Watching the tele and seeing the frenzy of the police in Spain reminded me of my reference the other week in a blog about Mrs Thatcher and her ideological contempt of much of the working class.
The ferocity from the police, came not from a need to "use" excessive force but of a desire to inflict a message on the minds of the protesters. We represent the authority of the state and therefore the government of the state and we will not lend ourselves to any "democratic right" you may think you have to protest.
The right to protest arises of course from the swinging cuts in pay and services that the Government has inflicted on the ordinary people. Up to a 30% reduction in pay. Much of this retribution is for the profligacy of the people who were encouraged to spend, and spend by the very people who are now wielding the financial stick. The contrast is stark with the brunt of the hardship being weighted on the poor whilst the rich and the influential escape practically unscathed.It is a recipe for the total breakdown, over the next months and years of the social fabric of this part of Europe.
Mrs Merkel and the Germans have an obsession with stringency as the only way to balance the books. Any businessman will tell you, that to become secure you must develop your markets through presentation and efficiency which normally means spending money to activate the potential market. Shutting up shop is a sure way to fail. The only way to get out of this financial mess is to trade your way out of it. Easier said than done but there are areas of consumerism in newly emerging markets and it is to these new kids on the block that we must turn our attention. The old world is dying, its had its day as a vibrant, expanding, consuming group. With a negative birth rate and an ageing population, the time is rapidly approaching when the patient will become moribund.
The Germans have done very well out of the creation of the European Community A ready market for the plethora of goods they produce and a strangle hold over the financial infrastructure.
Are they ready to kill the golden goose ?
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