JP Morgan to eurozone“Get rid of your pinko, anti-fascist constitutions”

[Ichingcarpenter]

JP Morgan to eurozone“Get rid of your pinko, anti-fascist constitutions”


Last week, the European economic research team with JP Morgan, the global financial giant, put out a 16-page paper on the state of play of euro area adjustment. This involved a totting up of what work has been done so far and what work has yet to be done in terms of sovereign, household and bank deleveraging; structural reform (reducing labour costs, making it easier to fire workers, privatisation, deregulation, liberalising ‘protected’ industries, etc.); and national political reform.









The lack of coverage is a bit of a shame, because it’s the first public document I’ve come across where the authors are frank that the problem is not just a question of fiscal rectitude and boosting competitiveness, but that there is also an excess of democracy in some European countries that needs to be trimmed.

“In the early days of the crisis, it was thought that these national legacy problems were largely economic: over-levered sovereigns, banks and households, internal real exchange rate misalignments, and structural rigidities. But, over time it has become clear that there are also national legacy problems of a political nature. The constitutions and political settlements in the southern periphery, put in place in the aftermath of the fall of fascism, have a number of features which appear to be unsuited to further integration in the region. When German politicians and policymakers talk of a decade-long process of adjustment, they likely have in mind the need for both economic and political reform.” [Emphasis added]
Yes, you read that right. It’s in dry, banker-ese, but the authors have basically said that the laws and constitutions of southern Europe are a bit too lefty, a product of their having been written by anti-fascists. These “deep-seated political problems in the periphery,” say authors David Mackie, Malcolm Barr and friends, “in our view, need to change if EMU is going to function properly in the long run.”

You think I’m perhaps exaggerating a smidge? They go into more detail in a section describing this “journey of national political reform”:

“The political systems in the periphery were established in the aftermath of dictatorship, and were defined by that experience. Constitutions tend to show a strong socialist influence, reflecting the political strength that left-wing parties gained after the defeat of fascism.”



http://blogs.euobserver.com/phillips/2013/06/07/jp-morgan-to-eurozone-periphery-get-rid-of-your-pinko-anti-fascist-constitutions/



I hope you realize what this paper from JP morgan says and what it means not only in Europe but also in the US in the fight between the 1% and the 99%.

[Junkdrawer]

1. Reactionary endgame...

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. It should be an eye opener

They were too big to fail and bailed out by the US.





Ex-Bailout Watchdog: JPMorgan's Actions 'Entirely Consistent With Fraud'


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/neil-barofsky-jpmorgan_n_2884506.html




The Secret Bailout of J. P. Morgan: How Insider Trading Looted Bear Stearns and the American Taxpayer

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-secret-bailout-of-j-p-morgan-how-insider-trading-looted-bear-stearns-and-the-american-taxpayer/8974

[LuvNewcastle]

3. K&R

[hobbit709]

4. Time to dust off the Guillotine.

[PowerToThePeople]

14. banker's heads on pikes lining wallstreet.

[Diclotican]

5. Ichingcarpenter

Ichingcarpenter

Then I hope the answer JP Morgen is getting from the "Pinky anti fascist constitutions" is FUCK YOU - AND GET THE HELL OUT OF EURO-ZONE... I guess JP- Morgan have far more to loose than The Euro zone have too loose if JP- Morgan had to leave a zone where more than 500 million people is living..

JP-Morgan must learn how to behave - Europe are not the US where the big bankers can do as they please, more or less all the time.. In many European nations we do have rules and regulations - in some country's is the banks under some control of the State in fact... As banks have proven again and again that they are not to be trusted by the population as a whole..

Diclotican

[suffragette]

22. Diclotican, good to see you

Your last sentence bears repeating: As banks have proven again and again that they are not to be trusted by the population as a whole.

So very true

[pampango]

6. "weak central states relative to regions; constitutional protection of labour rights ..."

...weak central states relative to regions; constitutional protection of labour rights; consensus building systems which foster political clientalism; and the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the political status quo. The shortcomings of this political legacy have been revealed by the crisis. ...

