor seemed to be responding to Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s call on Wednesday for a “new compromise.” In other words, he wants to add more deficit-financed spending to the fiscal austerity pact that 25 of the 27 leaders of the EU had agreed to at the end of last year. He wants to see more public spending on large infrastructure projects. He added that his proposal was aimed at "winning over German minds and, what's more difficult, German hearts."

Monti’s comments might also have been aimed at winning over Italian hearts and minds. In local elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday of last week, the vote saw heavy losses for the center-right PDL, a key party in his majority, and big gains for opposition parties, including The 5 Star Movement, which campaigns for Italy to leave the euro and default on its debt...

In other words, the Europeans want to grow, but they don’t want to grow up. They want to play accounting and other games. The unruly crowd is ignoring the sensible, but stern admonishments of Frau Merkel. She might have to cut off their allowance. As the WSJ notes today: “By next month, Athens must identify €11.5 billion, or $15 billion, in fresh spending cuts or face suspension of the international loans it needs to pay pensions and run schools. If it doesn't get the money, it would eventually have to print its own.”

1 comment:

  1. Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

    -- Juvenal, ca AD 100

    Democracy is a moronic idea, has been understood to be idiotic for two millenia, and still the lemmings believe.

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