Daily Archives: 15 June 2012

German opinion poll shows majority believe euro membership carries more disadvantages than advantages

From Open Europe:

open quoteNew German opinion poll shows majority believe euro membership carries more disadvantages than advantages;
In an interview with Leipziger Volkszeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich reiterated that German assistance for Greece was not unconditional, arguing that: “We’re not willing to pour money into a bottomless pit… Anyone who wants to see help and solidarity from us has to accept that we expect a certain amount of seriousness and a certain amount of reasonableness”. An opinion poll commissioned by German state TV ZDF published on Friday showed that 79% of respondents rejected eurobonds as a solution to the crisis. Support for euro membership appears to be waning as 50% of respondents (up from 43% in February) say they believed Germany’s euro membership carried more disadvantages than advantages. According to the poll, 45% took the opposite view (down from 51% in February).close quote

EU = all 17 countries can print money at the expense of others

Patrick Barron

open quoteRe: Spain Pours Billions into Bank

The central bank of Spain accepts Spanish debt and uses that debt as collateral at the European Central Bank for euro loans. So, all seventeen countries of the European Monetary Union have a back-door method for monetizing government debt. This is the structural flaw in the European System of Central Banks–there is no real, enforceable prohibition to massive printing of euros, as we see here. The other sixteen members of the EMU had no say in the matter. Each member can counterfeit euros ’til the cows come home. There is talk of a one trillion euro bailout of European banks.close quote