Dave Emory’s entire lifetime of work is available on a flash drive that can be obtained here. [1] (The flash drive includes the anti-fascist books available on this site.)
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, once said [2]: ‘In 50 years’ time nobody will think of nation states.’
NB: Updated on 5/1/2013
COMMENT: Before we return [somewhat reluctantly] to the Boston Marathon bombing and the remarkable [and predictable] connections emerging in connection with this milieu, some important points and observations should be recorded about the stunning events unfolding in Europe.
(These have been largely eclipsed by discussion of the Boston bombing, which MAY have been part of the idea.)
Building on past observations and bearing in mind points made in other posts:
- As highlighted in the linked article [3] excerpted below, Germany is filling a vital economic need by taking advantage of an influx of skilled workers from Southern Europe, whose plight is the direct result of the German-driven (and thoroughly discredited) “troika” policy of austerity. German population decline mandates that at least 400,0000 such immigrants be admitted each year to compensate for the aging of the workforce!
- The same austerity policy is also opening up Greece, Spain and the other victims of “austerity” to takeover of troubled business assets by German firms, as highlighted in another linked story [4].
- Another linked and excerpted story [5] notes that the German government is assisting in this effort.
- That self-same austerity doctrine is also causing anxiety [6] in the investment community over the integrity of investment in banks and other threatened institutions in the afflicted countries, as highlighted in another linked post.
- As we have seen in the past, the weakness in the Southern European economies is strengthening investor confidence in both German government and corporate debt, shoring up the economy of the Federal Republic.
- The continued weakness of the Euro also benefits Germany, assuring good market prices for the exports that are the fundamental element of German economy.
- It should be noted that the Cypriot economy was obliged to financialize [7] its economy due to the loss of key agricultural and industrial infrastructure as a result of the Turkish invasion of that Island in 1974.
- In what may appear [8] incredible to newer listeners, the policies we see unfolding [9] are deliberate [10] and pre-conceived [11], many decades ago [12]. German banks “poured the drinks” [13] for the intoxication currently bedeviling Southern Europe.
- The German-driven austerity has drawn support by virtue of the fact that the EMU is the ultimate example of “Too Big to Fail.” Many observers have–rightly or wrongly–predicted utter financial chaos and economic collapse if the euro were to fail. This anxiety has preserved Germany’s ability [14] to impose economic hegemony [15] on Europe, resulting in an increasing degree [16] of political hegemony. [17]
- To an ever-greater extent, understanding what is taking place in Europe requires an understanding of the theories of Prussian military theoretician Carl von Clausewitz [18], whose concepts of “total war” and “post-war” have driven German power structure for the better part of two centuries.
- In consideration of the preceding point: The Third Reich’s murderous policies had a point. The idea was to leave their neighbors weaker for the duration, by killing important people (within 6 months of the German invasion in 1939, there few people left left alive with a college education. Imagine trying to rebuild a war-torn society with virtually no engineers, doctors etc.) The survivors suffered from PTSD, malnutrition and other afflictions contributing to low birth-rates and fertility. Of course, those societies also had their wealth stolen and were without investment capital. Their corporations had been subsumed to the constellation of “corporate Germany,” maintaining their economic dependence on, and subservience to, Germany. See the 3 passages from Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile excerpted below.
- In the United States, the GOP is treating the Obama administration [19] and the American economy in the same manner that Germany approaches Southern Europe. Inextricably linked [20] with the Underground Reich, the GOP is walking hand-in-hand [21] with Germany.
“Germany Soaks up Talent from South” by Marie de Verges; The Guardian Weekly; 4/12/2013. [3]
EXCERPT: Unemployment rates continue to break records in the eurozone, and there is little chance of an improvement this year. The crisis in the jobs market across Europe is hitting young people hardest, setting in motion new migratory patterns between Mediterranean countries and the north.
Germany stands out as an exception. Despite sluggish growth in the EU’s largest economy, unemployment is steady: good news that won’t fall on deaf ears. In the past two year the net number of people entering Germany rose from 128.000 to 340,000. German businesses are drawing on a fresh source of cheap, qualified labor from Greece and Spain. . . .
