Angela Merkel: Voice of Reason
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 1st, 2009 4:40 am by HL
Angela Merkel: Voice of Reason
WASHINGTON — Amid the panic of the hour, with governments creating, borrowing and spending money like drunken sailors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as the conscience of the developed world. Perhaps because she was raised in communist East Germany, or maybe because the memory of the 1920s and the evil political consequences thereof is so ingrained in the psyche of her fellow Germans, she is standing like a rock in the tempest, urging people to be prudent. Of all the leaders participating in this week’s G-20 meeting in London, she is the only one who has reminded us of the origins of the current troubles and why the remedy favored by most governments is dangerous. “It happened,” she recently told the Financial Times, “because we were living beyond our means. … After the Asian crisis and after 9/11, governments encouraged risk taking in order to boost growth” by dumping ever-cheaper money into the financial system.
