From the debt union to the asset register

[Skybird]

Austrian columnist Adreas Tögel writes (in German):


“From Troy to Vietnam” is the subtitle of the book “The Folly of Governors” published in 1984 by the American historian Barbara Tuchmann. In the introduction, the author states that the results of political action often come down to the opposite of what is intended. On the basis of the four historical examples she has chosen, the same basic problem always becomes clear: hubris - the many political leaders' own conviction that they cannot do anything wrong; Their unwavering trust in their genius and the power of their will. -

A book based on the example of Tuchmann and tailored to the situation of the European Union could have the title: The folly of the EU grandees: From the debt union to the asset register. From today's perspective, it is unbelievable what the citizens of the nation states - especially the Germans and the other potential paymasters of the European federal state targeted from the beginning - have been promised to arouse enthusiasm for participating in this elite project. Even the author of these lines once succumbed to the effects of the shawm tones sent out and was naive enough to trust that the promises made by the political elites (currency stability, debt limitation, prohibition of "bailouts", exclusion of state financing through the printing press, etc.) would actually be observed. -

Unfortunately, they all turned out to be wasted. What is more, lying to the inmates of the Union was even elevated to a virtue by the then Commission President Juncker. The Maastricht Treaty is not worth the paper it was written on. -

After the British left the EU, the members of the economically ailing and politically sclerotic “Club Méditerranée” have the upper hand. The proponents of a super-loose monetary policy, unrestrained debt orgies and the redistribution from the competitive to the backward economies are on the upswing. -

The Germans, Dutch, Danes and Austrians, on the other hand, have little pleasure in financing the conservation of petrified structures in Italy, Greece, Spain and France. Underperformers who live off strangers' money naturally have no objection to the redistribution of income and assets. That is why the EU grandees can be sure of majority approval for their frivolous monetary, financial and economic policy. -

But now the Eurocrats, intoxicated by their fantasies of omnipotence, could have made a fatal mistake. You have indicated that you are thinking about an EU-wide “asset register” in which all the assets of the then completely transparent citizens are to be recorded. It is no longer just about properties, company investments, securities accounts and current accounts, which are already revealed to the robbery tax authorities at the click of a mouse. No, this is where you get down to business: cash and gold stocks, contents of bank safes, jewels, works of art, stamp collections, fur coats and all other valuables. -

This outrageous presumption, which is justified threadbare with ostensible efforts in the “fight against money laundering”, could become a huge blow. And that's because suddenly the citizens of the “southern states”, which have been spoiled by the redistribution machinery of the EU, suddenly get caught in the crosshairs of the Eurocrats looking for new sources of money. Because French, Spanish and Italians have greater median wealth than Germans and Austrians. -

Since the central recording of all wealth stocks will be understood as the first step on the way to the (at least partial) expropriation of private wealth, even by simpler minds, the EU runs the risk of wasting credit in its most loyal provinces, of all places. Because the EU asset register is becoming a threat to those who have been petted so far, while there is not much to be gained from the Germans. -

After Brexit and the Commission's attacks on Hungary and Poland, this flagrant threat to private wealth will continue to worsen the image of the Union.