. . . . Unemployment is soaring in Greece and Spain, with more than one in four out of work. Youth is bearing the brunt of the downturn, with more than half the active population under 25 jobless. Meanwhile, the German labour market is buoyant. According to figures published by the federal employment agency in February unemployment is steady at 6.9%. . . .
. . . In the first nine months of 2012,27,000 Spaniards, 26,300 Greeks and almost 10,000 Portugese moved to Germany. The Germans already have a name for them, neue Gastarbeiter (new guest workers), a throwback to the immigrants who flocked to West Germany in the 1960’s. . .
. . . .However the new generation differs from its predecessors. Today’s migrants are younger and better qualified. . . .
. . . German business is thriving but the population is growing old, resulting in an increasingly acute shortage of labour. The country is desperately looking for qualified personnel to staff its factories, research laboratories, hospitals and kindergartens. According to experts, at least 400,000 newcomers (in the net migration balance) will be needed every year to compensate for ageing and to maintain current economic trends.
Southern Europe has a massive reserve of young talent with poor prospects. . . .
EXCERPT: German companies are setting their sights on southern Europe as fears of a euro zone breakup fade and economic reforms transform the crisis-battered region into an attractive place to invest once again.
Countries like Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain are still struggling with deep recessions and high unemployment but have also attracted attention for the opportunities they present, not just the risks.
Strong companies are attracting interest among the “Mittelstand”, medium-sized and often family-owned manufacturing firms to which Germany owes much of its exporting prowess.
That is in large part due to the economic and labour market reforms bailout countries have been forced to implement — making it easier to hire and fire and reducing wage costs — which less stricken countries such as France have been slower to embrace.
“For financially strong German Mittelstand firms, the crisis is turning out to be an opportunity. They are increasingly active with acquisitions in Spain,” said Christoph Himmelskamp, a consultant at Roedl & Partner who advises smaller German firms on deals with Spanish counterparts.
Himmelskamp says he has seen a 30 to 40 percent increase in German acquisitions of Spanish firms since 2009, when the euro zone debt crisis first flared in Greece.
“The mood was subdued when there was speculation Spain could leave the euro. Some of our clients started putting the brakes on transactions ... Once that discussion ended, investment returned.”
erman firms are buying up strong competitors, clients or suppliers at a time when those companies are struggling to stay afloat through years of recession in their home markets and as shaky banks restrict access to credit. . . .
EXCERPT: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble agreed on a plan to boost investment in smaller companies in Spain at a meeting today with his Spanish counterpart, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos.
“There is a lot of money in the banks and at the European Central Bank but not enough investment,” Schaeuble said at a joint press conference at a country hotel near Granada in southern Spain. “That is where we want to take measures.”
The two countries backed a program that will seek “sponsors” who will encourage investors in Germany, Spain and other countries to provide equity financing for competitive companies, said de Guindos. Increasing the capital of smaller companies will help them tap bank financing, he added. . . .
“Cyprus Rescue Hurts Bloc’s Bank Plan” by Matthew Dalton; The Wall Street Journal; 4/5/2013. [6]
EXCERPT: European officials have been determined to mend the region’s financial market after seeing it torn apart along national lines during the economic crisis. That effort suffered a blow with the radical surgery prescribed for Cyprus’s banks as part of March’s bailout deal.
The agreement will see large depositors in Cyprus’s two big, internationally active banks absorb steep losses. Money transfers to and from the island are now sharply restricted. All told, the deal delivered a wake-up call to regulators, investors and depositors alike about the risk of banks based in European countries with financially stressed governments.
This message could reverberate, analysts say, threatening the economies of Europe’s depressed southern rim. Europe’s financial plumbing remains clogged, with depositors in Northern Europe wary of sending their money down south, where businesses and consumers are suffocating in an environment of high interest rates.
If depositors and investors grow even-more nervous about the safety of Southern European banks, the cost of their funding will rise from already high levels and so will their lending rates.
Corporations have taken notice, said John Grout, policy and technical director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers. . . .
