In what has to be no big surprise, German politicians and citizenry vocally protested - and some are said to be threatening legal action - over the 'unlimited government bond buying program' announced by the European Central Bank last Thursday.
The referenced article discusses this, and says among many other things, that:
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Germany gets but one vote at the ECB Governing Council negotiating table, as do all other ECB member country - irrespective of size or economic importance to the European region;
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Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, was 'isolated' (whatever that means) in last Thursday's ECB Governing Council meeting; and,
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a study released last Thursday said that 73% of Germans fear the costs to taxpayers of the euro debt crisis, and 65% see continued existence of the euro under threat.
I included a commentary in:
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last Friday's (September 7) Newsletter titled Are German Parliamentarians Dutch Burghers or are they Germans?, where I said "In the end Germany will act on what it assesses to be its own self-interest"; and,
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last Tuesday's (September 4) Newsletter titled German central banker said to have threatened resignation: , where I discussed reports that Mr. Weidmann had threatened resignation of the bond-buying strategies of the ECB up to that point (i.e. before the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions Program announcement).
Those two Newsletters currently are available on the Internet only to Stock Research Portal paid Subscribers. However, you ought to be able to re-visit them if you have not permanently deleted them from your e-mail system.
I continue to think:
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things are now coming to a head in the Eurozone; and,
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if you participate in the financial markets you need to be as informed about what is going on macro-economically as you can be, with particular focus on the Eurozone in coming weeks.
Topical Reference: Merkel steps in to defend ECB after German outcry, from The Financial Post, from Reuters, Gareth Jones, September 7, 2012 - reading time 3 minutes.
