Pundits Slam Greece as Euro Exit Looms

Considering some of the Greek-bashing going on in Europe, you wouldn't know that other countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland might have lots of trouble if Greece makes a disorderly exit from the Euro. Who will the pundits blame when Greece is no longer the scapegoat?

Last week Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund chief, insulted the Greeks by implying they were all tax dodgers. She told Guardian UK:

"Do you know what? As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax."
Even more than she thinks about all those now struggling to survive without jobs or public services?
"I think of them equally. And I think they should also help themselves collectively."
How?
"By all paying their tax. Yeah."
It sounds as if she's essentially saying to the Greeks and others in Europe, you've had a nice time and now it's payback time.
"That's right." She nods calmly. "Yeah."

That statement brought an onslaught of criticism to Lagarde's Facebook Page where she later posted an apology:

As I have said many times before, I am very sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they are facing. . . . An important part of this effort is that everyone should carry their fair share of the burden, especially the most privileged and especially in terms of paying their taxes. . . .

Bill Mitchell, an Australian economist saw Lagarde's statement as more European bullying towards the Greek people, especially from the IMF. He wrote in his blog:

. . . the European banking system interacted with the bailout funds to benefit the German banks. The benefits dwarf the amount of funds Greece has received.
So when Lagarde talks about payback time it is clear that she is continuing the IMF tradition of bullying the weak and vulnerable to benefit the rich and strong.
. . . Remember, that Greece was not in crisis before the Euro was imposed. Its crisis is the result of lax regulation by EU officials interacting with a flawed monetary system design.

Unfortunately, other Europeans continue to enjoy some Greek bashing, like this so-called "Wealth Manager" Nick Dewhirst from Integral Asset Management who echoed Lagarde's condescending judgment when interviewed by CNBC today (my transcript):

Dewhirst: I think the easiest way to understand it is at the ordinary human level. Nations are just very large numbers of human beings. And it's like a club, so I was down at my Sailing Club . . . talking to a few friendly Greeks among others and the attitude is very simple. As a club member you have to obey by certain rules. Lots of people cheat a little bit. They get away with it. Some people cheat a helluva lot. They get away with it until everybody notices. And that's the key difference between now and a couple of years ago.
Every German voter, every Slovak, Finn, and every other savings nation voter now knows that cheating is not just the occasional email joke he's got about Greece, but a way of life.

Question: What's the real impact of Greece leaving the eurozone as you say on June 18th?

Dewhirst: Probably like Y2K. A lot less than everybody thinks.

Question: But there are so many unknown unknown-unknowns...

Dewhirst: Um, I don't think so. I wrote a piece in December 2010 predicting this would happen and predicting how it would happen. We would have a bank holiday . . . and during that period they would have to pass a simple law amending one clause of the European treaties they signed. And then your accounts would be frozen. And everyone would come in on Monday and say 'they've stolen my money - they can't do that!' But they can! They've just done it and it's been done before. It was done in Argentina in 2001.

Question: But isn't the concern here the knock on impact through the banking system, because there would be quite significant implications for the Greek banks? The European financial system is very interconnected . . . Banks are holding some debt as well....
Question: Because if the new currency in Greece devalues 50-70% and they've lost that amoung of their wealth, why wouldn't every person in Spain, in Italy, or anywhere else that this could potentially happen and put it into a safer currency, thus perpetuating the bank runs?

Dewhirst: Um, that's very sensible, and indeed, I think about 30% of the Greek bank deposits have all ready disappeared that way. And 8% of those in other countries have done the same sort of thing. That's true.

Dewhirst was also quoted by CNBC as saying:

“The euro zone is a club but you get cheaters who get away with it until everyone finds out and at that point you need to remove them otherwise everyone will cheat. It’s better for Greece to leave," . . .
“The basic question is that a German has to increase working from 65 to 67 and that is to pay for Greeks retiring at 50. The 17th of June is the perfect opportunity to say either 'we’ll behave' or 'we’ll carry on cheating.

