Postcards from Emo-land

Looking for those great European thinkers dispensing wisdom in their time of need? Good luck! Most of it amounts to anguished self-pity and emotionialized scapegoating, such as we find with this brilliantly, if not unwittingly funny notion that Europe's huge defecits and debts are the fault of American lenders calling in their paper, as if there were no lenders from any other part of the world.

The scenario employed against Greece, Portugal and Spain by New York-based international financial gamblers is all too familiar to anyone who recalls the events of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Then, as now, hedge funds targeted a country whose GDP was largely dependent on tourist dollars - Thailand - and had fiscal problems at the time.

I guess the humane thing to do would be for the rest of humanity to make loans to them and write them off, owing to the mere european-ness of those Europeans.

This self-absorbed explanation can only be explained by the notion that Thailand is a tourist economy because that's where Europeans go to beach and molest children, THEREfore an alighnment can be drawn to the last economic tale the author could find a straw-man to associate with, even if it does happen to be the erstwhile Hungarian "open democracy" funder George Soros.

The scenario employed against Greece, Portugal and Spain by New York-based international financial gamblers is all too familiar to anyone who recalls the events of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Then, as now, hedge funds targeted a country whose GDP was largely dependent on tourist dollars - Thailand - and had fiscal problems at the time.

Because spinning is the same as doing or saying, of course, and Europeans should somehow be allowed to determine taxation worldwide, of course. The passivity is only out-done by the arrogance.

A consensus is developing among Western experts that the globalisation of financial transactions has not led to overall economic growth, being now considered a huge disappointment.

I suppose that will remain true until, like the loans made to souther Europe to ease it's growth, and hedge its' risks, a big deal only if they have to pay it back. Make no mistake about it, were the bonds not offered to cover for bloated states that can't control state spending.

By allowing NY financial traders to viciously attack struggling EU members, the US is putting the transatlantic partnership in jeopardy.

As if they really were a partner, and not a hideous chore one would prefer to avoid.

The difference with America is that the US states that are overleveraged won't be in a position to make silly arguments about the standing of a nation's image and the affection with which it's held in the world.

It's as silly at the argument thrown around prior to the deposing of Saddam Hussein that if the US did what leftist activist demanded, that "the world" would love the U.S. Well, some of the world does, and some of the world doesn't, and that will always be true. But you can be sure that the entire world isn't going to buy the "lender's emotional obligations" to Europe's government employees' unions argument.

All of this over an long overdue and inevitable currency revaluation.