“Cyprus Finds not All Nations Are Equal” By Christopher Pissarides; Financial Times; 3/28/2013. [7]
EXCERPT: . . . Many people think of Cyprus as facing similar problems to Greece, because of the close connections between the two countries. But Cyprus has a manageable fiscal deficit, efficient accounting and legal services, inherited from British colonial rule. The large majority of the people running those services are trained in British universities and speak fluent English.
After the Turkish invasion of 1974, when most of the agricultural and industrial base was lost, Cyprus decided to add business services to tourism as its principal export. Dual taxation agreements, lax immigration policies and low corporate taxes attracted business from the Middle East, the EU and Russia.
The trouble, according to the troika of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, is that this also brought large amounts of bank deposits to Cyprus, blowing up the banking sector to “unsustainable” dimensions. Deposits are about eight times gross national product. This figure, however, is still smaller than Luxembourg’s and not too different from that of Malta and Ireland.
The troika, with outspoken support from the German finance minister, is telling Cypriots that their “business model” is unsustainable. Its recommendation is, in effect, that Cyprus’s banks should shrink 50–60 per cent in the next five years – and the opportunity for shrinkage was offered on a plate. The biggest Cypriot banks – Laiki Bank and the Bank of Cyprus – had invested heavily in Greek sovereign bonds. The banks would need capital to continue operating. . . .
EXCERPT: . . . This huge organization I.G. Farben] functioned as a manufacturing and research arm of the German government, with the responsibility of discovering all possible means of increasing the military power of Germany. More than RM 4.25 billion was invested in new plants, mines, and power installations, with other millions going into new research facilities. . . . So close had Farben become to the government that I.G. always knew in advance all invasions planned by Hitler. It was to supply the materials necessary to each conquest, and when a land had been overrun and subjugated, the Farben experts would handle the consolidation and organization of the industrial facilities as additional supply sources for the German armed forces. As German troops swept across Europe and Hitler proclaimed his vision of a thousand-year Third Reich, I.G. Farben also dreamed of world empire. This was outlined with clarity in a document called Neuordnung, or ‘New Order,’ that was accompanied by a letter of transmittal to the Ministry of Economics. It declared that a new order for the chemical industry of the world should supplement Hitler’s New Order. Therefore, the document stated, Farben was fitting future industrial plans into such a framework. . . . I.G. Farben was the major chemical firm on the Continent, and as each country fell to Germany its acquisitions of chemical and dyestuff companies were enormous. I.G. also increased its investments in these by RM 7 billion. [Emphasis added.] . . .
EXCERPT: . . . I.G. Farben was a formidable ally for Reichsleiter Bormann in his plans for the postwar economic rebirth of Germany. In a telephone conversation with Dr. von Schnitzler, Bormann asked what would the loss of factories in France and the other occupied countries mean to German industry in general and to I.G. in particular. Dr. von Schnitzler said he believed the technical dependence of these countries on I.G. would be so great that despite German defeat I.G., in one way or another, could regain its position of control of the European chemical business. ‘They will need the constant technical help of I.G.’s scientific laboratories as they do not own appropriate installations within themselves.’ . . .
EXCERPT: . . . . The Reichsleiter asked Schmitz his views of the future. Schmitz replied, ‘The occupation armies will be understanding in the West, but certainly not in the East. I have instructed all Farben administrators and technicians to come to the West, where they can be of use in resuming our operations once the disturbances of 1945 come to a halt.’ Schmitz added that, while general bomb damage to the I.G. plants was about 25 percent of capacity, some were untouched. He mentioned speaking with Field Marshal Model, who was commanding the defenses of the Ruhr. ‘Model had planned to turn our Bayer-Leberkusen pharmaceutical factory into an artillery base, but he agreed to make it an open, undefended factory. Hopefully, we will get it back untouched.’ ‘What about your board of directors and the essential executives? If they are held by the occupation authorities, can I.G. continue?’ Bormann asked. ‘We can continue. We have an operational plan for such a contingency, which everyone understands. However, I don’t believe our board members will be detained too long. Nor will I. But we must go through a procedure of investigation before release, so I have been told by our N.W. 7 people who have excellent contacts in Washington.’ . . . .