Ludwig Poullain, the former head of Westlb bank, said that only a satirist could call what the eurozone central bank is doing monetary policy, voicing the incredulity of many people in Germany as they watch the meltdown of their financial system and the destruction of their economy by the banks.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/banken/das-endet-mit-dem-grossen-knall/4590890.html
German government economics advisor Beatrice Weder di Mauro admitted yesterday on the Günther Jauch show that the government had no plan to deal with the crisis.
“The basic problem is that bridges are being built but it is not completely clear where they are leading. What is on the other shore? How does it look?” she said.
Not good, is the answer.
In this surreal and scary time which invites satire, I would like to draw your attention to a German TV series called: “The fantastic adventures of the ECB” focusses on the amazing antics of the eurozone central bank which has abandoned all conventional monetary police to head into unexplored, financial space.
For those readers who don’t speak German, this is a brief explanation. In the first clip, we see members of the ECB board rushing to a meeting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hobEAZ5N3L4
Next, a member of the ECB bank gives instructions to expand the programme of souvereign bond purchases and plug a dollar funding gap for the eurozone.
“Base 104. Prepare to purchase €1,000bn of Italian bonds; 150 billion euros of Greek bonds; 200 billion euros of Spanish bonds and 300 billion of Irish bonds,” she says. “Clear the balance sheets zone of the for lift off of the ECB into new bad loan territory no central bank has ever gone into before.”
In the background, the members of the ECB board rush to the bridge of space ship to prepare to blast off into financial outer space.
The chief sits down at the controls of the ECB space ship while a member of the crew counts the amount that the ECB is overleveraged as the purchases of bad loans continues in the background: “23, 24, 25, 26, 27..43 times….”
In the next clip, we see an inebriated banker who has filled his pockets thanks to the illegal bond purchases of stroll up to the bar of the ECB and talk to an ECB board member.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_DN_eOfyMg&feature=related
The dialogue can be translated into Englishsomething like this:
Inebriated Banker: Thanks for the 100 billions today.
ECB board member: It can’t go on like this much longer. When are you going to have enough?
Banker: I know. I have to stop. What did you ask me?
ECB board member: I asked you, when you are going to have enough?
Banker: I have to stop or Angela will be angry.
ECB board member: Rightfully so.
Banker: I have to go to Berlin and see Angela. Come with me.
ECB board member: Oh dear, has it come to this again?
Banker: I promised her I would only take 20 billion from the tax payers.
ECB board member: How often have you promised her. Does she still believe you?
Banker: You have to talk to her. Without you, I don’t dare go to Berlin.
ECB board member: Can I have the bill, please?
Banker: You’re not going to leave me in the lurch.
ECB board member: I just might.”
