German President: ‘Monstrous’ Financial Markets Need ‘Taming’
The audience included not only trade union officials, but also leading representatives of all Germany’s main political parties: from Angela Merkel to outgoing Social Democratic Party chair Franz Müntefering to Jürgen Trittin, the new co-leader of the Green Party parliamentary group, to Left Party superstar Gregor Gysi. A former member of the East German Communist Party or “SED” and the first chair of its “post-Communist” successor party, the SED-PDS, Gysi is currently the co-leader of the Left Party group in the Bundestag. Even Guido Westerwelle was there. Westerwelle is the chair of the ostensibly free market-oriented Free Democratic Party, which will soon join Merkel’s Christian Democrats in a new coalition government.
“Can the nations of the world simply depend on market actors to have the necessary consideration for the common good and for sustainable economic activity?” Köhler asked. “No,” he answered, “the nations cannot. The crisis has shown that in economic life and finance, an energetic regulatory policy [Ordnungspolitik] on the part of the state and international agencies is indispensable.” Praising the role of the trade unions in the German economy, the “conservative” Köhler went on to propose “a genuine participation of workers in productive capital and profits.”
Köhler’s speech was preceded by a performance of the “Canto General” by the Chilean Communist poet Pablo Neruda as set to music by the Greek Communist composer Mikis Theodorakis. In November 2003, Theodorakis sparked controversy by describing Jews as “the root of evil.” One year later, he explained to the Israeli daily Haaretz that the Jews “hold world finance in their hands.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know about you,” Köhler said with a smile before beginning his speech to the DGB, “but Neruda and Theodorakis — they really get one going [die mobilisieren, ganz eindeutig].”
(Complete video of Horst Köhler’s speech is available here.)
Yes, the markets need taming, as long as they still allow investors to make money in them. Otherwise, they’ll stop investing.
By the way, it looks like the Euro will be moving lower against the US dollar over the next months and that should help.
It all has to do with interest rate differentials and relative economic growth.
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Consider http://invetrics.com
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