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Hang in there guys, you're doing ok!

It has taken me a while, but I finally worked it out , I think, the economic Commissioner Olli Rehn has no

secrets anymore as far as Im concerned. For years I've made the mistake of taking Europe's economics

Commissioner seriously, but it now transpires that his whole world view is a massive exercise in teasing

and perhaps comic irony. It seems to be deliberately aimed at winding us all up.

To be more specific, for some years now, Mr. Rehn has been repeatedly announcing publicly that the

euro zone crisis over, only to be proved consistently wrong. So wrong, in fact, that he has become a

standing joke. Indeed, you have been able to set your watch by him. Every time Mr. Rehn opens his

mouth to claim final vindication of the policies the European Commission is imposing on Europe's

dispossessed, you kind of know that the storm is about to break out anew.

And now he's done it again. "The datasupports, in my view, the fundamentals of our crisis response: a

policy mix where building a stability culture and pursuing structural reforms supportive of growth and

jobs go hand in hand", he said in response to news that the euro zone has finally emerged from

recession.

He's joking, right? Indeed he must be, and by going just a little bit too far in his claims, he's given the

game away. It was good while it lasted, but now we know that even Mr. Rehn cannot believe in what he

says, for otherwise he surely would have tempered his remarks with a few caveats.

Well, NO, a "policy mix" which has reduced large parts of the euro zone to abject ruin has apparently

been "building a stability culture", and though you couldn't possibly surmise it from the data, it's all

"supportive of growth and jobs". Breathtaking, isnt it ?

Is The Euro a Procrustes currency ?

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a rogue character who tortured people by stretching them or

cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed. In general, when something is

Procrustean, different lengths or sizes or properties are fitted to an arbitrary standardReminds anyone

of anything? Right wing neoclassical economists tell right wing neoclassical economists, "hang in there

guys, you're doing ok!"

Meanwhile, the surplus of labor which arrives as a result of the Banking Crises and the resulting

reduction in public spending is helping wages to depress, just as planned. Wage stagnation will

theoretically lead to lower market prices and eventually growth. Just don't tell the employees or

mailto:arbitraj@aol.com

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recognize the fact that corporations are hiving off their profits in offshore jurisdictions rather than

investing them in plant and workforce to enable such future theoretical growth.

Previous state owned organizations and institutions are in the process of being sold for less than market

value to the private sector, further stimulating growth as the private sector gets to bring efficiency

savings and the profit motive to previously unrealized markets. Just don't tell the public whose taxes

were used to build just such institutions and who will not benefit financially from their dissolution, such

pleasures go to the markets via re-sell values, contracting, outsourcing and government grants.

Monetarism in the form of quantative easing is helping to reduce the cost of credit, theoretically

facilitating a return to growth led consumerism via credit cards, mortgages and loans. Just don't tell the

heavily indebted EuroZone public of the return to business as usual or the small-medium enterprises

who find that the European banks would rather invest in financial services than the high street.

Please note, everything possible is being done to ensure the banks are ok and the desires of Capital are

met; conventional mainstream neoclassical economics is the 'scientific' justification we all need to know

this, is the right way forward. We will have growth again soon, and the social pyramid will be re-

asserted.

However, to set the record straight, in the Greek mythology, Procrustes who was a son of Poseidon and

had a stronghold on Mount Korydallos at Erineus, on the sacred way between Athens and Eleusis. There,

he had an iron bed, in which he invited every passer-by to spend the night, and where he set to work on

them with his smith's hammer, to stretch them to fit. In later tellings, if the guest proved too tall,

Procrustes would amputate the excess length.

Its being said that nobody ever fit the bed exactly, because secretly Procrustes had two beds.

Back to the United Europe

All said and done about Mr. Commissioner and about the great recovery of the eurozone, coming down

to the real united Europe, Czech Members of Parliament have voted to dissolve their Parliament this

august 2013, paving the way for early elections. New elections will end months of political turmoil after

Prime Minister Petr Necas's government collapsed in June amid a bribery scandal. A government of

technocrats, formed by President Milos Zeman in July and opposed by the main political parties,

resigned, and fresh elections are expected to be held in October. The proposal to dissolve parliament

was proposed by the three main parties and was backed by 140 legislators in the 200-seat lower house

of parliament.

Figures released by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, showed that a stronger than expected

performance by the single currency's two biggest economies - Germany and France - helped haul theeuro zone out of recession. Financial markets had been braced for a rise in euro zone GDP following the

increase in industrial production reported on Tuesday but were surprised by news that Germany grew

by 0.7% in the second quarter and that France grew by 0.5%. Along with the rest of the world, the euro

zone fell into a deep slump in the winter of 2008-09 before recovering in 2010 and early 2011. But a

second leg of the downturn then commenced as a result of the euro zones sovereign debt crisis, which

hit confidence, led to a mothballing of investment and resulted in the imposition of hard-line austerity

programmes.

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Despite the growth in the second quarter, the European Commission still expects the euro zone to suffer

a second full calendar year of falling output in 2013, with growth resuming in 2014.

Eurostat's figures showed that Italy and Spain - the single currency's third and fourth biggest economies

- both remained in recession in the second quarter of 2013. Spain's economy shrank by 0.1% percent on

the quarter, while Italy posted a 0.2% decline.

The Dutch economy also contracted by 0.2% but Portugal one of the three countries that required a

financial bailout recorded the fastest growth of any euro zone country with 1.1% quarterly growth.

Funny - some friends just returned from France on a hunt for bargain property - looked at a 3.5M Euro

estate that was asking 1.2M. They passed because as they stated, "you could smell desperation in the

air - shops in the nearby town were shuttered - there was no activity on the street"... Can someone

explain how France is growing? The MSM is getting very desperate trying to create "green shoots"... Do

you think we are stupid enough to believe this BS?....am so disillusioned with this its incredible. It's just

a cycle which lasts 10-15 years. Growth-Depression, Growth-Depression. Couple this with increasing

house prices which are doomed to crash again we have the same thing happening. Europe obviously

hasn't learned and as the saying goes they will be doomed to repeat the past.

Date: august 21. 2013

Mircea Halaciuga, Esq.

0040-724.58.1078

www.SIPG.ro

http://www.sipg.ro/http://www.sipg.ro/mailto:arbitraj@aol.comhttp://www.sipg.ro/