A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s | 124 comments (124 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (4.00 / 5)

The point is that Germany cannot stop it. Convince, by hook or crook, the 14 people of the ECB board to do something, and there are no legal pathways available for Germany, or anyone else, to stop it from happening. So convince them to do quantitative easing by mailing out 300 million checks or monetarising every european national debt across the board until unemployment hits zero, and all they can do is have seizures. They are ideologically committed to a framework that includes the central bank having near-total freedom of action. This can, and should be, turned against them.

by Thomas on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 01:28:28 AM EST
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Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 1)

"They" being shorthand for "the austerity coalition"

by Thomas on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 01:32:02 AM EST
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Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 1)

Yes, Central Bank independence cuts both ways.

I distribute. You re-distribute. He gives your hard-earned money to lazy scroungers. -- JakeS

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 02:02:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (4.00 / 3)

Somehow, I'm sure that they would suddenly find arguments to change the ECB board as they had evidently betrayed their mandate.

Which is not to say it should not be tried (or that they would fully succeed). But the last 40-50 years (and maybe beyond that) have had a striking tendency of the laws being interpreted differently when presented with a right-wing or left-wing situation.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 02:36:16 AM EST
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Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 0)

I thought ECbankers were unimpeachable...

I distribute. You re-distribute. He gives your hard-earned money to lazy scroungers. -- JakeS

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 03:24:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 1)

Imagine that tomorrow they all became (literally, not figuratively as now) brain-dead, while still alive. Do you doubt that a solution would be found to replace them?

Accusation of criminal treason would probably at least trigger a temporary replacement. Especially if they were to act in a ~~not insanely far right wet dream~~ commie way.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Fri Feb 15th, 2013 at 04:35:25 AM EST
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Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (4.00 / 2)

A memberstates parlament-appointed central bank borad can fire their CB boss (thus changing on of the heads at ECB), though the CB boss has the right to appeal that to the Court. So that is the mechanism, but in order to affect ECB decisions a majority of euro-states must do it at roughly the same time.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Fri Feb 15th, 2013 at 09:48:18 AM EST
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Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 1)

There's a fundamental contradiction between the doctrine of CB independence and the insistence on a tight definition (and the tightest interpretation of that definition) of what the CB is allowed to do.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 04:00:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 0)

The doctrine of central bank independence has always been a shell game designed to protect Lysenkoist idiocy from public censure.

There is no contradiction at all in enshrining far-right policies into the constitution and then setting up an economic junta which is unaccountable as long as it enforce those policies.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 04:13:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (4.00 / 2)

No contradiction at all -- from the point of view those who wish to impose those far-right policies.

But for the majority of public opinion in Europe today, the contradiction between the doctrine of independence and the fact of tight limits on independence should be a perfectly perceptible one -- if it were given sufficient play, of course (admittedly not easy to bring about).

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 14th, 2013 at 04:20:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s (none / 0)

At the rate things are deteriorating I would not be too surprised if there were violence directed at the persons comprising the ECB board. Why should they feel so smug and safe when the policies they are enforcing are costing the lives of thousands of people each year. Those people have relatives and some may have some idea of taking personal revenge. This is not an unknown concept in some of the affected countries.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Feb 15th, 2013 at 01:18:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

A postmodern reenactment of the 1930s | 124 comments (124 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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