Friday, May 10, 2013

Weidmann in way over his head?

Weidmann is giving interview after interview is full of buzz words, but he does not make it clear what he actually wants. He is all for unnamed "reforms" and for that he thinks "reform pressure" is necessary. He could have a parrot answer the questions. For example yesterday in an interview with WAZ Weidmann answered to the question: "what would you say to the governments of countries with a youth a youth unemployment rate of above 50 %?"
Youth unemployment is indeed at dreadful levels in some countries. However, short-lived pump-priming and spending programmes and ever larger debts for subsequent generations will not create the sustainable employment which is urgently needed. For young people in particular, it is about prospects for the future. And these can only be offered by competitive enterprises and a sound economic structure. Therefore, putting reforms on hold would not help.
Seriously, what the hell is this supposed to mean? There is no plan in there. It is just stuff. Nonsensical, self-contradicting stuff. It seems to be based on the assumption that the next Siemens or BMW will plop up out of thin air in Greece, if only the government carries on with the destruction of the prospect of young people, imposed by people like Weidmann. We reduce the size of the public sector and suddenly a wild, well funded and competitive battery company appears, changing transportation forever, or something? We privatize an airport and suddenly twice as many planes - powered by newly developed Greek SCRAM jets - land? Perhaps, it would be best if he did not tell those countries anything, considering that "reforms" he supported have already caused extremely high youth unemployment with zero hope for future generations, and also ever  increasing debt. A person, so disconnected from reality, giving the same advice over and over again, even after it has miserably failed to deliver anything that he has thought it would, is in way over his head.

Or perhaps by "reforms" he means that he wants the Nazis of Golden Dawn in power in Greece. Then I would say that his advice has a great chance of success. Just like when we tried the exact same "reforms" which lead to catastrophic unemployment and then the original Nazis in the early 1930ies.

P.s.: a personal message to Weidmann: Please, please, please Mr. Weidmann refrain from advising France. Nobody will be helped by a nuclear power, who happens to be our neighbour, with the 60 % youth unemployment that Your ideas of a "saving" policy will bring to France (yeah he does not mention austerity in the actual interview in German: "Das ist für mich kein Sparen."). Please, pretty please go advise Mongolia or Indonesia or any other country of Your choosing as long as it isn't one that can wipe us of the map once Your ideas produce exactly the same results they have consistently caused in the past. Go bring confidence and reforms to someone else. You can also tell those people how it "has become difficult" to "maintain the real value of assets" with the dreadful inflation of 1.4 % we are currently facing. Were You actually confident in Your confidence scheme Spain or Italy government bonds would be worth a look.

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