More deficit reduction, less economic growth: couldn’t be more obvious in dozens of countries, yet more sign up for a turn at idiocy!
Today it’s France, which is promising big-time cutbacks in exchange for the confidence fairy appearing one day!
Meanwhile, economic growth keeps falling below expectations and no one seems to know why!
Gorilla says: “So much intellectual bankruptcy, so little effective stimulus!”
The French banking dog now wagging the German banking tail…
It’s all another version of extend and pretend. The Greeks simply don’t have the resources to pay off their northern European bankers, and the debt will only grow larger if the ridiculous austerity program continues to cripple the Greek economy.
What’s needed is default, a haircut of probably 30-50% for the bankers, an exit from the euro, and a return to competitive growth over the next decade.
Alternatively, European governments will have to guarantee all of Greece’s debts, and most likely those of Portugal, Spain, and Ireland.
This won’t go over well with French and German voters, whose leaders have lied to them about both the extent of the sovereign debt and the fundamental weakness of the European banking system.
Gorilla says: “There’s only an ugly dog in this fight!”
France has given the world much to be ashamed of this year, from Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s amorality to a pointless war in Libya, and now the appointment of yet another IMF Director whose economic record is, to put it kindly, nothing to brag about.
The Eurozone and IMF have been playing extend and pretend, without any success, when it comes to dealing with a serious sovereign debt crisis. An insistence on austerity has produced precisely the opposite of what the ECB and IMF thought it would: grinding deflation, elevated unemployment, negative GDP growth, and contagion. The confidence fairies have yet to arrive.
All of this failure has been in the service of German, French, and Dutch bankers, who foolishly lent Greece, Ireland, and the other peripheral Eurozoners more money than they could possible repay. Defaults are now inevitable, to be accompanied by substantial haircuts for bondholders and the very real possibility that the Eurozone will be broken up.
For this, you can say Merci to Merkel, Sarkozy, and mediocre minions like Lagarde.
Gorilla says: “Failure apparently remains the only criterion for a successful politician!!!”
Back at NATO’s Pointless War Number 3 (aka Libya), the French have decided to deploy some attack helicopters.
Victory is again promised, just a couple of months after a war that was supposed to be over in a week.
And what happens when one of the choppers is shot down?
Or accidentally kills a few hundred civilians?
Gorilla answers: “Next up: to New York City to kill Strauss-Kahn humanely!”
Now that Strauss-Kahn’s been taken off a plane and back to Manhattan, to be investigated about a sex attack, it’s a good day at last to be short and anti-Libyan!
Gorilla says: “E Pluribus Bruni!”
Oh, that’s right, they’re no longer allowed, having been replaced by arrests and citizenship classes for other recalcitrant religions.
Gorilla pastiches: “In France, they hiss on main street, la haine, baby, a cheap foray…”
Turkish Prime Minister Recip Erdogan: “I wish that those who only see oil, gold mines and underground treasures when they look in [Libya's] direction, would see the region through glasses of conscience from now on.”
Gorilla translates: “There’s a frog in my eye!”
As each day goes by, it becomes clearer that the entire Libyan operation is a poor conceived mess.
Going to war, even against an easily defeated foe, without a clear idea of what outcome you’d like is a recipe for disaster.
Doing so to enhance your reelection prospects, as is clearly the motive of France’s President, is both cynical and foolhardy.
There’s no agreement apparently on who exactly will be in charge once the no fly zone is established, or on whether regime change is the desired outcome, or on whether the rebels will be armed or even on what regional figleaf will be put in place to disguise what looks like yet another Western invasion of Arab lands for the purpose of seizing oil.
Gorilla says: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce, then as France!”
First, it’s the Renault industrial espionage story, which turns out to have been a hoax…
Now, it’s a Frenchman accused of stealing 250,000 oysters, the largest shellfish theft in the history of that country!
Gorilla asks: “What’s next? Trichet becoming a Keynesian?”
A trio of clowns from a nation that put the moi in l’etat:
Baby Doc Duvalier: back in Haiti, oh well, could be worse, could be another earthquake!
Marine Le Pen: the fascist daughter also rises!
Tunisia: still waiting for the Bastille crowd to show up!
Gorilla says: “Plus ca change…”
Gorilla’s Blog