- From inception, Eurozone planning was flawed. Uniting
17 dissimilar countries under rigid rules failed.
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- Membership required surrendering monetary and fiscal
authority to a central power.
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- Debt entrapment and banker occupation followed. Partnered
with banking giants, money-controlled Troika power decides everything -
the EU and ECB and IMF.
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- Rules require lowering living standards, sacking public
workers, and selling off state assets lock, stock and barrel at fire sale
prices.
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- None of it would happen if troubled sovereigns weren't
trapped in the euro straightjacket. It lets bankers make rules, set terms,
issue diktats, and pressure, bribe or otherwise force governments to acquiesce.
As a result, households are burdened with oppressive austerity through
no fault of their own.
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- Troubled Greece and Italy now make headlines. Troika
power sacked their heads of state. One's replaced in Greece. Italy's choice
is imminent. Lucas Papademos got Greece's top job. He'll serve unelected
as prime minister. His credentials explain why.
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- A former ECB vice president (2002 - 2010), he earlier
served as Governor of the Bank of Greece from 1994 - 2002. In 1980, he
was Federal Reserve Bank of Boston senior economist. Afterwards, he became
Bank of Greece's chief economist.
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- Since 1998, he's also been a Rockefeller-controlled Trilateral
Commission member.
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- Troika power is safe in his hands. Democracy's birthplace
abandoned it. Without it, personal freedom is gone.
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- Outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou followed a
Troika mandated deal between him, conservative opposition leader Antonis
Samaras, and Giorgos Karatzaferis, head of the ultra-right LAOS party.
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- Earlier in the week, talks stalled when ruling PASOK
party members and opposition figures rejected parliament speaker Filippos
Petsalnikos, a Papandreou ally.
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- Bankers wanted their man and got him. Greek citizens
want social justice but lost it. New austerity cuts were approved to assure
more bailout help so bank held debt will be serviced at the expense of
great public need.
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- The more cuts are imposed, the greater Greece's debt
burden becomes, the more help it needs in an endless destructive cycle
toward oblivion when the economy finally collapses. At issue isn't if.
It's when, and it could come when least expected.
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- Greek households already bear enormous burdens unfairly.
Official unemployment hit 18.4%. Real numbers may be much higher. August
unemployment increased 10.7% over July. Youth unemployment tops 43%. Monthly
figures are rising. At issue is how much more can people take. Stretched
to the limit, revolution and/or military dictatorship may follow. It's
happened before.
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- Democratic elections installed Papandreou and Italy's
Silvio Berlusconi. Money power in private hands sacked both. Berlusconi
agreed to go once parliament passed austerity measures.
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- On Friday, Italy's Senate agreed. On Saturday, its lower
House followed. By overwhelming majorities, both bodies approved deep social
spending cuts, public sector layoffs, labor market deregulation, and other
measures. More will follow.
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- By Sunday or early next week, an unelected Troika favorite
will rule next. Following orders, President Giorgio Napolitano apparently
will name EU Commissioner Mario Monti, "Super Mario" to some.
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- Earlier he served as European Commissioner for Internal
Market Services, Customs and Taxation. He also chairs the Breugel think
tank, is Trilateral Commission European chairman, and leading Bilderberger
Group member close to Goldman Sachs.
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- On November 9, Napolitano named him Senator for life.
Before next week, expect him to add prime minister to his credentials,
unless parliamentary divisions prevent it. Some want new elections. Others
want certainty to calm markets. Italian households want good government
and social justice. Back room deals exclude both.
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- Technocrat governments faired poorly in the 1990s. Conditions
they created elevated Berlusconi to power in 2001 and 2008 after a short
failed 1994 tenure. Monti may turn out worst of all, given his mandate
to assure deep, very unpopular cuts.
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- Italy's debt burden exceeds $2.5 trillion. Deeper cuts
forcing more borrowing will raise it higher. On November 11, aFinancial
Times commentary warned that "appointing an unelected technocrat is
less than ideal."
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- Italy and Greece may dig bigger holes. "(I)t would
be a fatal mistake to presume that a coalition of the old established political
elite, led by technocrat(s), will provide a miracle fix to deeply rooted
problems."
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- "Both governments will have to walk a tightrope
between domestic policies and credibility in the markets....The new leaders
must also recognize that nothing will be achieved without popular support."
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- It's absent under crisis conditions. Imagine greater
public anger once deeper austerity is imposed. As a result, anything ahead
is possible short-term. Beyond that, Eurozone's failed project is doomed.
It's just a matter of time.
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- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
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- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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