Waiting for the Germans is like waiting for Godot

Melvyn Krauss has a provocative but puzzling piece on Bloomberg View today called "How the Falling Yen Can Save the Euro".

He argues that by introducing  Abenomics now instead of waiting for the German Federal elections in September, Japan is indulging in beggar-thy-neighbor bad behavior (since the Eurozone/ECB cannot react with fiscal and quantitative easing - German official monetary conservatism is tying their hands). However, if it waited until just before the elections, it would be a good international partner and not taking advantage of European ideological paralysis. The Eurozone would finally have an excuse (as if they didn't already have one) to promote growth and not have to kowtow to hypocritical German electoral sensitivities.

I reproduce my comment here:

Why does waiting 6 months make Japan a good partner, and acting now is beggar-thy-neighbor? If stimulating growth and ending deflation would be a good thing in 6 months and the IMF & Co have been urging it on Japan for the last 20 years, why isn't it even a better thing to do now?

If the world has to wait for the German electoral cycle to play out, it is condemning itself to paralysis, since Germany has critical Länder and Bund elections every few months. Remember the first Greek bailout, which Merkel delayed (on a "those lazy Greeks who retire earlier than we do" platform) until after the elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (which her party still lost, and then she did the about-face on Greece everyone knew she would do)?

Waiting for the Germans is like waiting for Godot.

I say, screw the German electoral cycle and let's get on with the job of saving the world economy (which is ultimately even in Germany's own interest - when I last checked it was still living on Planet Earth and not preparing to run a trade surplus with Mars).

Three chronotopes: 1. Vladimir-Estragon (eternity)  2. Pozzo-Licky (history, chronology)  3. Audience (Boy -- present)

'Creditanstalt' Titanic Prize for Incorrigible Piloting of Unsinkable Ships

The 'Creditanstalt' Proudly Announces the Creation of the Titanic Memorial Prize for Incorrigible Piloting of Unsinkable Ships in Treacherous Waters

RMS Titanic living up to her unsinkable reputation in 1912.

Capt. Edward Smith, imperturbable commander of the Titanic  and exemplary role model for current European leaders

Inspired by the op-ed in today's New York Times Europe Is Responding, co-authored by JEROEN DIJSSELBLOEM, OLLI REHN, JÖRG ASMUSSEN, KLAUS REGLING and WERNER HOYER, the 'Creditanstalt' has decided to create a third Memorial Prize named after that incomparable paragon of  European engineering, the RMS Titanic. The recipient of the Titanic Prize will be awarded One Million 'Euros' in European Investment Bank grants.

The five authors of this convincing piece have been jointing and individually nominated for the prize by the Awards Committee. (Dijsselbloem and Rehn have already been nominated for the Brüning and Mellon Memorial Prizes, where they are in serious contention, as readers can see from the ongoing poll results on the sidebar.) Additional nominations will be accepted by the Committee until April 30 by submitting comments to this post.

Some inspiring excerpts from their rousing clarion call:

"But in the eye of the storm, we strengthened the foundations of our currency and improved the sustainability of our economies." 

"This response to the crisis has delivered results. Countries under assistance are improving their fiscal situation and regaining competitiveness."

"Europe has responded to adversity by moving closer together and deepening integration. As a result of our determination and our common strategy, a difficult but necessary adjustment is taking place, from which a stronger euro zone is set to emerge."

Thus fiscal icebergs have been skirted and watertight contagion compartments are battened down. What do a little icy unemployment and recession choppiness matter to the Eurocrats and bankers in first class? The lookout is agreeably delusional in his crow's nest. The captain has gone to bed early after penning an op-ed for the New York Times and issuing the order of the day:

Full Speed Ahead! 

Be Sure to Press the "Vote" Buttons after Selecting Your Candidates!

After selecting your candidates for the Brüning and Mellon Memorial Prizes (see boxes on the right sidebar), be absolutely sure to press the Vote buttons on the bottom of the polls. Otherwise your vote will not be tallied.

If you think you might have forgotten to press the Vote buttons after voting, just go back and vote again. The software will prevent your votes from being tallied twice.

We don't want any more elections falsified by "hanging chads"!

Jan Brueghel the Younger's take on the bitcoin mania

Monkeys in contemporary 17th century Dutch dress are shown dealing in tulips. A satirical commentary on speculators during the time of "Tulip Mania", an economic bubble that centered around rare tulip bulbs. At left, one monkey points to flowering tulips while another holds up a tulip and a moneybag. Bulbs are weighed, money is counted, a lavish business dinner is enjoyed. The monkey at left has a list of rare tulips, his sword denotes upper class status. Farther back, a monkey sits like a nobleman astride a horse. One in mid-foreground draws up a bill of sale; the owl on his shoulder symbolizes foolishness and ignobility. Brueghel is not only ridiculing tulip speculators as brainless monkeys, the work is an object lesson for the folly of speculating to such an extent in such a transient thing as a mere bloom. In the denouement at right, a monkey urinates on the now worthless tulips; fellow speculators in debt are brought before the magistrate or weep in the dock. A frustrated buyer brandishes his fists, while at the back right a speculator is carried to his grave. [Source: Wikipedia article "Tulip Mania"]

Latest update from CNN: Bitcoin bubble may have burst

Polls Reopened and Extended Until May 5!

Due to the inadequacy of the Blogger/Google Poll gadget the 'Creditanstalt' Brüning and Mellon Memorial Awards Committee has decided to reopen the polls and extend the deadline until May 5, 12:00 (UTC+1, Vienna time).

If you voted before April 9, 16:15, please recast your vote using the new Polldaddy.com polling gadgets on the right-hand sidebar!

The order of the candidates is randomized at each webpage viewing to ensure fairness. There is now also a provision for write-in candidates.

The Prize Announcement can be found at this post.

The Blogger/Google Poll gadgets were not correctly recording the votes and even dropping votes that had already been registered. This is apparently a problem that has been brought to Blogger/Google's attention months ago but which they still have not fixed (sounds like the Cyprus banking crisis). 

I thank Blogger blogger DarkUFO for bringing the PollDaddy.com alternative to my attention (see his webpage on inserting PollDaddy code into Blogger.com blogs).

Happy voting and let the best policymaker win!

Margaret Who Died? Recalling Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello died yesterday, a sad day indeed for us remaining survivors of the baby boom. With tears in our eyes we recall those far-away halcyon days of innocence when real wages rose in lock-step with productivity, top marginal tax rates were over 70%, unions effectively protected workers rights, income inequality was at an all-time low, the boring banks were less than 4% of GDP, and the superpowers were free to test multi-megaton H-bombs in the atmosphere (even Charles Murray chokes up here).

And then along came Margaret Who (and somebody named Ronald R., can anyone remember?). After something called the Vietnam War, modest current account deficits and the breakup of Bretton Woods, inflation and the oil crises...

Those were the days. By the way, does anybody want to buy a Davy Crockett coon-skin cap?

Cast Your Votes!

The Polls Have Been Opened for

The Heinrich Brüning Memorial Prize for Self-Defeating Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy (aka Austerity) &

The Andrew Mellon Memorial Prize “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate” for the Expeditious Resolution of Banks (aka Bank Runs)

You can cast your votes using the gadgets on the right-hand frame of this blog.

The polls close on May 1, 2013 at 9:01 UTC+1! [Now extended until May 5 12:00 UTC+1!]

See previous post for more information on these prizes.