[Die Welt, Germany]
Nachrichten,
Switzerland
G20 Summit Akin
to 'Political Porn'
"What we witnessed over past
weeks was akin to political porn - one climax followed another. Even the most
jarring differences seemed to suddenly evaporate into harmony … Among it all,
something was seemingly forgotten: Money in and of itself is worthless."
By Patrik Etschmayer
Translated By Patrik Etschmayer
April 7, 2009
Switzerland - Nachrichten - Original Article
(German)
What we witnessed over
past weeks was akin to political porn - one climax followed another. Even the
most jarring differences seemed to suddenly evaporate into harmony amidst the
white lists, gray lists and black lists. And if an uncomfortable Dane was
slated to lead NATO, a few concessions were no doubt passed under the table to
Turkey regarding E.U.-membership.
[Editor's Note: Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh
Rasmussen was named NATO secretary general at the Alliance's summit in
Strasbourg, which upset Turkey since as prime minister, Rasmussen, on the basis
of free speech, defended the cartoonist who drew satirical cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad. see photo box, right].
At the same time, the new
U.S. president, Barack Obama, was a figure of nearly non-stop activity and
presumably, he has decisively strengthened the international standing of the
United States for some time to come. The fact that he admitted that the U.S. is
the source of the current crises was like a bomb going off. Seemingly, among
politicians in any case - and the higher the post the more likely this seems to
be true - admitting responsibility for anything bad is considered a near
impossibility (whether for psychological or physical reasons). And even if it
concerns the obvious.
Amid all the cuddling of
the major powers and those who consider themselves major, many smaller
countries felt pretty badly crushed. Not least, the Luxembourgers, Austrians
and Swiss. They suddenly found themselves on a gray list being waved
threateningly by Nicolas Sarkoyz, while under the
auspices of the G-20 nations, "white territories" like Guernsey,
Jersey and Macao had been hastily white-listed in the run up to the week's
summits.
[Editor's Note: The author
refers to the attempt to eliminate bank secrecy in Luxembourg, Austria and
Switzerland - but the double standard of allowing British and Chinese-controlled
havens to avoid such regulation].
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And along with the
presentation of these "lists," the end of bank secrecy was proclaimed
accomplished, and the argument was made that these "tax-havens" (the
terminology for all other places should therefore be tax hells) were the most
to blame for the financial crises. Even if Obama admitted that the U.S. was the
source of the disaster, others had to be made out to be the real scapegoats.
Animated Cartoon from The Guardian of Great Britain.
To WATCH, click here or click cartoon 
.
What no one involved in
all the hubbub seemed to notice was that in spite of the big words and bigger
promises of how everything was to be much-better regulated, everyone just kept
bumbling and fiddling on in exactly the same manner - the only difference being
that huge amounts of state-funds are to be thrown into the market by the G20
... funds that aren't secured by anything of concrete value.
If memory serves, the
entire crises was brought about by too much liquidity secured by too few assets
and too few real goods and services, all of which was made possible by the
American Federal Reserve. The whole thing was a gigantic Ponzi
scheme supported by the FED and driven by an economy that blindly believed in
quarterly reports and short-term profits. And among it all, something was
seemingly forgotten: Money in and of itself is worthless.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Money is but a symbol, a
medium of exchange, which allows the exchange of goods and services without
directly exchanging them for one another. Marx was correct when he described
money and capital as a concretion of labor. But at some point this became
untrue, thanks to the mantra of shareholder value and ratings rules that no longer had anything to do with the
real world. The link between the power of money and the creation of value was
lost. The U.S. was the leader - followed closely by the financial hub of London
- in this insane race.
There was no mention at
any of the week's summits of turning away from this loony-bin economy. Neither Merkel nor Hu, Medvedev nor
Sarkozy, Brown nor even Obama, said a thing in this regard, or advocated
a clean break with this dangerous economic insanity. Which
leads one to the question of whether spring fever had gone to the heads of the
G20 summiteers.
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US April 14, 1:59am]
