Obama's lecture on the eurozone crisis - a "miserable sight"
Europeans are well aware of the seriousness of the ongoing debt crisis. But it seems they don’t like it when they are lectured by other countries - especially the United States, which is struggling to cope with its own mountain of debt. On Tuesday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (Wolfgang Schäuble) sharply rejected the recent American criticism of the European approach to resolving the debt crisis. "I do not think that the problems of Europe are the only problems of America," said Schäuble, who is becoming more and more keen on the language as the eurozone crisis intensifies. "It is always easier to give advice to other people."
Schäuble was referring to the categorical comments made in recent days by US President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Speaking Monday at an event in California, Obama warned Europeans that their inaction was “scaring the whole world.” The Europeans, he said, “have not completely recovered from the 2007 crisis of the year and have not fully understood the problems faced by their banking system. Today, all this is aggravated by what is happening in Greece.” Obama continued: "They are experiencing a crisis that scares the whole world, and they are trying to act responsibly, but so far they have not acted as quickly as they should."
Distracting from the problems at home
These comments came immediately after Geithner’s remarks made over the weekend. Speaking on Saturday at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, Geithner warned that the European debt crisis is "the most serious risk facing the world economy today." He said that Europeans should do more to create a “barrier” against further infection and mentioned the threat of a “multi-level default” and massive withdrawal of deposits. "Decisions on how to finally solve the problems of the region cannot wait until the crisis becomes even more serious," he said.
German commentators reacted angrily to these comments, saying that the United States is not in a position to criticize other countries, given their own public debt in the amount of 14 trillions of dollars and the continuing fierce debate over the country's debt limit. Others argue that Obama was simply trying to divert attention from US problems, and point out that the US president was in California to raise funds and voter support ahead of the re-election campaign.
But perhaps the Europeans simply do not like the taste of their own medicine. When the American default loomed on the horizon in July because Congress could not come to an agreement on raising the borrowing limit, European commentators were quick to engage in controversy and impose unsolicited advice on Obama and the United States. "The world economy needs agreement in America," the French government minister said at the time.
On Wednesday, German media commentators scolded Obama's criticism directed at Europe.
The newspaper of mass distribution Bild writes:
“Obama’s lecture on the euro crisis ... is imperative, arrogant and absurd ... In short, he argues that Europe is to blame for the current financial crisis that“ scares the world. ”What-what?”
"The American president seems to have forgotten some details. The most important trigger factor for financial and economic banks were American banks and their reckless real estate transactions. The US is still accumulating debts ... The US Congress is paralyzed by a battle of right and left. Banks speculate as well just like before the crisis. The president’s reprimand is a pathetic attempt to divert attention from his own failures. What a shame. "
The center-left newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
“It’s important to remember the context in which Obama reprimanded the Europeans. It was an event in which the president raised funds for the Democrats and in which he wanted to explain to voters why the state of the American economy is much worse than he and his economic experts believed until recently therefore, his criticism of the EU was simply election campaigning. "
“The problem, however, is that the president of the United States is absolutely right. For too long, Europeans - including Germans - considered the financial crisis solely an American problem. They still did not find a solution to their own debt crisis. And now Europe’s problems have a negative impact on economic growth and jobs around the world, including the United States. It is no exaggeration to say that Europe threatens Obama’s already dubious chances of re-election in 2012. lo make sense to point out that after the Europeans will have their house in order, the financial markets once again turned their attention to the debt crisis of America and its unhealthy politchieskuyu system from a financial point of view, Europe is -. the most dangerous place on Earth. "
The center-right newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
“Dark clouds have thickened over the American president. The sad state of the economy discourages Obama’s future prospects. The optimism of the past has ended, and cheap scapegoat has come to replace it.”
"Obama believes that he found it. He accuses the Europeans of having reacted too late to the debt crisis. Apparently, we Europeans are borrowing too little to get out of this crisis. But we already feel fine consequences of borrowing too large amounts. "
The financial daily newspaper Handelsblatt writes:
“Friends don't talk like that to each other. This is especially true of friends who could not cope with their own crisis of which they themselves are to blame. Barack Obama rules a country where, despite billions of dollars in government subsidies, the economy is in stagnation, companies they refuse to invest, despite appeals to patriotism, and where it is a political war of trenches, it gradually flows into another ... Now this country gives advice and instructions and is engaged in shifting the blame. "
"These are tips that have already failed in the United States: Europe must be saved - as soon as possible and in large amounts. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been trying to strangle his crisis with money for more than two and a half years. But in addition to the lack of success, it is also a huge collateral damage. It manifests itself in the loss of confidence in the government, in the loss of confidence in the currency and the paralysis of any dynamism - because the crushing mountain of debt takes away from Americans who are well-known for their optimism their confidence. "
“The fact that the brilliant thinker Barack Obama is well aware that in reality everything is much more complicated does not really help. In fact, he has the opposite effect. In a desperate struggle for re-election, he prefers to construct myths, for example, claiming that Europeans the only ones who are to blame for American problems. This is not only fundamentally wrong, but - given that these are words coming from a friend - just a pitiful sight. "
Information