Bill Mitchell — Jean-Claude Juncker in denial and somewhat delusional

Last week (September 13, 2017), the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, presented his State of the Union Address 2017 in Strasbourg before the European Parliament. My only query arising from the speech was which Member State has left, given that the President began his speech by thanking “the 27 leaders of our Member States” (joke). He opened by saying how unity among the Member States had “showed that Europe can deliver for its citizens when and where it matters”. I wonder which Planet he was referring to. I thought Europe was on the Mother Earth and it certainly hasn’t been delivering for its citizens, if the usual measures are considered. Juncker’s speech just continues what I considered to be ‘Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale’, which was the subtitle of my 2015 book – Eurozone Dystopia: Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale. It is amazing that the denial continues after 10 years and that guys like Juncker can still command an audience and a salary.…

Translation of the speech: The European elite is doing very well. The little people don't count. Welcome to capitalism, which is the system that favors capital formation and the accumulation of capital as foundational and the ultimate criterion.

Capitalism is oppsed to socialism as the priority of all the people, and environmentalism as the priority of land. These are means for increasing capital under capitalism, and their use is based on the priorities of capital.

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Jean-Claude Juncker in denial and somewhat delusional
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Zero Hedge — President Of The European Parliament: "It Is Not The EU Philosophy That The Crowd Can Decide Its Fate" [satire]

If anyone needs another confirmation that the European Union is fundamentally the most anti-democratic entity currently in existence, then the following statement by European Parliament Martin Schultz should put all confusion to rest.

Schulz: "The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate".

It appears this is satire.

From the same post:

Deutsche Bank —

So there's no escaping the fact that this is a class war. Whether its globalisation, immigration, inequality, poor economic growth or a combination of all of them it's quite clear from this and other anti-establishment movements that the status quo can't last in a democracy. Eventually you'll have a reaction

Zero Hedge
President Of The European Parliament: "It Is Not The EU Philosophy That The Crowd Can Decide Its Fate"

Tyler Durden

Gilbert Doctorow — News flash: Europe is brain dead and on the drip

In what follows I will describe an event of this kind which was held in the European Parliament building on Tuesday, 31 May. Though unexceptional in its format and in its attendees, it illustrates perfectly how and why Europe is sleepwalking its way into World War III with Russia, or why, as I say more colorfully in the heading, the Old Continent is ‘brain dead,’ just no one has bothered to publicize this fact.

Une parole franche
News flash: Europe is brain dead and on the drip

Gilbert Doctorow | European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd.

See also

The Saker hears the drumbeats of war. On this week’s Solari Report, Saker and I discuss his latest, A Russian Warning co-authored with Dmitri Orlov and Dr. Eugenia V Gurevich:

“We, the undersigned, are Russians living and working in the USA. We have been watching with increasing anxiety as the current US and NATO policies have set us on an extremely dangerous collision course with the Russian Federation, as well as with China. Many respected, patriotic Americans, such as Paul Craig Roberts, Stephen Cohen, Philip Giraldi, Ray McGovern and many others have been issuing warnings of a looming Third World War. But their voices have been all but lost among the din of a mass media that is full of deceptive and inaccurate stories that characterize the Russian economy as being in shambles and the Russian military as weak—all based on no evidence. But we—knowing both Russian history and the current state of Russian society and the Russian military, cannot swallow these lies. We now feel that it is our duty, as Russians living in the US, to warn the American people that they are being lied to, and to tell them the truth. And the truth is simply this: If there is going to be a war with Russia, then the United States will most certainly be destroyed, and most of us will end up dead.”

The Saker gives us an update on the Ukraine and the impact, along with events in the Middle East and US and European sanctions, on the Russian economy. We cover the ancient history of tensions between Russia and the Western nations and revisit why the Russian people are so supportive of Putin’s efforts to resist accommodation. Saker suggests some of the actions we can each take to reduce the chances of war.
Our discussion raises important questions about the shift to a multi-polar world. If the US offers countries two options – submit to multinational corporate control or be destroyed – it is only a matter of time before the world shifts into a deflationary spiral or war. Where are the incentives to cooperate and honor agreements that are the basis of global economic growth?