Not only are there labor protections in national constitutions, but within the EU as well. It is not surprising that powerful financial interests would find these "protections" to be inappropriate. They are undoubtedly relieved that such constitutional protections for labor do not exist in the US nor are they part of the federal landscape. The existence of "right to work" states insures that labor protections in all states are undermined.

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. A Corporate dictatorship is needed like

Just like the US has



Chris Hedges "We have shifted, , from a democratic state to a species of corporate totalitarianism

[Brigid]

19. It really is that simple.

But many simply refuse to accept it.

[Ichingcarpenter]

17. Notice the need for a Franco or Hitler?

“Political systems around the periphery typically display several of the following features: weak executives; weak central states relative to regions; constitutional protection of labour rights; consensus building systems which foster political clientalism; and the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the political status quo. The shortcomings of this political legacy have been revealed by the crisis. Countries around the periphery have only been partially successful in producing fiscal and economic reform agendas, with governments constrained by constitutions (Portugal), powerful regions (Spain), and the rise of populist parties (Italy and Greece).”
Let’s parse that paragraph, shall we? Weak executives means strong legislatures. That should be a good thing, no? Let us remember that it is the parliament that is sovereign. The executive in a democracy is supposed to be the body that merely carries out the bidding of the legislature. There is a reason why liberal democracy opted for parliaments and not a system of elected kings.

Oh, and we want strong central states. None of this local democracy nonsense, please.

JP Morgan, and presumably the EU powerbrokers they are ventriloquising for, finally are being honest with us: they want to do away with constitutional labour rights protections and the right to protest. And there has to be some way to prevent people electing the wrong parties.

Thankfully though, the authors note, “There is a growing recognition of the extent of this problem, both in the core and in the periphery. Change is beginning to take place.”

In particular, they highlight how Spain has begun “to address some of the contradictions of the post-Franco settlement” and rein in the regions.

[pampango]

18. They are all for a strong central state, as long as it is not democratic with too much

"constitutional labour rights protections and the right to protest."

In the US it seems that the financially powerful want the central state to be as weak and dysfunctional as possible to give themselves maximum freedom of action with little apparent fear of a democratic backlash from the people. In Europe these same interests seem to want a powerful (if undemocratic) central state in order to control the democratic impulses of the people on terms of labor protections and the right to protest.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Maybe if just give them Poland, they will be satisfied.

[TransitJohn]

7. K&R, good post.

eom

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Rec - both for the subject, and the marvellous phrase "historical horse-lasagna" (nt)

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. JP Morgan is the favorite Bank of his executive branch

JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are the preferred banks of the executive branch leaders.

Five officials together held 52 separate accounts at JP Morgan in 2010, including 20 accounts for Emanuel and 26 for Daley, according to the Center's analysis.

Combined, Clinton, Daley, Emanuel and Obama had JP Morgan accounts with an estimated average of $51.1 million in holdings, according to the Center’s research.


Obama’s preferred bank is JPMorgan Chase, where he had a checking account with less than $15,000 in it and an asset management account worth between $250,000 and $500,000 in 2010.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/12/president-barack-obama-wealth.html

[malaise]

11. Yep who didn't see this coming

I remember that 2005 Citycorp paper on Plutocracy very well.

[lastlib]

12. Wow, they're not even hiding it any more!

Yeah, bring back the guillotine--I'll sharpen it, just for the banksters!

[Boomerproud]

21. I worked there from '99-'11 (in operations-not where the real power lies)

and was downsized twice. In the employee handbook the only way you were allowed to talk about unions was in a negative tone. I honestly don't know what they were ever worried about-the powers-that-be were never going to allow unionization. I haven't had a steady paycheck since.

[MichaelKelley]

13. It was obvious

This is nothing new as every investor was having an idea that this is going to be happen, but I think they were little optimistic and in a hope that everything will be settled for the best and government may help them.

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. "historical horse-lasagna" (nt)

[madrchsod]

15. their master's voice......