Submitted by: Donald Hank with writing
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso insisted the origins of the eurozone crisis lay in the unorthodox policies of American capitalism.
Barroso is not really blaming unorthodox methods or creativity per se and he isn't blaming capitalism per se, as the Times seems to want us to believe, although he once did belong to a leftwing party in Portugal. He is saying what well-informed Americans already know:
Crony capitalism, with government investing hand in hand with business -- Fanny and Freddy come to mind -- did in fact bring down our financial system. The government pushed banks to lend to the insolvent with no down payment and often with no documentation required, and many banks, realizing the crooked government would pick up the pieces if they failed, dived into the feast and created toxic derivatives that poisoned the world's finances.
Therefore, as hard as it is to say it, Barroso is partly right this time. He properly put smarty pants Obama in his place.
"This crisis was not originated in Europe … seeing as you mention North America, this crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market."
Sure, it is not all our fault, but without the corrupt US banking system, in tandem with a corrupt government, we would not have contaminated the financial world starting in the 90s. True, some of the problem was monkey see monkey do in Europe, and no one forced them to commit financial suicide. (Letting profligate Greece be part of the euro zone was part of that suicide and Barroso did not protest the decision).
But we did in fact contribute.
Don Hank
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