Damned if You Do
I didn’t realize how much dislike and fear that most of Europe still has when it comes to German influence until I read this article by Michael Lewis. The article itself is very long, gets quite vulgar at times and is still very informative.
While the rest of the Western world (Iceland, Greece, Ireland, the US) behaved like lunatics when loans were easily available at low interest rates, the Germans showed restraint. Commendable? Not entirely. Because the Germans lent their “own money to enable foreigners to behave insanely”. I guess that’s why they say “Neither a lender nor a borrower be”. (Of course, like any advice, overdoing that one isn’t a good thing either because it brings all economic activity to a halt).
Today, to avert financial Armageddon in Europe, everyone wants the Germans to bail out the Greeks (and presumably, the Irish, the Italians and the Spanish after that). The Germans, obviously, are not enthusiastic about doing any such thing. But even if they do agree, they want the Greeks to make some changes in the way they, er, operate. Set aside the half-serious suggestions in German papers like “Why don't you sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks?”, the other, more pragmatic advice includes things like reducing salaries in Greece to German levels (yes, that’s right: the same kind of bureaucratic job pays more in Greece! To circumvent EU laws on such matters, the Greeks invented a 13th and 14th month and paid the excess as the salary for the non-existent months). Another advice is to increase taxes. And to actually collect those taxes. None of these things sound wrong, especially coming from a country that is bailing you out, right? That’s not what the Greeks feel. Why? Because what they hear in these suggestions is:
- Be efficient and productive
- Have laws
- Follow those laws.
Take a breath and you’ll notice that all these characteristics are what one associates with a German! How could a Greek possibly give up his identity to become more German?! This smacks of a European takeover by Germany…an imposition of German identity on the rest of Europe.
I pity the Germans: they are expected to bail out the riff-raff of Europe, and then they have to take a lot of abuse when they make perfectly reasonable suggestions! As Lewis wrote in his article, “Deutschland Unter Alles” is what every European expects from Germany, even when they do the rescue act. It’s almost as if the rest of Europe has decided to damn Germany for all eternity for past acts. I get why the Jews and Israelis may feel that way, but the sheer hypocrisy of imperialists-at-that-time Europe is just unbelievable.
While the rest of the Western world (Iceland, Greece, Ireland, the US) behaved like lunatics when loans were easily available at low interest rates, the Germans showed restraint. Commendable? Not entirely. Because the Germans lent their “own money to enable foreigners to behave insanely”. I guess that’s why they say “Neither a lender nor a borrower be”. (Of course, like any advice, overdoing that one isn’t a good thing either because it brings all economic activity to a halt).
Today, to avert financial Armageddon in Europe, everyone wants the Germans to bail out the Greeks (and presumably, the Irish, the Italians and the Spanish after that). The Germans, obviously, are not enthusiastic about doing any such thing. But even if they do agree, they want the Greeks to make some changes in the way they, er, operate. Set aside the half-serious suggestions in German papers like “Why don't you sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks?”, the other, more pragmatic advice includes things like reducing salaries in Greece to German levels (yes, that’s right: the same kind of bureaucratic job pays more in Greece! To circumvent EU laws on such matters, the Greeks invented a 13th and 14th month and paid the excess as the salary for the non-existent months). Another advice is to increase taxes. And to actually collect those taxes. None of these things sound wrong, especially coming from a country that is bailing you out, right? That’s not what the Greeks feel. Why? Because what they hear in these suggestions is:
- Be efficient and productive
- Have laws
- Follow those laws.
Take a breath and you’ll notice that all these characteristics are what one associates with a German! How could a Greek possibly give up his identity to become more German?! This smacks of a European takeover by Germany…an imposition of German identity on the rest of Europe.
I pity the Germans: they are expected to bail out the riff-raff of Europe, and then they have to take a lot of abuse when they make perfectly reasonable suggestions! As Lewis wrote in his article, “Deutschland Unter Alles” is what every European expects from Germany, even when they do the rescue act. It’s almost as if the rest of Europe has decided to damn Germany for all eternity for past acts. I get why the Jews and Israelis may feel that way, but the sheer hypocrisy of imperialists-at-that-time Europe is just unbelievable.
I think that others may not intend damning Germany for what happened to the Jews around the World War time - certainly eternal damning may not be the point anyway.
ReplyDeleteI feel that since Germany was a protagonist with some enthusiasm for the euro during its conception, planning and emerging days, people would like to blame and make it be responsible for the difficulty that would befall the euro. Nobody would even think of asking UK for any help because UK clearly avoided participation in the euro currency. As to France, in case someone says that nobody is "damning" that nation, I think France always refuses to budge, so it gets less into obliging moods. No point is asking! The mess of euro co-ordination must be tiring France and it may be happy to just pull out. That is possibly why Germany is the lone scapegoat now.
I don't know if I make sense. I am never at finance anyway!