Posted on 05/20/2012 1:01:52 PM PDT by Steelfish
Angela Merkel Stands Firm On Greece At G8 Talks After inconclusive discussions, leaders issue communique saying 'the right measures are not the same for each of us'
Patrick Wintour 20 May 2012
Angela Merkel has declined to shift position on fresh measures to stimulate demand in the euro area, including the idea of eurobonds, leaving other EU countries hoping she will adopt a more conciliatory mood when the EU heads of government meet on Wednesday for the next round of discussions.
Barack Obama left the German chancellor in no doubt that he would like to see her adopt a less confrontational stance towards the Greek government, during a heated two-hour discussion at the G8 summit at Camp David, outside Washington.
Obama, facing a presidential election in November, cannot afford US jobless numbers to rise this autumn, a serious possibility if there is no return of confidence in Europe. He is said to understand the necessity for the Greeks to undertake spending cuts, but stressed the same austerity approach across Europe would simply lead to recession.
Following the discussion on Saturday, the G8 issued a communique that tried to reference all positions, including the right of the G8 to discuss the state of the European economy.
The communique pointedly asserted that "the right measures are not the same for each of us", and committed the G8 to "take all necessary steps" to strengthen their economies. It said they wanted to keep Greece in the eurozone and vowed to work to promote growth in Europe, although behind the scenes distinct differences remained over what kinds of stimulus policies to pursue.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Once again Obama’s re-election trumps EVERYTHING.
Seems like the only non weak kneed man in the G8 meeting with cojones to stay the austerity course is a woman
I find it hard to believe that German voters will allow their savings to be given away to deadbeats much longer.
Good for her. A knee to the nuts is exactly what he needed.
Here’s the thing. Before Merkel....was Schroeder, who was a liberal of sorts, but he was smart enough to rebuild the German social welfare system, which saved the nation billions. There’s nothing else of value that Schroeder did. So Schoreder leaves, and Merkel walks into the 2008 downfall of the economy. She preaches austerity from day one. German businesses and the government in the best position of any country in Europe....and they use this to their advantage.
So Germany looks great today. If the US had done some things to its social programs back in the last decade....we would have been in just as good a position as Germany, but we didn’t. I think Merkel wins this weekend...hands down.
The EU has no choice except to remove Greece and allow them to sink.It is either that or they all go down.I hope she laughed at Obama and gave him a Bronx salute for his ideas because her ideas are the only thing that will save the economies of the world and the austerity measures will have to be painful ones that most likely cause rioting.We all need to be ready the day the foodstamp class finds out that the gravy train has left the stain without them.....
The EU has no choice except to remove Greece and allow them to sink.It is either that or they all go down.I hope she laughed at Obama and gave him a Bronx salute for his ideas because her ideas are the only thing that will save the economies of the world and the austerity measures will have to be painful ones that most likely cause rioting.We all need to be ready the day the foodstamp class finds out that the gravy train has left the station without them.....
Germany looks good now, but when the rest of Europe can’t afford its exports anymore....
Obama is a socialist. Of course he wants Europe to ditch asuterity (at least until after the U.S. Elections).
He also wants to dump whats left of U.S. tax dollars to prop up socialist countries.
Why would not Obama just write another check for a trillion dollars and bail them out? He has already spent $5 trillions of dollars, what is one more, especially if it gets him reelected?
The Democrats need no budget because they just spend, borrow, print, complain that anyone with a job is not paying his/her "fair share," and blame Bush.
Maybe but they will be buying German exports with German money, so this is better? It's a bad situation all the way around. Germany is right to try to stand their ground.
Milton Friedman was absolutely right. Deficit spending squanders capital and leads to poverty. Financial gimmickry does not create capital. Bankruptcy is not a mere abstraction, it is a cruel, unforgiving reality.
They won't, because the Obamareich is the source of those numbers.
this writer must be misreading their lips. They, and we, know the primary problem with growing jobs in the US is the lack of confidence and trust in Obama. He is the reason for no recovery. The sooner he is voted out, the quicker will be a recovery
You need to think a few steps further along. You just left things dangling with an ellipsis. Allow me to fill in some of the things your dots imply:
The Euro zone shares a common currency. If each nation had its own currency, variable exchange rates would help return the economies of the respective countries toward equilibrium. They don’t, so one of the most important tools of monetary policy is closed to them. Unless they expel Greece, and other anchors holding everyone else back.
Germany largely trades with Europe — but, it isn’t limited to trade with Europe. Canada’s (mine) Prime Minister Harper proposed an alternative solution — more free trade. He wants a free trade agreement with Europe. (Harper actually promoted austerity at the G8 summit he hosted in 2010 — and he’s now practicing what he preached. Public servants are being fired, the pensionable age is being raised, etc.)
If the economies of other Euro zone nations declines, the value of the Euro will also decline. That would place German exports in an even more competitive position, for trade with the rest of the world.
Etc. World macro economics is hugely complex — nearly as difficult to model as the climate. However, some things are known — the fact that it is a dynamic, adaptive system being the most important. You can’t just think one step ahead.
What's wrong with Merkel? Imagine her worrying about German interests instead of what this means to Obama's reelection. How selfish can she be?
Our USA should not be joining the UK in pushing Germany to flush itself down the drain of corruption with the more southern cultures. Let the southern nations be on their own and go where they may.
The German people are upset about the redistribution of wealth from them to those who failed to make the hard decisions. Merkel is not making this decision on her own. She would be commiting political suicide if she did otherwise.
Merkel has said that they will provide Greece with some stimulus assistance if they adhere to their agreed austerity measures, which make no mistake about it, are draconian. Lots of pain to go around.
Euro-bonds, what a great idea. Who’d a thunk of such a great idea .... take all the European sovereign debt and bundle it and sell it as bonds. What could possibly go wrong?
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