Well Done!

by Helga Zepp-LaRouche

May 19, 2010—The flipped-out reactions to the decision of the Bafin (Germany's bank supervisory agency), to ban naked short sales of stocks and state bonds, as well as naked Credit Default Swaps (CDS)—i.e. credit insurance without a real basis—should serve as confirmation to Chancellor Merkel, that the German government has done the right thing. A continuance of the possibility of naked short sales would have only meant that the speculators' caprice could have proceeded unbridled, ultimately against the national wealth. This is a first step in the right direction.

What should Germany do: For 34 months, with no success at reregulating, the systemic crisis has escalated, enormous capacities in the real economy have been destroyed, and billions of euros and dollars of tax money have flowed into the pockets of the gamblers. During this period, three G20 and several EU summits have shown that the financial institutions are obviously more powerful than the governments, who have put through one "rescue package" after another, with the only result being that the gamblers have taken ever greater risks. The only thing you could be sure of is that, if there were any doubt, the taxpayers would be the ones to shell out.

And how should Germany behave, if the pressure from the other EU governments in the face of the newly threatening meltdown, becomes so great that the German government agrees, against its better judgment, to the latest mega-rescue package, to which level-headed voices, such as that of the former head of the Bundesbank Karl-Otto Poehl, says, there are very sound alternatives.

It simply shows unlimited arrogance to believe that one could turn the German taxpayer into a milk-cow for all of Europe, and put Germany again under mass pressure, to act against its own interests, as was done with the introduction of the euro, and the inflationary packages to rescue the banks. If Germany, in this extremely dangerous situation, takes a small step, to make its situation somewhat manageable, various critics don't need to be surprised.

It has only been demonstrated that Germany still has a government.