Wednesday, August 8, 2012

CSU Tells Europe To Piss Off

Bloomberg:
Members of the Christian Social Union, sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, called for Greece to be “cut free” from the euro, accused Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti of seeking to access German taxpayers’ money and branded ECB President Mario Draghi’s bond-buying plans a “violation” of the central bank’s rules.
The chorus of criticism from one of Merkel’s two coalition partners underscores the fine line the chancellor must tread to retain support for her anti-crisis efforts going into federal elections in little more than a year. With a Bavarian state vote in September 2013, there’s also a “strong tactical element” to the CSU stance as it uses the crisis to buoy support, said Gero Neugebauer, a politics professor at Berlin’s Free University.
“The CSU has the capacity to hurt Merkel without over- turning her policy,” Neugebauer said yesterday in a telephone interview. “But the CSU instinctively knows it can only go so far in sawing the branch it sits on. Bavaria does extremely well out of the euro: Think BMW, Siemens (SIE), EADS.”
Germany’s political parties are sharpening their profile before national elections in the fall of 2013 that Merkel has said will be fought on the euro crisis. With the chancellor and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on vacation, the CSU has filled the vacuum with comments on crisis policy.
Honestly, I don't think such actions would work out well for Germany.  Of course, I don't think the austerity is working out well for them, either.  The problem is that savers like Germany think they are doing something noble or impressive, but the fact of the matter is that savers are really hoarders, and the economy needs the savers to spend money.  If people can't spend on their own, it is better for them to give the money to folks who can.  I know, it doesn't make much sense, but it is true.  What good does a giant stack of money do for you when you are dead? 

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