Germany slams 'stupid' US plans to boost EU rescue fund

[The Northerner]

Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe's debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a "stupid idea" and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said it would be a folly to boost the EU's bail-out machinery (EFSF) beyond its €440bn lending limit by deploying leverage to up to €2 trillion, perhaps by raising funds from the European Central Bank.

"I don't understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense," he said.

Mr Schauble told Washington to mind its own businesss after President Barack Obama rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalise banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is "scaring the world".

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8793010/Germany-slams-stupid-US-plans-to-boost-EU-rescue-fund.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Take the log out of your own eye before you worry about

the splinter in another's eye

[Cool Logic]

2. It is not clear to me why Obama believes that more welfare for the banks is the solution...

to the EU's problems.

However, it is abundantly clear that he is wrong.

[banned from Kos]

3. WTF are you babbling about?

Obama wants "welfare for (Euro) banks"?

Are you on this planet?

[Cool Logic]

4. The appropriate question is...

Can you read, comprehend and interpret?

Mr Schauble told Washington to mind its own businesss after President Barack Obama rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalise banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is "scaring the world".

[banned from Kos]

6. And how exactly is a "recapitalise" welfare for their banks?

Don't bother - ITS NOT.

Geithner did this in 2009 - made the US banks RAISE PRIVATE money to repay TARP and bolster their balance sheet.

Success - thanks TG and President Obama.

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Where did the initial money for the bank bailouts come from?

[Cool Logic]

11. Why Sir, surely you know that "bailout" is the code word for "welfare."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will take the unprecedented step of attending a meeting of EU finance ministers in Poland on Friday. It will be his second trip to Europe in a week after he met his main EU counterparts at a G7 meeting last weekend. Obama said that while Greece is the immediate concern, an even bigger problem is what may happen should markets keep attacking the larger economies of Spain and Italy. “In the end the big countries in Europe, the leaders in Europe must meet and take a decision on how to coordinate monetary integration with more effective co-ordinated fiscal policy,” the news agency EFE quoted him as saying. Geithner is likely to urge euro zone finance ministers on Friday to speed up ratification of changes to their bailout fund and consider boosting its size, an EU source said. …Obama’s comments suggested that Washington is trying to nudge European governments toward closer fiscal union or a bigger bailout fund to recapitalize teetering banks but European politics, especially in Germany, make that difficult.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44505654

[banned from Kos]

13. That is Euro on Euro business! Your Obama hit-job is out of bounds!

Call me an Obama supporter - that is my sin here.

[emilyg]

5. You are rude.

[shanti]

7. i knew there was a reason

that i had this person on ignore....

[banned from Kos]

12. I am only "rude" because out of nowhere on a disconneted subject

this person launched a spurious attack on the President and falsely accused him of "welfare for banks" when the subject has no bearing in reality!

[FarCenter]

17. If you knew how the $600 trillion in derivatives balance out, you'd be able to answer that question

Who is on the hook for what in Greek debt Credit Default Swaps?

Recall that when they let Lehman go bankrupt, a whole stack of derivatives fell over and buried AIG. If they hadn't propped up AIG, an even bigger landslide of derivatives would have buried more financial institutions.

The US wants the EU to bail out Greece to save London and New York financial institutions, not all of which are banks.

Meanwhile, the hedge funds will make out big!

[provis99]

9. Germany to the White House: Dumbkopf!

[bluestate10]

10. For some, everything President Obama says is wrong, and anything

someone else says is right. The fact is Germany's paralysis and obstruction has caused a small country debt crisis to morph into a problem that can throw the entire world into a great depression. Germany won't be able to escape the consequences of that country's ill advised behavior if the entire world descends into a great depression.

[banned from Kos]

15. They hate him - even many of "our" guys hate him.

I am disgusted.

Obama 2012~~!!!!!

[Zanzoobar]

14. AAA debt ratings?

There is a river in Egypt. There's not enough smoke in the universe to cover the problem. Doubleplus bad.

[flamingdem]

16. Ut oh markets down tomorrow nt

[applegrove]

18. Yup. Why socialize the debt of a few countries and put all of Europe at risk?