ALLIANCE FO§ DEMOCRACY

No (happy) end

So soon before the election, it was probably the best story that the press and politics had to offer: the story of the end of the crisis. For the Merkel government, this would have been the ultimate success. Something which the so- called opposition would never be able to offer; something which would have made Merkel the supreme politician of all time.
The end of the crisis was already in sight even before the Lower Saxony election (allegedly). Unfortunately the deception failed. The CDU does not govern Lower Saxony today. Instead of causing such a disgrace a second time, the CDU could have foregone this affection of the end of the crisis – if ifs and buts were apples and nuts – but no, the CDU-voters’ control team found another idiot that believes in the end of the crisis: the “Stern” (No. 35, of 22.8.13, p. 48-57)

In order to make it understandable even for the most stupid voter, the people at “Stern” backed up their crisis funeral oratory with a comic. Now this all looks very nice, but the crisis is far from over. The development that one Euro country after the other is asking for money from the rescue package is not new, and it will not be solved by any measures undertaken by the ECB, IMF and the debt union.
The negotiations over Cyprus’ bank rescue were certainly exciting, and many politicians and negotiators may have sweated blood and water, but the solution which was found has nothing to do with the fact that the Euro rescuers cracked down, or as the put it: became serious. Firstly the Euro rescuers are not Euro rescuers. “Stern” sees this incorrectly, because it overlooks the fact that the common currency should never have been introduced. All so-called rescue measures are simply damage limitation exercises, which are costing the taxpayers billions, and burdening national budgets with costs which have brought about the continuing delaying of insolvency.
This will all end in the creeping devaluation of the Euro. This can hardly be called a rescue. The negotiations with Cyprus were difficult, because politicians, as in the case of Greece, made the mistake of sticking to the cohesion of the debt union, in order to ensure the survival of banks and politicians. The support of Cyprus with rescue package funds is a mistake of the same nature.
The “Stern” has not only once again misinformed its readers, but has also created the impression that everything will turn out for the best. This is more than manipulative – it is politics pure and simple, with which journalists apparently also like to become involved.
And if one of the authors would like to write a crime novel about political affairs, the era of the Euro is a fruitful field, in which fiction however must not be confused with informing the reader.

91% of Germans believe incidentally that the crisis is not over, according to a study by the University of Hohenheim. These 91% even believed that the crisis will persist for a long time. The legitimate fears of loss of pension, poverty in old age, lack of reform and lack of prospects for young people are acknowledged by hardly any of the parties standing for election, although one German in two (49%) has recognised that affluence will be no more than a pleasant word in future, and one in four see their personal living standard as under threat. Only 17% of German citizens still believe the politicians when they say that the worst of the crisis is over. In view of these results, the “Stern” must print such articles, so that the Angie-fever is artificially maintained. There is nothing real about it. Especially since Angela Merkel recently announced in the Springer press that affluence on credit is now over. She thereby threatened the decay of German affluence.

There was however one positive aspect of the Stern’s efforts – they showed the reader the way of everything on Earth, which the German nation will also have to travel sooner or later. We look forward to seeing what wonderful images the Stern has to offer for the setting of this decline.