How long can the euro farce go on?

This euro crisis is one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed in real-time. On top of the fact that Germany's Princess Angie von Merkel split the European Union, probably irreparably, with Britain's leaving the summit negotiating table last week and doing so on behalf of a plan that won't help save the euro but instead will intensify the debt crisis, now her own appointee as head of the Bundesbank threatens to shoot the plan down!

Jens Weidmann, Germany's top central banker, doesn't like the strategy agreed upon by which eurozone countries would give money to the IMF, which would then lend it back to eurozone states under heavy pressure from the bond markets. Little Jens is stamping his feet and saying that unless countries outside the eurozone contribute money to that effort, he won't pony up the 45 billion or so euros discussed as Germany's contribution. (Euro-Krise.Bundesbank-Chef droht mit Blockade des Rettungsplans Spiegel Online 14.12.2011)

Kiss the euro goodbye.

How did Europe come to be run by a bunch of dweebs? Here's a hint: Dealing with the Debt Crisis: German Business Leaders Give Merkel Top Marks Spiegel International 12/14/2011. The headline writer obviously has a sense of humor. The mark (Deutschmark) is Germany's once and future national currency. It's good to know what kind of wisdom the one-percenter Lords of Business in Germany share:

A new survey of an "elite panel" of 500 German executives, politicians and administrators, taken by pollster the Allensbach Institute and published in this week's issue of financial magazine Capital, has found that 70 percent consider Merkel to be a strong chancellor, almost twice the score she received in June. And 69 percent said they believed Merkel is doing a good job with her crisis management. Seventy percent also said they believed Germany was succeeding in pushing through its interests at the European Union level. Indeed, the chancellor's image appears to have been burnished as a result of her persistence, the magazine wrote.

This isn't like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It's like the crew of the Titanic saying, "Hey, let's go check out that iceberg a little closer!"

Aufwidersehen zum Euro. Oder wahrscheinlicher und genauer, Niewiedersehen zum Euro.

Tags: eu, euro, european union, jens weidmann