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Banker’s Choice
[Quote]:
So Greece has a new prime minister – Lucas Papademos – and Italy looks about to have a new one, too – Mario Monti. To which not just you and I but damn near every Italian and Greek responds, “Who?”
Neither Papademos nor Monti has ever held elective office, or even run for one. Neither has been a minister, sub-minister or even civil servant in one of their nation’s ministries. Neither has developed, or sought to develop, a public following from their careers as economic technicians, chiefly on the European supra-national level. Yet each is about to lead a major nation.
Papademos and Monti are something new under the sun: national leaders elected by the markets. Imposed, not as pro-consels by foreign occupiers, but by the European banking community, by the finance ministers of the Eurozone powers – chiefly, Germany and France. Each has an impressive resume and a good reputation with the centrist political and economic elites of his own nation, but there’s no reason why the person on the street of Rome or Athens should know who the hell they are.
But imagine if the U.S. couldn’t sell its Treasury notes (which has never been a problem, let’s be clear), and the IMF and Germany and China got together and said that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, the Cabinet and the Congress had to go. Imagine that they then designated as Obama’s successor, say, the guy who followed Tim Geithner as head of the New York Fed (I don’t even know who that is), or Robert Zoellick, the American who heads the World Bank. That’s essentially what just happened to Italy and Greece.
[..]
But there’s nothing conspiratorial about what is happening in plain view in Italy and Greece: Two economists have been imposed from on high to make changes to the Italian and Greek economies – really, to fundamental lifestyles of Italians and Greeks – that neither nation would be likely to make through the normal democratic processes. Some of the changes we’re likely about to see would probably come in any case, but surely not all: Democracies tend not vote themselves into austerity-driven penury. But Italy and Greece (the latter, need I note, the cradle of democracy) aren’t really looking like democracies just now, or even sovereign states.
So what do we call this? A coup? An occupation? The latest version of the 18th Brumaire? (That one’s for the Marxists.) If nothing else, it’s certainly a triumph of capitalism over democracy.
They only offered one technique: Turn the other cheek.
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Crikey! Sounds like the Shock Doctrine to me.
Do you have links for other articles reporting that these choices were pushed by EU leaders rather than selected internally?
Can I assume that by “selected internally” you mean “after an election where all greek citizens could participate”?
We called it “thanks God, a non-politician who will get us out of this mess”. He had a clear task, lasted only until the next election, and put us back into a shape – so our newly elected government had something to destroy.
@John: No. There’s a difference between Greek politicians picking someone amongst themselves and EU officials coming in and dictating who it has to be.
I don’t think there’s any country left in the EU where politicians do anything at all “amongst themselves”. Their post-politics job depend on their contacts EU wide.
I take it the answer is “No I don’t have any links to actual reporting, I’m just venting my opinions.”
a safe assumption no matter how many links (or lack thereof) there are.
Here in the US, the success rate of amateur politicians in high places is horrible. They have to deal with professional politicians from all sides, whose sole purpose in life now is to make them look foolish and make themselves look better. I wish them well but I really doubt they’re up for what’s ahead.