The Solari Report
The Emerging Multipolar World with Saker: Russia, Ukraine & the Risks of War

Catherine Austin Fitts interviews The Saker

Bill Mitchell — The European Project is dead

When the GFC emerged and confirmed what Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) proponents had been predicting for more than a decade, I initially thought that this might be the ‘paradigm-shift’ line in the sand with respect to economic theory and policy. The OPEC oil price hikes in the 1970s provided the ‘space’ for Monetarism to usurp Keynesian thinking – not as a triumph of evidence and facts but as an ideological shift in thinking. The ideological battle had been going on for three decades in the academy but the oil crises exposed policy flaws in the Keynesian orthodoxy that were exploited by the Monetarists to allow them to reintroduce ideas (and policies) that had been completely discredited during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the same that the dominant paradigm collapsed in the 1970s, I thought the GFC would so destroy the public credibility of Monetarism’s latest iteration, which we call neo-liberalism, that we could find intellectual space to restore rigor to economic policy and the way economics was taught in the universities. I even thought that the pragmatic and dramatically successful use of fiscal stimulus in most advanced countries would provide the empirical reinforcement necessary to repudiate and expunge neo-liberalism forever. I was wrong. But what the GFC has achieved as neo-liberalism hangs onto the reigns of power in policy making circles is a major breakdown of the what is referred to as the European Project. The creation of ‘Europe’, which was conceived after World War 2 as a means to maintain peace and create prosperity among previously hostile nations, was a major human achievement in the C20th. That vision is now in tatters as the neo-liberals, blinkered by their own Groupthink, steadily dismantle the meaning and application of that great Post WW2 experiment. Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman would be turning over in their graves to see what their ‘Project’ has become under the domination of Wolfgang Schäuble and his lackeys in the Eurogroup. So we might see the demise of neo-liberalism after all as it destroys the grand European political project….

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
The European Project is dead
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Don Quijones — Today It’s Brussels’ Turn to Tighten the Noose on EU Citizens

After months of wrangling and horse trading, the European Parliament finally passed a resolution on the secretly negotiated EU-US trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The reason it had taken so long was that the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, decided at the last minute and in time-honored fashion to postpone the original vote, scheduled for June 10, when it became apparent that a majority of MEPs might actually reject the bill (read: Democracy on Hold: President of European Parliament Suspends Vote on Secretive U.S.-EU Trade Pact as Tide Turns Against It).

The biggest thorn of contention is the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause, which would effectively allow corporations to bypass national court systems and sue governments in private arbitration panels if they felt that a particular law or regulation threatened their bottom line. Put simply, it is what gives trade treaties their razor-sharp claws and canine teeth.

Although ISDS has been in existence since the 1950s, it has only been in the last 15 or so years that corporations have really begun making the most of it. As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) notes, foreign investors have mostly used ISDS claims to challenge measures adopted by States in the public interest (for example, policies to promote social equity, foster environmental protection or protect public health):…

Wolf Street
Today It’s Brussels’ Turn to Tighten the Noose on EU Citizens
Don Quijones

Don Quijones — EU Parliamentarians Call On Congress To Stop Fast Track

This morning 42 members of the European Union Parliament delivered a letter to the United States Congress. Like U.S. Congress, EU Parliamentarians have also been shut out of the negotiating process for rigged corporate trade deals like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). They are doing everything in their power to stop this corporate takeover and we must continue to do our part. If we are able to stop Fast Track, we will deliver a huge blow to the world’s most exploitative multinational corporations. Many thanks go to our allies in EU Parliament.

Read the text of the letter:

Neoliberalism unraveling due to voter pushback?

Democrats need to recognize that they will be blamed for the mess created by Clinton's NAFTA, and Obama's TPP and TISA.

Raging Bull-Shit
EU Parliamentarians Call On Congress To Stop Fast Track
Don Quijones

Don Quijones — Democracy on Hold: President of European Parliament Suspends Vote on Secretive U.S.-EU Trade Pact as Tide Turns Against It

Today was supposed to be a historic day — the day when hundreds of MEPs, representing hundreds of millions of European citizens, were to finally get their say on the hugely contentious EU-US trade bill commonly known as TTIP. Granted, the result would not have been binding, but a no-vote would have represented a resounding slap in the face of the European Commission.

Things began fairly auspiciously when, early on Tuesday, The Guardian reported that dissension was growing in the ranks as MEPs threatened to block the trade deal unless it guaranteed states’ rights to regulate over climate, health, and social laws. Now news is emerging that the President of the Parliament, Martin Schulz, has decided to postpone the vote altogether amidst fears that a majority of MEPs might reject the bill....

Elite getting scared of pushback, or just biding time while they grease palms and twist arms?

Democracy in Europe is on life support.

The aim is nothing less that the destruction of social democracy through undermining national sovereignty and the replacement of popular sovereignty with oligarchy and oligopoly.

