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Mario Draghi should beware of poking beehives
The persistent interference with Greek attempts to bring sense to an unaudited and hopelessly indebted European Union over the last two days should tell everyone – at last – about the reality thousands of online commentators have been banging on about since 2008: leave the decisions to amateur unelected bureaucrats – headed up by a Goldman Sachs executive beyond the control of either the Law or the People – and corporate fascism will be the inevitable outcome. The Slog asks once again for commentators to ponder on the identity of Mario Draghi’s real boss.
The Roman guard’s stab into the groin of the crucified Greeks last night leaves no doubt in any thinking mind that the EU and those that “run” it are democratically illiterate bully boys. But over there in the UK, my former homeland moving in precisely the same direction, none of this seemed worthy of frontline stories in the “quality” media. The Telegraph ran it as a fourth lead on the finance pages, The Guardian leads with an archaeologically ageing Tesco story, and talks vaguely about ‘fears’ in the EU, and the Times has a piece on the business pages leading with “a hard line” taken “according to the rules” by Mario Draghi. It’s odd, is it not, that rules ignored for months on end (for example in relation to French and Italian deficits) must be obeyed to the letter just 45 minutes after a terse meeting between the ECB Chairman and a Greek bearing gifts.
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts: they might have a practical solution, and we can’t have that.
Having ripped the innards of Cyprus asunder without anaesthetic not long ago (bankrupting thousands of innocent retirees in the process) the ECB/EC axis – itself terminally split – is now increasing the pain level bit by bit: threats of ELA withdrawal, closed access to the QE, and now a refusal to accept Greek bonds as tradeable assets through normal channels.
Don Dragheone of course left a chink of light from the door to Room 101:The ECB has left free another way for Greek banks to exchange their securities for liquidity. But the cost of borrowing will be much higher.
It all fits: the Athens stock market was rising, and there’s been no spike in Greek debt-bond costs….so the Man from Wall Street had to create one. Watch that market plummet today: it’s 6.2% down already (midday there at the time of writing).
Greece can keep going now until February 25th. Draghi knows that. Draghi is a wrecker. I ask all thinking observers of these events to once again think about what I’ve been asking for a week or more now: WHO exactly is Draghi working for?
Related at The Slog: Why the Germans are right to be suspicious about Draghi’s motives
The Slog 