Adam Crowe

'Dr Markus Kerber, says that German taxpayers are fed up with being Europe's cash cow.' -- "There's a growing split between the German public and the political elite. Never ever before the split has been greater than today. The political elite is still united to support the Chancellor's policy of continuous bailout and the German public is more united than ever to oppose it. And sooner or later the European project is going to lose the popular support it has always had in Germany until now. So, we are really at a crossroad."'

'It seems very clear that the powers-that-be subscribe to the idea that they have been chosen to deliver appropriate direction to the masses. This sense that one has a kind of divine right to rule was supposed to have dissipated years ago – at least last century – but the EU's top people obviously believe they are Charlemagne's second coming. The only reason they could believe this is because they have the backing of money power – endless torrents of central banking fiat paper controlled by a handful of individuals at the apex of the Anglosphere power elite. But what they may not realize is that they too are perhaps being manipulated, that those who seek to run the world via military force and political unions will betray their enablers without a backwards glance. This is an elemental understanding that even velvet thugs like Barroso seem to fail to understand.'

'The economic problems that the payments brought, and German resentment at their imposition are usually cited as one of the more significant factors that led to the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. -- #Current status: After Germany’s defeat in World War II, payment of the reparations was not resumed. There was, however, outstanding German debt that the Weimar Republic had used to pay the reparations. An international conference decided (Agreement on German External Debts, 1953) that Germany would pay some parts of the remaining debt only after the country was reunified, at that time an event thought very unlikely to happen. West Germany paid off the remainder by 1980. According to the agreement, the debt would be serviced for 20 years, leading to the last payments being due on 3 October 2010, the 20th anniversary of German reunification. About 10% of this debt, about 20 million euro, has not been claimed yet.' -- Debt repayment is a sin!

'Dr Markus Kerber, says that German taxpayers are fed up with being Europe's cash cow.' -- "There's a growing split between the German public and the political elite. Never ever before the split has been greater than today. The political elite is still united to support the Chancellor's policy of continuous bailout and the German public is more united than ever to oppose it. And sooner or later the European project is going to lose the popular support it has always had in Germany until now. So, we are really at a crossroad."

'According to the historians, by looking at things that have already happened, Americans can learn a lot about which actions made things better versus which actions made things worse, and can then plan their own actions accordingly. While the new strategy, known as "Look Back Before You Act," has raised concerns among people worried they will have to remember lots of events from long ago, the historians have assured Americans they won't be required to read all the way through thick books or memorize anything.'

'Dominant Social Theme: Look. Depressions happen. But what would you do in 1932? You'd stick it out! By, say, 1960, you'd be back where you were! No problem ... -- Every day of your life you look anxiously in the newspapers to find out what "they" are saying about inflation, about Europe, about the budget crisis and whether taxes are going up. You have a job, but you're worried you're going to be made "redundant." Or maybe your company is going to go out business. Or your skills simply aren't going to be needed anymore. It's your fault, too. Plenty of people are "making it" in the modern world and if you're not it's because you haven't planned properly. You haven't taken the right degrees, focused on the right industry, created the image for yourself. Your fault anyway ... And so you worry. You live with worry. You worry all the time. There are so many outside factors weighing down on you. So much you can't control ... Recession, depression ... global warming, overpopulation ...'

'Though narcissism demands the right to self-identify, narcissists are often unable to do so because they don't know what it is they want to be. Who am I? What are the rules of my identity? So people look for shortcuts, like modeling oneself after another existing character. But the considerably more regressive maneuver is to define yourself in opposition to things. What do the protestors want? Can they articulate it meaningfully, not in platitudes or "people over profits" or "more fair income redistribution" soundbites? They can't tell you because they don't know. They can, however, yell at you what they don't like, and the louder they yell it the more they hear it themselves. If I hate the protestors, I'm on Wall Street's side, and vise versa, no further branding, let alone thought, is necessary. And now you have a quick way to decide if you hate me.'

'...when the oppressive entity is so poorly defined (e.g. Wall Street, “the banks”, corruption) these protests always and without fail turn into protests against the police. ...iphones at the ready, praying someone maces them so they can get a video out of it. Here’s a clue that this is a pathologic narcissism, the nihilistic kind that 17 yo boys have when they threaten to kill themselves if their girlfriend leaves them: I actually agree with the protestors about Bank of America in principle, but because they are putting their identity ahead of the cause and are making it about themselves, I find myself hating them more than Bank of America. Their arrogance and entitlement drives me away from them, into the arms of their enemies. I’m hardly alone in this. Either they are not aware of this effect, in which case they are merely idiots, or the are aware of this effect and do not care.'