NAVIGATING THE FISCAL CLIFF EURO-STYLE

EURO-LALALAND

TEETERING ON THE BRINK

In Euro-speak, "decision day" means that the day to put off a decision has come, and the exercise can be repeated indefinitely, as witnesses to the last 8 "EU" summits can testify. No matter how urgent the issue, and how precariously close to the abyss the bloc drifts, nothing seems to spur "EU" laggards (for a more accurate word than 'leaders') into action. It haunts the "EU" today that for many years, people with the "charisma of a damp rag and the posture of a bottom-grade bank clerk" who have been admonished and eagerly whisked out of their country of origin, have been unduly elevated to positions of seniority in the "EU" - where demands of intellect, integrity and decency at home are replaced with readiness to defraud, mismanage, corrupt and indulge in nepotism, deceit and procrastination.

Now, in November 2012, we are no closer of tackling, let alone resolving, the crippling financial crisis that has emerged already 4 years ago. GREECE has been bankrupt for 2 years, yet the "EU" keeps siphoning taxpayers' funds and delusional credit to the moribund nation. With irrational expositions of principles, the eurozone manifestly refuses to throw out Greece for fear it would trigger a mass exit of nations that should have never joined, and have never been qualified under the rules of eurozone treaties. Instead, we hear the daily threats from the "EU" and ECB elders, that European taxpayers will foot the bill of "whatever it takes." What started out as a $150 billion problem in 2008 has grown into a self-declared readiness to shed up to $1.6 Trillion to prolong the eurozone debacle.

Greece already in the deep end, Italy fast falling, Portugal & Spain doomed 

Even staring over the cliff, the "EU" quacks buck obstinately to show leadership for once. Instead they raise idle petty issues, such as bemoaning the justified rebate to Britain. The idea in Brussels, Berlin, Rome and Paris is to portray Britain as the villain of the "EU" and inflate the island nation as an external threat to "us."

At the same time as Germany's Merkel serenaded her olive twig song in Downing Street, she also sanctioned French-Italian efforts to strip Britain of the annual rebate of £2.2 billion (already cut under Labour from £3.7bn). It will not work, as Britain has veto power, and the veto threatens plans by some to create a banking union which would severely impair economies outside this envisaged union.

Two neighbouring words from German dictionary which describe "EU" denial

As the days of decision come and go in the self-castrated "EU," the Day of Reckoning approaches fast. Greece is in a suffocating stranglehold thanks to the "EU" yet even more austerity has been pushed through parliament on the direction of Brussels and Berlin, the usual threats included. After a few hours of feigned relief, first voices of pending doom arise. The German finance minister declared today that it is "highly unlikely" that an urgently needed next tranche of European taxpayers' funds will be transferred to Athens next week. Even with the $244 billion already received in the past 18 months, Greece runs out of public funds on November 15th and is in real danger to default on a $6.3 billion loan repayment. I wonder how this will pan out next week...