Guest
08-12-2011, 11:57 PM
It's not funny, but I chuckled when I read an article in today's Wall Street Journal about President Obama calling the presidents of France and Germany to encourage them, in their role as leaders of the European Central Bank (ECB), to intervene in the problems in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy which are spiraling out of control. Like here in the United States, the politicians in those countries are unwilling to cut spending and increase taxes to the degree necessary to provide fiscal stability.
Without question, the world's financial system is inextricably linked, so problems in Europe will "wash onto our shores" as Obama said in a speech last week. And if the European financial crisis further destabilizes our situation, we are so weak financially that we can't do much about it. Relatively speaking, both France and Germany are in far better shape than we are financially, so the U.S. president had to go to them on bended knee, telling them what we think they should do.
But after seeing the dysfunction in our government in recent weeks, why should they listen? The "moral authority" of the U.S. is almost non-existent these days. Maybe the best response came from a German central banker after he heard what the U.S. president was recommending..."es ist leicht für sie, uns zu sagen, was zu tun ist, wenn es nicht ihr geld" (...it's easy for them to tell us what to do when it's not their money.)
Without question, the world's financial system is inextricably linked, so problems in Europe will "wash onto our shores" as Obama said in a speech last week. And if the European financial crisis further destabilizes our situation, we are so weak financially that we can't do much about it. Relatively speaking, both France and Germany are in far better shape than we are financially, so the U.S. president had to go to them on bended knee, telling them what we think they should do.
But after seeing the dysfunction in our government in recent weeks, why should they listen? The "moral authority" of the U.S. is almost non-existent these days. Maybe the best response came from a German central banker after he heard what the U.S. president was recommending..."es ist leicht für sie, uns zu sagen, was zu tun ist, wenn es nicht ihr geld" (...it's easy for them to tell us what to do when it's not their money.)