Ironically, this is the New World Order as a Bircher conspiracy theory coming to fruition as reality in a different form. The Birchers were concerned with the UN rather than the transnational corporatocracy. But they anticipated the threat to national sovereignty from the direction of internationalism.

In other words, one should take the latest developments with a generous pinch of salt. On the bright side, it’s another small battle won by and for the people of Europe (and by extension, the United States of America), as our conniving leaders are forced once again back to the drawing board. However, if there’s one thing of which we can all be sure, it’s that it won’t take long before our leaders come back with a new, even stealthier strategy to force this beastly monstrosity into existence.

That's why capitalism is not reformable. They'll always be baaack!

Wolf Street
Democracy on Hold: President of European Parliament Suspends Vote on Secretive U.S.-EU Trade Pact as Tide Turns Against It
Don Quijones

Paul Craig Roberts — Insanity Grips The Western World

Just as Karl Marx claimed that History had chosen the proletariat, neoconservatives claim that History has chosen America. Just as the Nazis proclaimed “Deutschland uber alles,” neoconservatives proclaim “America uber alles.” In September 2013 President Obama actually stood before the United Nations and declared, “I believe America is exceptional.”

Germany’s political leaders and those in Great Britain, France, and throughout Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan also believe that America is exceptional, which means better than they are. That’s why these countries are Washington’s vassals. They accept their inferiority to the Exceptional Country — the USA — and follow its leadership....

Roberts puts his finger on it. Exceptional equals superior, meaning that others are inferior. History is rhyming.

Insanity Grips The Western World
Paul Craig Roberts

Victoria Parsons — Poland’s Complicity in CIA Torture and Rendition Confirmed as European Court rejects Warsaw’s Appeal

The European Court of Human Rights today confirmed that the Polish government was complicit in the CIA’s secretive programme of rendition, detention and interrogation. 

The Court in Strasbourg today rejected a challenge from the Polish government to a landmark ruling from last July, a decision which now makes that original judgement final.… 

Poland is the first EU member state to be found guilty of complicity in the CIA’s secret detention programme and responsible for multiple violations of the detainees’ rights.…

The European Parliament last week voted to resume investigating the complicity of EU member states in the CIA programme, in the wake of the new information revealed by the Senate’s summary.…

Global Research
Poland’s Complicity in CIA Torture and Rendition Confirmed as European Court rejects Warsaw’s Appeal

Victoria Parsons

Having Committed to Adopting the Euro Currency, Lithuania's Constitutional Court Simply Declares That "anti-european" Efforts Are Unconstitutional

(Commentary posted by Roger Erickson)




Read the announcement here.

REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA 

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT 

PRESS RELEASE   

On 2014, 24 January 

Amendment of 125 Article of the Constitution is incompatible with Constitution

[By the way, amendments to the Constitution which alter the Constitutional decision to join the EEU [and adopt the euro] are [so far] deemed unconstitutional - unless  paired with termination of EEU membership.]

Information about the LCC is given in English here, but it is not up to date.

So "anti-euro" dissent is unconstitutional, and therefore preempted? Do they even recognize how nonsensical that is? What's next? Thinking is unconstitutional? How about feeling?

Heck, maybe even receiving net wages-minus-taxes for labor will soon be unConstitutional too? Only euro-denominated capital will be allowed to keep a profit?  Where? In Sherwood Forest, guarded by a "reformed" Robin "Control-Fraud" Hood?

Someday, only silent serfdom will be legal?

Most readers will have to rely upon translation services to read the Lithuanian document. I'm told by sources in Lithuania that Google-translate leaves a LOT to be desired - at least when translating from Lithuanian to English.

For now, I'm trusting the interpretation received from Vytautas Vakrina in Vilnius - who agrees that the existing Lithuanian Constitutional Court decision constitutes an oxymoron. They're essentially saying that the original wording of some Constitutional clauses precluded Lithuanian citizens from changing said clauses.

Vytautas says: 

"The main [opinion of the Courts] is [the] impossibility to dispute any Lithuanian euro-obligations without leaving the European Union first."

Good luck with that argument!

Sounds like the key intent of the original Constitutional wording was guaranteed income for lawyers? Especially Lithuanian lawyers who had bet heavily on Lithuania adopting the euro, and enacting crippling austerity and depression?

Why should said Lithuanian Lawyers care? They're off to their quid pro quo jobs at the European Parliament, or at the European Central Bank.

Who says that Control Fraud doesn't exist? It does, and it works, wherever a foolish population and it's fiat are being separated.

ps: Rumor is that writing of key sections of the Lithuanian Constitution was outsourced to a mysterious woman named TINA, who resides in Brussels.