AUTOREFRESH 
Germany uncomfortable in the spotlight?
A thought occurred to me, while reading this fascinating article by Christopher Caldwell on the German attitude toward the serial bailouts. Germany has been cast in the role typically assumed by the US. The US typically plays the role of evil overload that swoops into clean up the mess made by the others.
I’m thinking big stuff like WWII, the Cold War, things like that. Despite the strenuous efforts of Uncle Sam, the locals often chaff at the notion of being told what do do by the the Big Dog.
Germany finds itself in that role for a change and finds the spotlight pretty uncomfortable.
It’s tough being the adult in the room, isn’t it?
Read the article for some much needed context on why the euro came into existence. Don’t forget it is a political, not an economic construct. What was designed to constrain Germany has put Germany at the top of the pyramid…
The Big Dog, as you call it, could have helped nip WWII in the bud very, very early on but choose not to do so. In the end Britain paid the US US$4.33 billion for their “help” but Russia paid the highest price by a long chalk with 23,000,000 million casualties (yes, that’s right 23 MILLION). Meanwhile, the USA took German scientists and technology and forged ahead in the space race of the late 50′s and 60′s. So please, spare me the supercilious tone – thank you.
“Don’t forget it is a political, not an economic construct. What was designed to constrain Germany has put Germany at the top of the pyramid…” Yep
Hi Jamie,
Very good article. Thanks!
Find one thing very strange with tomorrow’s voting and nothing has yet been in media regarding this;
Will the Greek parlamentarians get anything from voting “yes”?
Having been living and working for many years in Southern Europe, including Greece, I know that very little gets done in politics without “compensating” politicians for their “support”. Why on earth should Greek politicians put an end to their (lucrative and influencial) political life, by voting “yes” tomorrow? “To save the country”? Forget about it.
Seems rather naive not to consider and investigate that possibility. Especially as EU/EZ lately have broken mainly all previous rules, so why let a simple vote in the Greece Parliament stand in the way to “rescue” EZ? Doing it in the traditional way seems to be a small price to pay and who cares in the end as so many other rules have been twisted and turned upside down?
One should perhaps also remember that paying for political support abroad was fiscally deductable in Germany until a few years ago. In spite of new legislation we have seen frequent examples lately, e.g Siemens as well as in Germany itself (the allegations against Christian Wulf one of Germany’s most influencial politicians). There are very few hang ups here.
Why is there nothing in the media regarding how the “support” in the Greek Parliament MAY now be achieved?
Very good report, Mr. Coleman. Thank you very much. What do you know about the lack of support inside Mrs Merkel’s coalition to vote for the greek bailout? Given that the oposition would likely vote masively for it, the price of a greek bailout would be Mrs Merkel’s resignation and the rise of another german coalition…Is any other infotrmation about this matter?
Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do everytime I watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZiw15VgWoI
Just another germany is bad article .. where are sentences that countries in southern europe spent more money as they had… now they got the bills. and a person who cannot pay has to clean the dishes or get in jail
Yeah, coz dropping a couple of nuclear bombs in Japan is the adult thing to do, right?
That american arrogancy IS what locals worldwide detest. Fortunately, some americans such as Ron Paul are starting to get it. Unfortunately the majority are just like you yet.
About Germany. Not so fast Mr. An Important part of the mess Europe is in is because of Germany for keeping low rates through the ECB during the good years to bolster its lagging economy while periphery economies where obviously in need of higher rates.
Case closed. A. Thx for illustrating to point to perfection.
Don’t read too closely, do we Lars.How about the third paragraph? As long as Germany wasn’t complaining, others could make free with Germany’s credit card. Once in the euro, Greece, Italy, Spain, and other countries that bankers used to consider reckless or unstable could borrow at the same rates. (The treaties that bound all these dissimilar countries together stipulated that there would be no bailouts for those who borrowed too much, but bankers obviously didn’t believe that.) A boom in lending pushed up wages and prices in those “peripheral” countries, rendering them uncompetitive. After the financial crisis of 2008, the countries that had overborrowed were saddled with more debt than they could comfortably repay. The eurozone’s Mediterranean members have come to think that Germany ought to rescue them. But the Germany to which they are addressing their petitions is not the penitent, diffident, and easily browbeaten land that they came to know over the last three generations. Germany has its own ideas about economics and morality, and it is ready to insist that its weaker neighbors adhere to them.
As a German I think this article got some points pretty right.
But its also exaggerating and serves up cliches. Sure
you get a Quittung for everything in Germany. Even when you are buying a newspaper or icecream. And we all wear Lederhosen and drink all day long.