And Dewhirst continues his undiplomatic rant with a flippant joke:

“Greeks would no longer be able to afford German cars and Germans would be able to buy Greek villas and the young unemployed in Greece would have jobs as tourism booms. The best thing would be that they [Greeks] could blame the foreigners."

Unbelievable, and it's no wonder they left that last bit out of the video below. Let's hope Mr. Dewhirst never makes a bad investment or loses his wealth (*cough* JP Morgan *cough*). Woe betide him if he's ever part of the 99% in any country. He might be hungry enough to eat his words.

Cory Booker ~ Democratic Concern Troll

Obama surrogate Cory Booker went on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday and did his best impression of Reince Priebus from the conservative side, insisting that Romney's company Bain Capital existed help the common people and even unions, if you can believe that. And it just went downhill from there, as he stated that Obama shouldn't "indict private equity," and then took false equivalency to new heights when he compared Obama's repudiation of Bain with the dredging up of Reverend Jeremiah Wright by the Republicans.

Mayor Booker: . . . I have to say from a very personal level I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. To me, it's just, we're getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially, I know, I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses, and this to me, I'm very uncomfortable with.
. . . This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough! Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright. This stuff has got to stop because what it does is it undermines to me what this country should be focused on. It's a distraction from the real issues. It's either going to be a small campaign about this crap, or it's going to be a big campaign in my opinion about the issues the public cares about.

Twitter and Other Reactions at Snark Amendment
After attacks on his Facebook and in the Media, Booker made it worse by trying to apologize on YouTube with a true Etch-A-Sketch moment:


Seriously? And this guy is supposed to be a Democrat? Oh wait - maybe he really isn't one. To me, Booker sounds like a guy on the fence, who might rather be a Republican if he didn't have to play up to his own constituency of Democrats back in Newark, NJ. Otherwise, why would he be spouting Republican Talking Points when he was the only Democrat on Meet the Press that day?

Anyone who reads a lot of politics on the Interwebs has seen this type of behavior before. It's usually done by vastly irritating people known as "Concern Trolls" who penetrate a discussion just so they can pretend to be the voice of reason, when really they seek to overturn one side or another. Such a person might be pretending to be on one side when really they are on the other, or worse, on the fence and loving it there with a board up their rear end. It never seems to occur to such people that they sound like a scolding nanny, or worse, they seem to lack any convictions of their own beyond steering the discussion or kissing up to one side or another.

From Wisegeek: What is Concern Trolling?

Concern trolling is a form of Internet trolling in which someone enters a discussion with claims that he or she supports the view of the discussion, but has concerns. In fact, the concern troll is opposed to the view of the discussion, and he or she uses concern trolling to sow doubt and dissent in the community of commenters or posters. Although this practice originated on the Internet, it has since spread to the real world as well, with concern trolls popping up in a variety of places from network television to op-ed columns.
. . . When a concern troll has done the job correctly, the discussion will split, factions will emerge, and support for the cause will have eroded. Concern trolling can also be highly distracting, as people band together to oppose the concern troll, rather than discussing serious issues, including valid concerns which should be addressed.
. . . When these cases are exposed, it can be quite embarrassing, as trolling is generally viewed as an underhanded and often questionable tactic.

Exactly - we should question Booker's motives. To me what Booker did is no better than Romney's etch-a-sketch weaseling. The only result has been a "with me or against me" discussion about Booker himself, and while he tries to sound so reasonable, he also doesn't sound like much of a Democrat. This year of all years, with so much at stake, Democrats cannot afford to be on the fence. Certainly no Concern Troll should ever be the spokesperson for a Presidential campaign - it's like having a fox in the hen house, and the end result is a bunch of squawking and feathers flying and nothing good at all. Which is why Mr. Booker needs to go back to New Jersey, where he can be Chris Christie's lapdog, and shut up until November is over.